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

Guys,
What is the best way to remove the stainless trim on my 1949 series 22. Is there a special tool used or do you remove door panels and then nuts from the clips?

Pictures would be helpful. getting ready to start the paint process and it would sure be easy if the stainless trim was removed.

Thanks for any and all help.
Dave

If you haven't already, you might check out Tinman_70's blog at the PAC site. He is doing a lot of body work and might have covered some of your questions or has photos. There is no special tool other than something like a strong putty knife with a thin blade. It does need to be fairly stiff. That just slides under the trim and is used to pry the wire type clips out of the holes. Do protect the paint and body surface under the knife to avoid damage or creating more work. You can look thru the Restoration Specialties catalog to get an idea of the various types of clips used. It varied by the particular trim item. Packard used the same clips as everyone else with size being the difference.

Can't speak directly to the 22nd but would almost bet it is about identical to 21st series. If so, you are going to have a mixture of clips on the longer strips. Most will be the spring wire type you can just pull out of holes but there are some pieces where one or two stud types with nuts were used along with the wire type to clamp down and prevent the trim from sliding. Those were typically used on really long pieces or on doors where slamming could cause the trim to move. On the door pieces the trim panel will most likely have to come off but you can try to gently pry trim away from door using the tool. Stop at the sign of a portion not moving or when it becomes difficult to get the flat pry instrument to slide under the trim.

If same as 47 the stainless around the top of door windows has a couple of special fasteners at the B pillar ends. AFAIK they are NLA and no one reproduces and will probably be damaged with removal. The clip portion thru thin end of door flange is exposed and is flat to the surface. Am going to try and use a short approx 3/16" long sex bolt arrangement in place of the clip on mine. The short pieces on the B pillar are typically held by studs and nuts. The interior panel trim will have to come off to access those. The trim panel is held by a row of nail like fasteners down the middle which fit into receiver pieces in the body. Be careful in prying to be directly under the head of fastener as the old board may be quite brittle and could break in two. The fabric at the top may be fastened under the headliner. If that is the case best you can do is loosen the panel and swing it aside to reach the nuts.

The section of trim on the trunk lid is clamped onto a steel retainer strip which I believe will be held to the lid with rivets. You can verify by peeling back the weatherstrip on trunk lid and see if you find flat rivet heads about 3/8" in diameter. I think there were 4 or 5 of them on my 18" long sections. The stainless can be removed from the retainer without disturbing any of the rivets but it is a project. If your retainers were as rusted as mine you may want to do something with them. Am going to use the sex bolts in replacing those too.

Around the windshield and rear window, stainless is held by the rubber gasket. IMO, unless you are going to replace glass or gasket that trim is best left alone.

Got them off the right side, on the top of the door the clips had 2 tabs that had to be bent straight then came right off, the door trim was all clips which were easy to remove. Thanks so much for the help.
Dave.