Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

First request for for my newly acquired 1956 Clipper. It's already destined for a paint job. The original interior will clean up ok, but I also noticed that the plastic "glasses" on the front of the instruments is crazed - looks likely due to age. The plastic is still transparent so they function fine. The reason I think it's age is that I have some spare instruments which have exactly the same problem with the plastic lenses.

Any ideas on how to replace these? Is this a problem on other V8 Packard models?
Or did the more expensive ones use glass?

Cheers

Brian

Heat,Sun & age will do this. A used piece from the Norther US will solve your issue but shipping will kill ya! Maybe start a list of things that you will need & try to procure all at once?

I believe the lenses are plastic although it is a really hard plastic. I have one with a cracked lens that feels almost like glass but it can be gouged with a sharp point. If it is crazed on the outside surface then it probably is plastic and perhaps one of the modern plastic lens headlight restore kits would work. By removing the cluster from the dash you can gain almost full access to the front of the lenses. You can remove the individual instruments from the cluster to gain access to the inside surfaces but access is limited and there are some pieces that will not remove easily or maybe without damage so I wouldn't go overboard. Senior gauges have a round metal center piece protruding thru the lens that appears to be crimped into place. Not sure if the Clipper has similar.

I can't remember whether Clipper letters are gold or white but it may not matter because of where the letters are placed and the need to disassemble the instruments to get to them. The letters are gold in senior models and have frequently turned a greenish color due to corrosion. That is a problem in trying to restore the pristine look. I believe the way they may have possibly been made was by a foil heat stamping process and recoloring with ordinary paint won't work because most common paints appear dull thru the plastic. If you can figure out a reasonably easy fix for that issue I expect many would raise a toast.

Thanks for that. The cracks are inside the plastic and not very visible from some angles. Will not polish out, but perhaps not bad enough to go hunting for replacements or trying to dismantle other gauges. Thanks for your response. Sounds like the senior cars used something similar, so would have expected someone to reproduce them by now but looks like not. Yes, it's quite a hard plastic and has not discoloured or gone cloudy.

Cheers

Brian

I should have looked before I piped up about the instrument "glasses". When I rummaged through the mountain of spares which came in the trunk of the car, I found not one but two complete instrument assemblies. One looks about the same as mine with the dreaded cracks in the plastic (see pic) and the other is considerably better (maybe off another model - slightly different but who'd notice). Guess which one I'll use. Anybody recognise the second one?

Cheers Brian

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The second one is from a 55 Clipper and they always seemed to hold up better. Plus, they are drop dead gorgeous lit up at night.

Thanks Ross.

So the good ones are from a '55 Clipper. Yes, they're quite attractive and they are in far better shape than mine. Looks like some of the decoration etc is actually on the inside surface of the plastic.

I assume they're hooked up the same way. The whole assembly is identical to mine from the front, except the fuel and temp gauges are swapped (maybe for right hand drive)?There's a small rectangular metal box screwed to the back of the speedometer housing which looks like some sort of power supply for the instrument lights. And there is a capacitor attached to that which I have not figured out yet. Maybe I need to look at the wiring diagram.

Anyway, thanks for the identification. Cheers Brian

The small rectangular box with 2 screw terminals is the voltage regulator for the fuel and temp gauge. Takes 12v and regulates it down to 5v the gauges need.

The gauges will hook up the same way as the 56 although if your RHD car has the gauges reversed in the cluster from those in a LHD then depending on how the conversion was done the wires may be routed differently.

The capacitor is part of the radio suppression and won't be on a schematic. The instrument regulator has a set of contacts that can arc when they open and cause a clicking and static sound on the radio. The capacitor controls that noise a bit. Here is info on other capacitors you may find that won't be in the wiring diagrams. If I remember the photo of the dash you posted your radio did not appear to be the same as those used in the US. More likely it is one installed in your country for the different Australian frequencies so the installer may have done noise suppression with different components or locations than shown in the illustration but the idea would be the same.

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Hello Howard

Thanks for that. Yes, I'm fairly sure the radio was a local fitment since it has the local AM stations printed on the dial. Ditto the heater, which is a Smiths job.

I seem to recall that many car manufacturers continued to use 5/6V gauges etc when they switched to 12V for ignition, lights etc around 1955. Sounds like that includes Packard.

Here's a pic of the rear of the '55 Clipper gauge assembly, showing what is perhaps the voltage reducer. I'm guessing that the instrument and warning light bulbs were changed to 12V? Maybe the capacitor hanging off this was for the (factory accessory) radio as you say.

We'll see if I can attach the pic successfully!

Cheers Brian

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the plastic lenses are almost certainly polyacrylate ( brand names like Perspex and Plexiglas). A fine abrasive like headlamp restorer (headlamps are usually polycarbonate) should be fine and will buff out surface crazing and yellowing, but will not repair deeper damage.