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

Happy to have interior finished. ready to go back to shop to get doors, hood and trunk deck installed.

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Very nice!

I am curious about heating the rear seat area. I don't see grills in either of the locations I've seen on other LWB cars. Some have had heaters in the front seat sides with air grills above the courtesy lights and next to jump seats and others have had them under the rear seat with grills thru the base of seat. Is your car so equipped and just not finished or did it not have any heaters for the rear seat.

If no rear heaters am wondering how well the standard front underseat heater will move air thru what appears to be a solid back down to the floor or is there an opening under the jump seats?

This car never had the rear heater arrangement. Not sure if it was omitted since it was a SC car originally (and still is). The heater provided was a Deluxe box heater under the dash compartment. Worked well for the front seats. As kids we used the "blanket option" in the rear seating area.

Surprising on the no rear heater and also that the buyer opted for the deluxe heater instead of the dual stream setup that was more common on the 21st series. I wonder if because of the solid seatback the underseat was not available on LWBs. If you have a chance I'd really like to see a photo of the deluxe heater in a Clipper. Does it have the in dash switch with knob in Clipper styling or the under dash switch.

Am under the impression they stick out quite a bit and the large box really cuts down on passenger leg room. I have one and at one time had thought of using it in place of the existing dual stream defroster and underseat setup. Without opening up the different dash knockouts for the heater tubing couldn't get a good estimation of how it would fit so opted to keep the underseat.

Howard,
I believe the choice of options in this car was limited since it was ordered from Gibbes Machinery, the Packard dealer in Columbia, SC, specifically(I think) as a funeral home "family car" meant to make fairly short trips. It came into our "family" in 1957.
When the interior was being re-done, I took a number of the smaller pieces, specifically the ones with the small 1/2 round trim and worked on those. The rear kick panel did have the framing to cut in duct vents so maybe there was another under-seat heater that could have been ordered for that. I believe one of the first pictures shows the stainless half round bead trim spanning those two openings. Yes, the B&B Deluxe heater is a bit bulky but it does mount fairly high under the dash compartment so foot room was still available. The switch for control was the "clamp on" switch mounted to bottom of dash. Not sure if that could be wired to the dash switch or not. This will be the last installation sometime late summer or fall. Some time to get feedback on that and always appreciate someone helping along the learning curve.

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Howard,
I agree with the "normal options". We also had the super clipper custom eight 5 passenger sedan (2106??) and I remember heat making it into the back seat from under the font seat. Drove a number of Packards including a 51 patrician, 52 200 and a 55 400 that I bought for $30 in 1968.....and drove it home! It did have a shattered push rod but managed to fix that in about three hours. Drove that car for another 35K miles

Thanks for the photos. The B&B heater is a bit different than the Packard heater I have. It looks even bigger in area but doesn't appear quite as deep. The Packard deluxe assy has the defroster blower with outlets on the rear of the box and a fan blowing thru three heater doors in front. Motor reverses to determine which function is being used.

The conventional cars used the under dash switch but the factory Clipper in dash switch uses a chrome knob in one of the dash spots to match the others but has a special 5 position switch. I have a switch but ceramic and one resistor is broken so needs repair. Off is with knob all the way in the dash. First two positions out are defroster low and high then next two positions out reverse the motor and blow heat low and high out the front with a small amount still going to defroster. Am not sure if the chrome knob had special lettering for both functions or just used the regular Heater or Defroster knobs.

Howard,
Was rummaging through inventory (long buried) in shop last week and stumbled into a Dual Stream heater that I had glanced at occasionally but never really studied up close. I remembered your reference to it but am certain it did not come out of this car. Only the Deluxe box. This may have been in inventory at Gibb's Machinery Co in Columbia that gave all of their Packard inventory to my dad when they changed over to VW dealership and inventory. Not sure why I looked at it last week other than "telepathic transcommunication (non hard wired). Wont rule that out. Thought I would just bookend that end of the conversation. a few pictures included of box as well as others of the interior taken by my "bride" who is a far better photographer than I will ever be. Thanks again for all of the information and encouragement. Much needed/appreciated as the car improves and the check book shrinks (disproportionately)

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Well, at least you have something to sell or trade if you can't use it. Am curious if that underseat arrangement could have been used in a LWB with the seat back to the floor. Is there any space under the partition or in the jump seat storage spaces for air to flow or a place for a grill opening?

Have never seen the heater that was under the rear seat either -- just have photos of the exposed grills and the center mounted switch that to me is in a very vulnerable easy to hit or kick spot. Based on my regular sedan rear seat doubt there was any room under the seat to mount something unless it is a long square affair that could go in a narrow space just behind the front edge. If not there wonder if those units go under the car. Anyone have info or photos of the LWB or Limo rear seat heaters??

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Howard.
Those pictures are very interesting. When the interior was dismantled, I took most of the pieces to the upholstery shop but kept a few simple ones/complicated ones at home. These were mostly the ones that required the 1/4" trim molding, ie front kick panels, front seat side trim and back seat kick panel. When I uncovered the back seat kick panel their was obviously a round hole in the middle (covered previously) and two grill/speaker cutouts either side. The 1/4" trim strips continued across the grill cutouts so they were never meant to hold grills/speakers. It must have been an option. The question I have for future (still a ton of stuff {$$$$$} to pay for to finish) is: would this Dual Stream unit work under the back seat with heater hose plumbed in series. Seems like it would, just need the controls, plenums and grills along with the shortened stainless steel trim. My resto shop could likely cut the trim and hammer the ends to roll finish.....they are good......