Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Any of you restored seats, back and front? If so, have you done it yourself ? Or have you got professional help repairing/restoring them? Any tips on this please?

If you have an eye for detail, patience, enough space, access to a commercial or heavy duty sewing machine, and a little talent you could probably do it your self. If there is enough of the old left to get a complete pattern from, I think would be the most important thing for a first time do it yourself job. With the price of material though, would make very sure I had those covered. I had mine done since I have only a couple of those requirements but have met folks at shows who did credible jobs.

My upholsterer said the Packard pattern (54 Pacific) was a bit involved with some stitching methods not commonly seen they had used for a certain look. Apparently there are also extra panel pieces under the fabric he normally doesn't find that are sewn in such a way as to apply a bias so the fabric remains straight. I don't know enough about upholstery to say if that is true or was just chain yanking to justify the price. If you are still looking to do a convertible, then expect it is just as involved if not more and if restored properly, leather is probably not something you would want to mess up.

If you aren't fussy about authenticity Kanter sells reasonably priced upholstery kits. SMS Fabrics and Bill Hirsch sell correct broadcloth wool fabric material but at the cost per yard of this material it wouldn't be something I would be experimenting with!

Since you previously indicated an interest in convertibles, and you are specifying a 22nd series, and assuming you want to restore the seats back to their original grandeur; I personally think the job would best be left to professionals. This would be pretty tough for a beginner to replicate:

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If you change the color to your own taste, say for example White leather, would car still be acceptable at shows? I picked White because when we retire to Carribean ( Hopefully ), the White will keep it cool in the sun. Were original seats all leather? Or they had a choice between leather or cloth ? Was vinyl ever used?

Vinyl was a later development, the non-leather imitation material of the era was usually referred to as "leatherette". Without checking references, I believe the options were all leather or leather and bedford cord such as shown in the picture just above.

Many differences between Custom 8 convertibles are Super Eight, you might find the enclosed of interest.

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Thats really helpful. I think if white leather used on green car with white convertible top, it wont look to out of place.

or perhaps white leather with green cord. the dash painted green as well i guess. If car origionally dark green, is it acceptable to change it to a lighter green?

When you carpet floor, does it need to be special typeof car carpet, or can any pile wool carpet do? may be able to get some cheap off cuts from carpet shop. With seat leather, no choice but to go for top quality.

Have to check the parts book but I don't believe a white top was an option. Possibly tan Haartz cloth was the only option but check the book. Custom 8 carpet was Wilton's "Mosstread" as also used in Rolls Royce and there really is no modern match for it. Supers used a lesser type carpet which can be matched rather well by kits such as Hirsch sells.

If authenticity is important to you, and with a convertible with possible future resale in mind, it should be, if you change color try to stick to one of the original colors though if you're off a slight tint one way or the other, it probably won't be an issue even to a picky buyer. I think the most lovely green of the 22nd series was Golden Green Metallic, Code H as I remember. The Super 8 photo is not particularly close to Golden Green Metallic. The Custom 8 sedan is an extremely good match for it. The hardest part of matching this paint isn't the color, but the extremely fine, small sized metallic flake - modern metallics tend towards relatively large particle size though a top-notch paint mixer can ball-mill or grind the metallic to smaller size before incorporating it. I owned the 2252 for many years, though prior to the current paint job.

Somewhere I do have pictures of Paul Teets 23rd series Custom 8 convertible (multiple national award winnter) in Golden Green Metallic; if you are interested I could try to locate it.

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Yes looks just great. Those wheels look amazing. I thought it was always 13" hubs used.

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If you're referring to the wheels on the green 22nd series Super Eight convertible, they are not true wire spokes but the VERY rare faux wire spoke wheel covers. I don't recall if they were offered in 48-50 but they certainly were thereafter.