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Al, here is what the rubber on the rear gravel shield and below the taillights should look like. It is supposed to seal against the bumper to cut down on any dust. You can't make it out of sheetmetal because it wouldn't seal. Hope these are of use to you. I made my own staples out of stainless wire and used the original holes for the gravel shield rubber.

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Al: Nice to see you are making some real progress on the Clipper. From the pictures you have posted it is to bad that Santa didn't bring you some car covers for Christmas.


John F. Shireman

Both verbal and pictorial update.

Verbal:

Hallaleujah yay-us the vinyl has finally come in and gone to the upholstery shop.

Pictorial:

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Looking very nice, AL. The onery bumperless look makes a great shot.

Twp steps forward and three back. In working around the front yesterday, I leaned on the grille to hard and it fell out of the hoes breaking my $60 fix on the support bar. Now I have to either fabricate another on my own or check the stash and see if there is a grille suitible to use. Of course it does not appear to be going much above freezing this week so it may have to wait for better weather. And I gave up chasing blondes for this racket, still have not figured out if that was the best move.

Not much to hold the grille without the sheet metal shroud bolted on, is there? Bungee cords anyone?

I've noticed more than a couple of differences between the cars and the blondes, but it seems that the cars are designed to always go where you steer them, and they don't mind waiting for you until you decide to go back to work on them.

There are advantages and disadvantages both ways, I guess. I will now leave you to resume activities with whichever you happen to prefer at the moment. Or perhaps just have beer and consider the possibilities.

Guy

Not to worry , just a momentary flight of whimsey. Now just have to put the nuts on the threaded rods just below the headlights and the grille is secure. Then comes the bumper.. However at temps lower than freezing I tend to stay in the house until warmer weather.

ALK

Al,

I wasn't worried, but I would sure rather be down where you are to warm up--outside. It's been mostly below zero (that's Fahrenheit) here for about a week now. "Freezing" temps would feel downright balmy.

Another thought on the possible origin of the Clipper Rod and its senior front with hood scoops 'n' everything:

Paging through Kimes, I noticed a reference to "Caribbeanizing" 1955 Four Hundred hardtops at the dealer level, which was "actually done in a few rare instances." *

So, in 1956, it wouldn't have been out of the question for dealers to have some Caribbean hoods to plunk onto '56 Executives-- or even Clippers, which would require a senior front clip to complete the look. I do believe your hood is a '55 Carib, is it not? BTW, you've just got to make those scoops functional--just gotta.

A close look at the hood might shed a little more light on the origins of the Clipper Rod. Does it look like a retro-fit of a new '55 Caribbean hood?

*Packard, a History of the Motor Car and the Company, 1978, pub. Automobile Quarterly, ed. Beverly Rae Kimes p. 606

Wonder how much a 55 Caribbean hood would have cost to do that kind of mod. Seems like that would be one expensive "upgrade" with all the hand work required on the hood and then the prop rod as well. The 56 hood being stamped would think be much cheaper and definitely lighter.

Anyway, was looking at the louvers and they look different than ones of Caribbeans on the photo pages inasmuch as they don't seem to have the vertical bars. Hood on inside does look flat like the 55 photos as much as I can see. 56 had little fingers coming forward on the louvers as well as the inside of hood being stamped with rounded depression for the scoop simulation up to halfway back.

I believe what Al has there is a '55 hood, judging by the deeper stamped depressions next to the fenders, which were minimized in '56. And yes, good point about that hood prop rod.

Al, after you get the hood on, don't stick you head under there without a prop! Was there one installed when you got the car?

This is getting curiouser and curiouser.

If it's some kind of dealer installation and not just a hobbyist's one-off, that car would have quite a pedigree--similar to the, what the heck were they, Monte Carlo or something, dealer packages that were available.

Even more interesting would be if it was a custom factory order. Not likely, but you know what they say about customer requests at Packard. Especially if someone had been a longtime customer with some inside connections, it would've been possible, if not very probable.

We all dream about that one special factory made car with a mysterious past that comes to light years later. I hope this is one of those... but I guess I wouldn't bet on it.