Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Are there records extant which can correlate serial numbers versus actual production dates? viz, say a 5672 1479, where or how might one verify the actual build date for that car knowing the serial number but not having an actual build sheet, which I understand, was usually placed above the glove box, (just as with many 50s Mopars.) ?

Production records for some, though not all, of the '56 models are in the hands of the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, IN, and they charge for copies or time to research and answer a question. I personally have not tried to order a copy for any of my cars.

While some automakers plastered their vehicle with build sheets and left plenty of 'em with it, Packard did not.

The only thing you might find is a strip of paper (like ticker-tape) affixed to the top of the glovebox. The only thing printed on that strip is a string of codes - hence, the need for my build code (RPO) chart.

Those who have found a build strip so many years later report that it is fragile and the printing is badly faded. I may have even inadvertently thrown the one away for my dad's Exec, after removing the i/p assembly and cleaning it up - not knowing what it was.

IIRC, the build code strip does not contain a date. Why is the build date important?

The Studebaker Museum might have your build sheet, contact the gift shop there. That way you would know the build date.

check to see if your frame number is still there. mine was and it was 3/1/55. although this is the frame date, it will be pretty close to the car's date. mine is an early number so the 3/1 correlates nicely.

Well, it could be important to know, for example, the build date of the car in correlation to ongoing production mechanical improvements: For example if it were known on what build date or with what production number for a given model something like the improved oil pump design was first incorporated. The later '56s would have received the latest improvements, but when? I understand that many running changes were made during the model year, as in most cars. For my MG, it is known by chassis number exactly when the factory at Abingdon made any given change to mechanical or trim specifications.

Though the TSBs were dated and some of the running changes had a date of implemention, most all of them regarding engine and transmission had implementation schedules based on the Utica engine and transmission number which is easily found in most cases and probably a more accurate indicator of running changes than the build date. At least that's how I see it.

When I worked for Chrylser as a D.M., back in the '80s, you often had to provide an MDH number to obtain sufficient tech assistance to get to the bottom of a problem in the field. Even some of their TSBs referenced an MDH number. Found on a sticker on the door of every vehicle they built, at that time, that number was the month-day-hour of build - very precise.

Packard, however, approached things differently. STBs concerning running changes WRT to engines and transmissions were referenced by their unit serial number, rather than VN or build date. Take a look at STB 56T-20, for example.

I can only guess that they took such an approach because the engines and transmissions were assembled and numbered so far removed from East Grand and Conner Ave. assembly lines - in the Utica plant - and without regard to the specific vehicle that they would end up in. Inventories of those units at the point of vehicle assembly may not have been managed on a first-in/first-out basis.

However, those unit serial numbers do not appear to have been recorded on the production record, which may be just as well at this point, since engine transmission swaps are not uncommon.

Interesting. And makes sense. So essentially there is no way to know when a particular car was built, at least via the Data Plate or Serial No. MG also had a month/year plate on the door sill in later years, I believe for emission compliance and/or safety recall reasons.

Re the 55/56 cars, when I was collecting thief-proof numbers (BSNs or body serial numbers) and vehicle numbers for my recent project, it became apparent that, at least with regard to the production sequence by VN, most of the Caribbean BSNs were in clusters but the other body types were very random. In fact the highest known BSN is for a 55 car, not a 56. I had a hope that I would be able to make some sense of the production by gathering Utica plant engine and transmission numbers, but of data on perhaps 100 V8 cars, only 3 or 4 people were able to provide the Utica data or engine casting numbers, all of them from Caribbean convertible owners.

About the only thing I did conclude regarded the 56 Caribbean convertibles is that on cars from 1001 thru 1250 there is a reasonable correlation of VN to Utica engine #s and a very good correlation of Utica transmission numbers. But on the very last convertibles (beyond the 250 which was the original intended production limit), #1251 and up, the Utica motor numbers are very early #s and quite random.

All of this I assume was the result of what must have been rather chaotic conditions in the plants. I suspect there is more to be learned with more data, it's just so very difficult to obtain in enough quantity to be meaningful.

"But on the very last convertibles (beyond the 250 which was the original intended production limit), #1251 and up, the Utica motor numbers are very early #s and quite random."


Is there any evidence to contradict a possibility that the LAST Caribs with early engine numbers were actualy built BEFORE #1001 thru #1250 ???