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Wow, what interesting conversation this has sparked!

My car was made in Dec. '41 and I'm happy to leave it without the front shield.

In that case, and returning to the original question of this thread, would there be a use for these "Anti Squeak Mutes" on the rear gravel shield or should I just send them back to Steele?

My car was made in Dec. '41

Just curious, how did you determine that? If it's from the date on the patent plate, that's the date sold, not the date manufactured. I'm not aware of any Packard records of that era that give the date of actual manufacture.

The data plate under the left hood is blank. The part that's supposed to be stamped with the Dealer Info was never filled out. I have always wondered what that indicates...whether this plate has been changed somewhere along the lines but it looks to be quite old and original.

My engine has the numbers 12 19 41 stamped into the casting at the top of the head near the front. Just assumed that was the manufacturing date. Not so?

Not so.

The date on the cylinder head is the date it was cast in the foundry; it was certainly later than that by the time it was machined and worked it's way into inventory for later engine assembly. It's not uncommon that cylinder heads were replaced, especially those with 10mm spark plugs, so it might be interesting to compare that date to the casting date of the engine block. Casting dates do not tell nor are then even good predictors of the build date for the finished vehicle.

Best predictors of early, mid, or late assembly are a combination of engine numbers, theft-proof numbers, and vehicle numbers but that to is somewhat imprecise as we really don't know how the individual models and body styles were sequenced into a production schedule. But if all 3 numbers are either very early or very late, then at least you can say you have an early or late vehicle (or something in between).

It is indeed a shame that many patent plates were not stamped at the time of delivery - it deprives current owners of a bit of a connection to the car's past.

Very interesting! Thanks for the information!