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

Based on the fact that 2122-4075 had engine# F511829, I'd say your number is reasonably in sequence.

If not the original engine block, then one produced near when your Clipper was made. Probably the original engine.

As Howard mentioned above, it was a common practice to use the engine number to register vehicles back in the day. What number is on your title?

There is also a casting date on the block, down low just above the oil pan at the rear of the engine, but I forget which side. It should be easier to find than the stamped engine number.

(o{}o)

Hmmmm....Yeah about that title thing. The woman I bought it from hadn't seen the title in 25 years as wasn't to clear if it ever had one. I did find a couple of plates in the car, one from '75 and the other from '80. If they belong to that care I have no idea. For the moment I have a bill of sale.

Going to have to tackle DMV on that one. I should tell you guys the story of trying to title my Triumph Spitfire sometime.

As Always thanks for the info.

This could get complicated.

My 115C was an Oklahoma car, delivered by Oklahoma City Packard on December 24, 1936 (someone got themselves a very nice Christmas present). I believe the Packard spent its life in that state until 1990. The car was registered with the engine number and this number was used when the car was registered in New Mexico and later in Texas.

If your Packard was an Oklahoma car, there was a good chance it was registered with the engine number. I have learned that only a few states used the engine number for registration purposes and the others used the vehicle identification number. California was one of the states using the engine number and it seems as if Oklahoma did also.

(o{}o)

The lady was pretty sure the car came from California. Maybe or maybe not registered in OK. My Spitfire was sold in CA then spent most of it's life in NC registered every year and running.

Got it to OK and CA had added the make year '69 to the front of the commission number on the title. I go to register it and the guy can't see the 69 on the commission plate. NO GO! Had to jump the a bunch of hoops including trying to get CA to send me a letter stating that the had destroyed those old records. Which they had. Never got a letter. OK gave me a tag but still working on a title.

What's the worst that could happen? Car is titled to someone in CA who died in like 1972. We shall see.

How did you discover where and when your car was delivered?

If you are relying on anything from Calif DMV, don't hold your breath. They have got to be one of the most aggravating bunches to deal with. I won't go into the hassles with them on my first Packard which had not been registered for some years before I got it but it was painful -- and I even had a title and all the supporting paperwork. I recently found I made the mistake a few years ago of dropping my 47 into non op status. Now that I'm working on the car and it is almost ready to drive, went to reregister this last time. it was BS all over again and took quite some time and several phone calls and a couple of letters. (Calif doesn't want registration handled at local offices -- all mail or internet). It took almost two months to finally get that sorted out.

How did you discover where and when your car was delivered?

Unless you are extremely fortunate and your car was in a batch of old dealer records an individual has managed to collect, expect you will be out of luck. The selling dealer was supposed to stamp his name, the date sold and city on the patent plate in 47. Some did, some didn't but you said your plate was almost nothing but a blank piece of metal now so any info that might have been there is gone.

The only thing left on my plate are what was stamped in but it's only the ID number. No other stampings. Guess I'm SOL.

Thank you very much for the information!

That means 2122 series?
The engine of 2122 series was 356 with 8 cylinders?
Thank you

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2122 is a 21st series 47 model year 6 passenger sedan and it does have the 356 engine. It is built on the 2106 chassis. The 4932 is the sequence number and means that car was approximately the 2932 car built in that series since the starting sequence number was 2001. I say approximately because that tag you show is commonly referred to as the Briggs tag as it was identification assigned by Briggs when they built the body. The official Packard vehicle number was assigned when the car started down the production line and is on the patent plate screwed to the cowl in front of the driver. It can differ by a few from the number on the Briggs tag since bodies did not necessarily go on the line in the order they were received from Briggs. The engine number will start with an F if it is the original engine and that number is found stamped on a smoothed surface on the drivers side of the block approximately in the middle around the distributor area and just below the head.

Here is the official 21st series ID info which is taken from the Body I section of the 41-7 Clipper parts book.

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Info:

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