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

I corrected it to 5401-11-31 (BODIES 5467-77-97) which makes more sense and is in keeping with other similar entries. I'm sure there was a reason it was done the way it was but I can't figure out what that reason might have been! The A/C section has many similarly odd entries so it is becoming obvious that it was added hastily as an afterthought.

Hi Don

Not a programmer here, but you'll have to write some code that accommodates the anomalies that arose as their model programs unfolded, not to neat plan, of course.

The overarching story for the 22nd-23rd Series car is massive overproduction seemingly without regard to actual sales or market demand. The station sedans are a case in point, which management had great hopes for but turned out to be a slow sellers so much so that nearly a third of the cars were still in zone and dealer inventory at the time of the 1949 22nd Series model changeover, then the renumbering began. This situation continued even when the 23rd Series model changeover took place for the last 550 some cars.
The other niche models that were handled the same way were the LWB 7-passenger sedans and limousine which were renumbered in the same manner. In both cases production of additional cars was curtailed rather than added to the inventory problem.

As far as the Henney cars go, the kits Packard supplied were a mix-'n-match variety of components to arrive at a suitable specification without adding unnecessary cost for the intended functionality. The chassis for the Henney Junior was 127" of a 300/Cavalier for the longer body space, powered by the base 288 engine as it didn't need to be a race car. The Clipper spec items likely were simply the lower-cost, which was the primary reason that model came to be. The ambulance market then was becoming dominated by lower-cost makes such as the Pontiac Superior models which put the higher cost Henneys at a disadvantage. Ultimately, the Henney Juniors weren't cheap enough to affectively compete, helped cause Henney's failure.

For access to the Neal books, you should be able to borrow those by inter-library loan from your local library. If not, check with PAC and PI region members, someone should be kind enough to lend you those for a time. Give yourself a good six months to absorb all the information in them, they're great books.

Hope some of this perspective helps.

Steve

On entries like this (and I know little about RHD Packards):

RHD, 2201-02-11-22-31-40; 2301

. . . is it referring to RHD only for the 22ND series chassis mentioned and all 2301 or does it mean RHD on both the 22ND and 23RD chassis mentioned? There are many like this and also many similar that specify LHD but it's not clear if it means all or only those up to the semicolon that the listings use as a break.

You really have to check the specification pages from the service letters or other documents for each year in question to see which chassis were available in RHD, generally in postwar years only the junior chassis were so offered. For example in the 54th series RHD was only available for the 5400, 5401 and 5411. I believe in the 23rd series only the 2301 was available in RHD.

For earlier years RHD offerings had their own separate parts list, for example;

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Thank you and that's what I was thinking too. It seems that 2201-02-11-22-31-40 covers most except for the Custom Eight while 2301 had only three Standard Eight body styles and two Deluxe Eight body styles.

This example was picked totally randomly but looking at it again I'm not sure what 2231 is as it's not in the model identification list so I thought perhaps it was a typo on my part. However, looking back at the original, it's there too, and it's there in many other entries. What is a 2231 and what bodies would it have had?

PS - just checking Bob Neal's book I see that the 2322 was also available in RHD.

I know you mentioned that buying Neal's book was not within your budget but you should try to borrow a copy, there is no other source of so much information in one place as his book.

Thank you very much for the information, which is quite helpful. I chose the sample at random and it didn't have 2322 but it will likely be in other RHD entries so I'll keep my eye open for it. I'm working on a way to pull them up separately and, once I identify which models and bodies were RHD, it should be easy to add.

However, I still cannot find 2231 and neither is it listed here in the Packard Model Identification section even though it is clearly in the parts book. Just in the five groups already digitized, there are a number of entries mentioning the 2231 and I'm tending to think it might be an error and should be 2232 but I don't want to start guessing. Interestingly, the Model Identification List from the parts book does not list the 2322 either but it IS listed here in the Packard Model Identification section! Any ideas?

I'm bumping this because I found some interesting info regarding the 300 Convertible Coupe.

I found this website:popularrestorations.com/Restorations/Restoration014.htm

Here is a quote from it "Nance also declared that the 1953 models would have easily identifiable names and not numbers. The 200s, 300s, and 400s were to become Clippers, Cavaliers, and Patricians, respectively. Up to this point the 250s (the Mayfair 2-door Hardtop, the Caribbean 2-door Convertible, and the 2-door Convertible) had been considered “Junior” cars along with the Clippers. But, according to Beverly Rae Kimes Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company, Nance officially upgraded their designation to Senior Cars. As a result, the 250s became 300s and the 2-door Convertible became known as the 1953 Packard 300 Convertible Coupe."

It goes on to say "Evidence of this change is borne out in the Packard 22nd Thru 54th Series Parts List 1948-1954, dated January, 1954.", and references this image




Also, I have found the attached image while looking up 1953 model information.

The PO of my car was also under the impression that it was called the 300 Convertible Coupe. He owned the vehicle for 40 years and every receipt or document I have regarding the car refers to it as such.

Can we all agree that by 53, the Mayfair and Convertibles were in fact 300 Senior cars?

-Chris

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If you go by other styling and mechanical cues that designated a junior or senior model, IMO while they did upgrade some items to bring them closer to senior, they would still be more like juniors because they had the 5 main engine and vertical tail lights used on the other junior models.

It wasn't until 54 that Packard went all out to make those models senior. Even though still crippled with the short wheelbase, they gave them the largest engine available, grafted on chrome pieces so they could accept the horizontal tail lights long used on the senior models and the same dash as used on the Patricians.

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While I agree that they definitely made a hard attempt to make the 54 models look more like the existing Senior cars, there does seem to be a decent amount of evidence that Nance did in fact change them to Senior cars for 53.

It's my understanding that the book I referenced above is very well respected in the Packard community.

Are you suggesting that the book and related documents are wrong just because they don't look like Senior cars?

-Chris