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

The three screws are speedometer only. Funny, but I have exactly the opposite view of dash removal. Through some quirk of fate the dashboards in the '49 and '50 are both darn near perfect and gather lots of respectful comments at shows. I would be too terrified to remove either dash for fear of scratching it. Now the '41... that's a different story... I'll just rip that sucker out and go to work on it.

Mine needs refinishing. I plan to purchase the a graining roller and zinc plate with the correct image of the grain for my '48 when I can come up with the $.

Yeah, I'm going to have to do something with the '41 dashboard eventually... it's a mess.

I removed the '49 speedometer this morning. It wasn't that big of a deal, but the temperature in the garage is rapidly becoming intolerable. Just the three screws and the trip odometer reset. Just as BDeB described it.

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That helps a lot to see where the screws are.

Did you discover why yours was binding?

When I bought the car the speedometer cable was disconnected and the speedometer pointed at 30 MPH. I have disassembled it, figured out how it works, and I'd say it suffered a catastrophic failure. Looks like the pointer mechanism that is supposed to only be influenced by the spinning magnets became somehow engaged with them. It appears as if the pointer restraining springs were just spun into useless tangles of fine wire. It must have been something to see as the pointer spun around the dial at the same rate as the cable (until the cable snapped). I'll post some pictures on my '41 project blog later.

It looks like I'm in the market for a new speedometer mechanism. I'll re-use the trip odometer on the '50 as that one only works when it wants to (like the clock).

Ouch!