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Other than the fact that the plain caps are probably unobtanium, it would be cool to have them just to be different...

BigKev - thank for that information. I had not found that. That definitively clears it up!

Ken_P - yeah, they would be cool, but in my case I wouldn’t want then even if they were truly what my car had originally. For me, “original’ is what the car had when Dad was driving it and that was with the model designation.

I went to the shop today to pick up the last of my interior trim pieces to be re-woodgrained. While there, I learned the cause of my tire rubbing the right front fender when making a sharp turn and up the curb of my driveway.

The main fender support arm was bent. It’s likely that this was bent when Dad got hit in that corner and had the fender damage. They were straightening it back out to match the undamaged profile of the drivers side. That should bring my fenders back to the proper (and matching) height and take care of my tire rubbing.

They shop takes a lot of pictures and puts them in Google photos. They just forgot to add me so that I can see the photos along the way. They said they have some good photos showing the damage to the support arm. I’ll post the photos once I have access to them.

Anyway, it’s always good news to at least know the source of a problem. You can’t fix it until you know the source.

Well, the nerdy engineer in me kicked in regarding the 138CD hubcaps. This is purely an exercise in a known cat killer…curiosity. It has absolutely no bearing on my car and was done purely for fun. Even if the non-model name hubcaps were available, I would not change them for what I have. As I’ve said before, in this instance, “original” to me is defined as what the car had when Dad bought it and drove it.

That said, I’ve gone through an exercise that supports that my car would likely have had had the “One Twenty” hubcaps originally based on the letter provided by BigKev that indicates the non-model hubcaps were introduced in mid-April 1937.

So, I started with known facts.

1. There are no records that show actual manufacture dates of these cars. Dang it, Packard!

2. The non-model hubcaps were introduced in mid-April, 1937

3. Based on serial numbers and rosters, it is known that there were at least 670 1090 limousines produced. Per the Packard Club, the lowest known number is 1090-1021, which is CLi55r’s car) and the highest number is 1090-1670. Numbering started at 1000 (for US built cars). Canadian built cars started at -0000. For this exercise, I’m only looking at the US built cars. All currently known 1090 limousines were US built.

4. The 1937 model year started roughly around September 1, 1936 and ran through August 31, 1937. As you’ll see, the exact dates aren’t critical for this exercise.

5. CLi55r’s car definitely had the “One Twenty” hubcaps as it is known to have been sold in December, 1936; long before the introduction of the newer hubcaps.

Now for the “assumptions”. I put that in quotes, because I use the term loosely, it’s really more of a “what if”.

1. Let’s assume for a minute that there were truly only 670 of these cars produced in the model year. It’s likely that there were more, but we know there were at least 670.

2. Let’s also assume for a minute that the manufacture of this model was mostly evenly distributed through the model year. I’ll come back to this one.

3. Lastly, let’s assume there was likely a three to four week shut down between model years for retooling (as is done today) such that the last 1937 was built at the end of July or very early August and the first 1938 was built in early September, 1937.

Now, for the math exercise. With these “what ifs”, it just happens to line up that if Packard built two 1090s per day, with number 1001 being built on September 1, 1936 that number 1670 would have been built on August 1, 1937. Now, this assumes cars being built 365 days per year.

So, with that even distribution, that would put my car, number 1279, being built around January 18, 1937. This would mean that my car would have had the “One Twenty” hubcaps originally.

Now, let’s assume for a minute that there were more than 670 of these cars built, but that they were manufactured evenly throughout the model year. If this was the case, then it would mean that my car would have been manufactured even earlier in the model year and still would have had the “One Twenty” hubcaps.

Next, let’s assume that there were only 670 cars built, but that Packard took time off for holidays etc…That would mean that my car may have been built slightly later in the year and that Packard built more than two per day for the rest of the year to account for the days off. For this scenario, my car would still have had the “One Twenty” hubcaps since this certainly would not have delayed production by three months.

So, what does all this mean. Well, nothing really. But, it shows that is reasonable, if not likely, that my car was manufactured around mid-January, 1937 or earlier and would have had the “One Twenty” hubcaps…..unless….

This all falls apart and is completely meaningless if Packard didn’t manufacture the model evenly throughout the model year. For instance, what if they made a run of 200 cars early in the year and then stopped with that model in favor of another model. Then, later in the model year had more higher-volume runs. If that was done, all bets are off, which is why my final conclusion is that I believe it to be likely that my car originally had the “One Twenty” hubcaps, but there is no way for to know for certain.

I do know this certain….the “One Twenty” hubcaps are “original” for my car per my previously definition of “original”.

-Once a nerd, always a nerd!