Packard Forum Index » General

Kev -

Thanks for the update on the additional 1943-45 Service Letters/Counselors. I will make a trip to the local WiFi hotspot, next week, to download those new issues for assimilation into the greater collective of the Packard Service Index database.

Since we're at it, I reviewed all Studebaker Service Bulletins, as they apply to 48-56 Detroit-built and 57-58 South Bend models against our collections. Here's an updated list of the MISSING SSBs that are needed to help complete the site's collection and feed the Service Index:

Studebaker Service Bulletins

No. 318 (??? 1956)
No. 321 (FEB? 1957)
No. 326 (JUL 1957)
No. 328 (SEP 1957)
No. 329 (??? 1957)
No. 330 (OCT 1957)
No. 336 (APR 1958)
No. 337 (MAY 1958)
No. 355 (JUN 1960)
No. 356 (JUL 1960)
No. 358 (OCTO 1960)
No. 359 (JAN 1961)
No. 360 (MAR 1961)

Readers, please review posts #29 and #30 in this thread for additional, related material that we are looking for.

I had 318 (Sept 56) from somewhere and have uploaded to Kev.

Many thanks for that one, Howard!

I believe it contains new model specifications info on the 57th Series (Clippers). I'll add that topic to the 57-58 Index after that issue becomes available for download.

Howard, thanks for the upload. Brian, it is now in the SC folder, and the SSB article has been updated to reflect it.

After reviewing SSB No. 318, I'm sorry to report that this bulletin only covers new model info for Studebaker's own passenger cars and trucks for 1957 - NOT the Packard Clipper models.

The Studebaker Service Bulletin Index (provided in SSB No. 341) only showed a topic of "New Models" for this issue, with model application showing "1957 Pass. Cars and Trucks". I had assumed that would have included Packards, but was wrong.

Now, I'm wondering exactly what missing SSB No. 329 actually contains, as it showed a topic of "New Models" with application of "All 1958 Models".

Meanwhile, SSB No. 318 does provide some interesting reading that may provide some comparison and contrast - incuding supercharger details for the '57 GH.

Adding the great work that Brian has done on the previous Service Indexes that are in place, his latest installment is now online covering the 1941-1947 Clippers

You can access this information by clicking on the "Packard Service Index" link on the Main Menu, and then clicking on the 1941-1947 Clippers Index link.

Thanks to Brian for his continued hard work on this project for the website.

Also, anyone wishing to help with the Pre-War years please raise your hand!

With just over 600 topics, this installment might seem only slightly larger than the one for 48-50, but keep in mind we have no STBs prior to 1948 (yet). However, SC Vol. 19, No. 9 shows that STBs date back to as early 1945. Also, we still don't know when single-topic Technical Letters fell by the wayside. There could be a lot more to this installment, depending on further contributions of material.

In fact, there are (at least) four topics regarding:

- Piston Ring Selection
- Oil Pump Cover Repair
- Heat Control Valve Kits
- Gearshift Sticking

...which are noted, but with no detail, as we are missing two newsletters from the 1945 set: SC Vol. 19, Nos. 7 & 11.

Yet, rather than rehash all the missing documents in this thread, know that I've revised the introductory texts for each of the indices to include that information - preceded by a little historical perspective. As always, if you can supply any of these missing documents for scanning, please contact the webmaster.

Yet, in spite of what I was able to accomplish with this installment, I'm not completely satisfied with the results.

In previous work, I've found some articles where model application was not clearly specified - even some labeled as "All Models", when that wasn't exactly the case. Though I kept moving on with transcription, I always came back later to explore those topics in greater detail. Usually there was a clue to help clarify things - if not a direct reference, perhaps a part number that I could run against the parts books. Yet, I found such instances growing in number as I worked my way back through the years - especially for the 48-50 installment.

Nearly half of the articles in the 1941-47 timeframe posed such problem, but I was only able to knock off about a third of them. My own lack of familiarity, with these and earlier models, was a detriment, but there are other obstacles. For example, unlike 1948 and later years, accessories are not listed in the earlier parts books. While I found some supplemental lists in our archive, they simply do not cover enough years.

Another problem involves 20th series applications, where only some of the chassis are Clippers, but others were carried over from prior years. The latter had a parts book all their own, which presently isn't available in our collection. As a result, I had no way to authenticate applicationds for non-Clipper models, which results in some unnecessarily verbose citations, such as "2000-01-03-06-10-11", when "20th" (or less) might actually do. Thankfully, BigKev was able to vertically align the text to the top of each row to improve readability.

This situation may only get worse with prewar topics. At a glance, it might look like we've got part books for all years from 1930-1941, but coverage is, by no means, complete by model. We are missing the following parts books:

- <b>1942 for 110, 120, 160, and 180 non-Clipper models</b>
- <b>1937-39 for Super 8 and Twelve (15th-17th Series Seniors)</b>
- <b>1932-36 for Twelve (9th-14th Series)</b>
- <b>1932 for the Light Eight (Model 900)</b>

For now, articles with vague model applications that I could not resolve are simply noted as "(not specified. However, those of a general nature are noted as "(all models)", to differentiate them from articles published in later years which are genuinely labeled as "All Models.

Hopefully, the indexed information will still prove useful.

Please to announce that thanks to Brian's (BH) tireless efforts the next two installments of the Service Index are now online for your enjoyment.

These installments cover the following:

1935-37 Junior (120->115C)

1937-42 (15th->20th Series) (Seniors)

So with this we have a complete set back to 1935 for the Juniors, and 1937 for the Seniors.

To access this information, simple click on the "Packard Service Index" link on the Main Menu on the left side of the screen.

Thanks Brian for all your hard work on this!

You're welcome!

In addition to juggling nearly 1,800 entries between the two, the additional insights gained from this research caused me to go back and edit topics and application information for previous installments, online, including many from 1941-47 and 48-50. If any of you have previously printed out index pages, you might wanna go back and do so again.

Alas, because the aforementioned parts books are still missing from our archive, vague references to applications continue to be a problem. While shop manuals from this period provided some help, we're missing editions for 1942, 1941, 1940 (110/120), 1936, and all years prior to 1935. Yet, it seems that the further we go back in time, the less comprehensive their coverage.

Next, although I've been able to provide coverage on topics back to 1935, there are plenty of documents that we don't yet have - noted in the introductory texts.

Looking forward, our present collection of Service Letters falls off after 1933; we may have enough material for only one more installment - 1933-36 (excluding Juniors). Yet, because this newsletter dates back to 1927, there could be another thousand articles on earlier Packards. Also, we have practically no Technical Letters, and I'd wager a bet that there were close to a thousand of those published over the years.

If any of you can provide additional material for scanning, please contact BigKev.

thanks BH!