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Tho' i never drive in the rain, noticed one of my wiper blades incorrect, jerry-rigged in place, so wanted to replace them. Called my local NAPA store, figured i was a-ok even though their wiper books go back only to 1948 or '49 Packard, since the tubs retained the Clipper's windshield, roof, decklid.
I get there today, the fellow shows his replacement 11-inch wiper blades in the "Vintage" carton, remarking they look just like the ones i brought in with my wiper arms which were off the car as i wanted to have one of their rivets repaired, and oil the wiper mounts while they were off the car.

However, when we tried to attach the replacement blades,
no soap. I've since learnt that there was a change in the wiper arm attachment beginning with the '48 tubs. Any mainstream source for 1941-47 Clipper 11-inch wiper blades, or popular interchange? Or is the late David Ficken's family still running his wiper business in Long Island?

Almost forget the blistering question du jour.
W H Y were the wiper arms and blade attachment changed on the 1948 tubs and sorry, but the 1948-50 pregnant elephants have been called that and bathtubs since they were new, late model. The Bugatti Type 32 campaigned at the '23 Lyon Grand Prix was called "The Tank."
If you build it, they will christen it.

So why the wiper arm/blade attachment change for '48? Was
it at the behest of a larger Trico customer, so Packard and the other independents were forced to go along? Seems like a lotta bother, otherwise, for all those guys working in service stations, parts depts., et al. Don't think the 1941-47 Clippers were throwing wiper blades.

Any wiper blade mavens here?

Thanks.

Yes, Ficken Wiper Service is still doing a brisk business.

I never did find replacement blades for my 47. I removed the rubber parts from a modern blade and glued them onto my existing blades. Rain-ex really helps also since the old factory blades seem to be margin with today's driving conditions.

"...48 tubs."? We used to have a saying when I was a teenager: "You don't knock another guy's ride." I think that should still hold true today.

(o{}o)

Maybe the change was because 1948 was the year they went from electric wipers to vaccuum wipers. Packardtaximan

Thanks, Cabbie. A Packard friend thought of that, but we still wondered why they bothered to redesign the way the wiper arm and blade attach. A better mousetrap, or cheaper to produce? Uber trivial in the scheme of things, even to such detail-oriented CSI East Grand types as us, but nonetheless wondering why they bothered to change the attachment, calling for a new style blade for the
s a m e windshield.

Enquiring minds wanna know, these car really bringing out our inner Monks (Tony Shalhoub's relentless character).

The wiper gods at Ficken (631-587-3332 for those of you without 1941-47 Clippers) unable to help, told me that in the '40s, only some Packards and Chryslers used electric wiper motors, that these were "high end" in the day, and that since this was such a small market, no one's bothered to reproduce the 11-inch blades we need for our 1941-47 Clippers.

Has anyone done so lately, is there some reasonable source? What have the rest of y'all done? I don't drive this spoilt rotten garage queen in the rain, but it would be nice to have the right blades on my original arms.

Of course, weight is the enemy...

Earlier in the year I restored my Wiper / Washer system.

1954 Cavalier.

Fricken (under WiperMan on the Web) is quite alive and well and I highly recommend his work.

For the rubber blades I bought one blade at the local Zone longer than the two together, I cut it in half and I replaced the rubber into the metal part and put it all back together and they work perfect.

I bought the proper vacuum motor from Fricken for use with my Trico Automatic washer system and I am using it all the time to get dirty cat paw prints of my windshild every morning.

Start the engine, push the button and the windshield is clean by the time I get backed out of the driveway.

Jim