Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

56P400,

As mentioned already, your build sheet may still be taped to the top of your glovebox cardboard. If it is still there, it could be in poor shape, so you want to be careful with it. If you can, try using a mirror to see if it is still there before you go through the trouble of messing with the cardboard glovebox.

Or as already mentioned, look under the seats too.

Finding a build slip under the carpet over the transmission hump has occasionally been reported. Also behind the rear seat back cushion.

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Well, QMopar, not all the knowledge is expert (see disclaimer below), as the quote above indicates. Thanks for the clarification Owen. I agree that it seems far-fetched that a Carib hood would be sacrificed at the factory to send to Mexico, but where in Mexico would anyone have found one? .

I wonder if the CKD cars were the last out of there, and got the last leftover body parts. People who can "read" the door plate numbers would know I suppose.

I'd still like to see a good pic of the underside of the hood showing the hinges at the back. You can sometimes tell quite easily if a hood has been horsed around with. That, I do know!

I wonder if the CKD cars were the last out of there

It might be possible to speculate on that if we knew the theft-proof or body serial numbers, not that the 55/56 numbers were anywhere near as orderly in progression as all other years.

Hi everybody:

I am very embarassed to admit I just notice I left this unattended, after all the kind help I had been getting. I guess it may be early alzheimers, as I can see no other excuse, except perhaps for wanting to take a pic of that theft proof number that I was requested...

It is: 006884

I wanted to attach a pic, but the server says I am trying to attack it, or something like that.

Anyhow, getting back on the subject, would this number tell anything?

Thanks!
Victor

The dies were getting well worn by 1955/56 but if you look more closely you should note that the first character is a "D", not an "0". As compared to all the other years since the theft-proof system was adopted in 1929, the 1955/1956 numbers are for the most part a useless random jumble.

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Sometimes the server doesn't like a format wheres a bunch of numbers separated by dashes and periods are placed together. Here is a default MAC naming format it definitely does not like and gives the same hacking message.

Screen Shot 2014-05-03 at 2.30.22 PM.jpg

In order to post that photo I would have to retitle it or remove everything following the date except the .jpg Perhaps your camera default naming format is doing something similar. You might try retitling your photo.

As to what is original/what is possible

Here's an example of how odd cars get built. Back in the '60's Dan and Fred bought a '56 400 with a Caribbean hood, from every inspection of the one-tone Roman Copper car it looked original and probably was but you really can't tell except from the build sheet. The car had one other "non-original" feature, the entirely original and near mint interior was in antiqued off white leather, the shade you'd expect to find on a BarcaLounger. All leather including door, quarter and kick panels, seat surfaces and sides, not a square inch of vinyl.

Questioning a former owner who used it as an everyday car, he said it was originally a Packard New York Zone car, obviously a special order Some of these cars are real, but as far as we know the claim that a car was built with the next or last years parts or a '51 part on a '54 because an employee went to the parts bin are bogus. Manufacturing plants have parts that are to be used on current production vehicles, replacement parts for prior years are in the service parts warehouse which are typically not a few steps away where a worker could pick a part while not skipping a beat on the line.

Thanks
James

I would agree that a car having an older part was most likely done at a dealership or after Packards demise rather than being a common factory production thing but there are some exceptions.

One example is the revised torque converter with 9" DD clutch disc introduced for 52 production. There is a notice in one of the service publications that some time after production on 52s started there were supply problems with the 9" disc. This caused a resumption of using the older 50-51 converters with the 11" clutch which required some other changes -- a special flex plate I think.

I forget how many cars were affected or how Packard documented the substitution on the car -- probably the usual dab of paint or some symbol or suffix on the motor number -- but it was a factory installation of an older part on quite a few cars. There were other instances of similar happening over the years.

That white leather was probably the "Phartedon White" (say it aloud) described by Ed Cunningham.

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