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I think I'd probably live with it. I'd be a bit afraid to hammer on old die cast metal.....
John

Agree with ptv. The old pot metal in those grills can crack too easily as it is and wouldn't take much before you might be sorry. Maybe there is a car club badge or something like that you could mount in that location so as to sort of hide the dent.

Thanks ptv and HH. I'll leave it alone. There are enough other things to keep my busy. Someday if I rechrome it, I guess they would solder or muggy weld some filler into the divit....I hope to get far enough that I can attach the grill to the car in a week or so.

I'll leave it alone

Good decision. The chance that it would break if you tried much of anything is 99.999999%

OK, before I get to put the grille on, I need to get my body panels somewhat straightened out. Can you guys give me some tips about packard hinges and body panels?
How can I adjust the hood up and down? As you can see in the pictures, the back of the hood is way up. Is that by loosening the three bolts that hold the hood hinge onto the body? What can I adjust with the hood hinge to body adjustment? Only up/down or also fore/aft?

Also with the doors, I think adjusting the hinge to body joint allows me to move the door in/out. Adjusting the door to hinge joint allows up/down and forwards/backwards and also some rotation of the door in the door frame.
Thanks for any advice. I need it! -I have my father in law helping me the next 2 days, so hope we can get some things together here.

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Check out section X Sheet Metal of the 51-4 service manual. It has some basic adjust into. There are a few detail changes on the later cars due to the different cowl and radiator splasher assy but you can also download section 10 Fenders and Sheetmetal of the 55-6 manual. The basic instructions are almost the same but photos might be a bit better.

Thanks Howard. I have the 51-54 manual, but the 55-56 manual was helpfull to read. Today we got the fenders, hood and grille aligned and on tight. Most of the hood adjustment was gotten from the hinge to body interface. We also had to not be afraid to use some muscle to move things around. It took us a good day to get the fenders and hood straight, as well as putting the grille together and on the car. Tomorrow the front bumper and doors are on the list! The alignment is not concourse perfect, but is quite good.
Man, that grille is held on with 1 thousand screws.
My car has a face again! I'm happy to be making some visible and shiny progress.
Oh, here is a question. I got the "rubber anti rattle things for the front stone guard". Do I have them in the right place? Should I glue them on also so they don't get lost!? Thanks!

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Well, I glued on those little black rubber anti rattle thingies onto the stone shield so they don't rattle off. Bumper is on and straight, and the doors were a pain in the butt, but are on, open and close well. One of the encaged nuts on the drivers door top hinge had turned, which was blocking me from doing any in/out movement on the top hinge! We removed that contraption and turned it 90deg, and then were able to adjust the driver door properly! I also ran into the aforementioned problem that the door can catch the rubber and pull it out from under the fender.....Took the door off again, glued it back a little more out of the way, then used the die grinder to make the rubber a little smaller, then lubed the rubber so it slides easily when the door closes! Hood latches well, and so do the doors! woo hoo. Pics to come! Looking more like a packard every day, and there are less partly lying around! With new rubber stoppers all around on the hood it closes very soundly. Now that I have been in the garage for 3 days straight, it's time to spend some time with the family.

That's what she looks like Now. I'm happy with the new rubber bumpers around the hood. I'm looking for a clean "packard clipper" script for the passenger side fender. The pitted one I have has the r broken off.

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Looking very nice, and I really love the color.