|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
 
|
Brian, are you aware that the RHD 1956 Clipper that was road-tested in England was shipped by Packard as a LHD car and the conversion to RHD done by Packard's London dealer Leonard Williams? When you get your build slip we may well know if it was built as an export model, but regardless of that I suspect the conversion to RHD was done locally.
I could post the road tests again if you haven't seen them and can't find it on site here, same car but road-tested by two different publications. PS -photo of Utica motor number and location. Attach file:  (116.13 KB)
Posted on: 2020/4/16 12:06
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
 
|
Thanks for the info and pics guys. Sorry, Leeedy!
Yes, it's possible that my car was shipped as a LHD. If so, it must have come with a kit of RHD components for the conversion. The dash is definitely a factory job, and a mirror of the LHD version. Quite a few other mechanical bits too, like Ultramatic linkage, steering gear etc. It did get a locally fitted heater (on the opposite side) and a radio and later, electric wipers. LHD to RHD conversions are very common here now, but were not then. Quite a few US cars were built here in the 1940/50s with Australian bodies. I guess the Production Order will help answer some of these questions, when I finally see it. O-D the paint on the block of my engine would probably obscure the Utica engine number, if it's there. Will have to do some scraping when I go looking for it. Most likely will find it. Cheers Brian
Posted on: 2020/4/16 17:29
|
|||
|
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her! |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
|
Brian, the 55/56 Packard products (Clippers only, to my knowledge) converted to RHD by Leonard Williams also did not have the standard heater but were as I recall equipped with the type of heater last used on the 21st series cars, this is mentioned in one of the road test reports. Yes, they had a factory-supplied mirror image dashboard stamping, and the metal mesh fascia was the LHD item just flipped over.
Posted on: 2020/4/16 18:01
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Dave
Yes, it's beginning to look like that, but it would have needed more than the dash to do the RHD conversion. I do have a copy of the UK road test, thanks. I was told by a previous owner that the heater in my car is Smiths brand (not to be confused with Smiths instruments in UK). That is an Australian product that went into large numbers of locally built cars here. It does look like the heaters fitted to many Packards around that time. I can't see a brand name on it. I'll try to get some pics. It may in fact be an earlier Packard item, as you say. Brian Attach file:  (171.54 KB) (200.29 KB) (188.32 KB)
Posted on: 2020/4/16 20:38
|
|||
|
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her! |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Hello Leeedy
There's a fairly clear pic in an earlier post of the vehicle plate on the left hand door jamb in my car. I'll post it here again. Cheers Brian Attach file: (197.61 KB)
Posted on: 2020/4/16 20:56
|
|||
|
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her! |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
|
Quote:
The heater doors look like they are opened by hand. Does the temp and heat/defrost lever on the dash do anything in the heater and is the right and left side air vent still operational?
Posted on: 2020/4/16 21:04
|
|||
|
Howard
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Quote:
Uh-ohhhhh. Something "pops" out at me right away: POP rivets. The Packard factory didn't use modern pop rivets to attach serial plates on V-8 Packards and Clippers. Serial plates from this period were always spot-welded in place. The two alignment holes were normally left open (even though they look perfect for screws or rivets). Furthermore... this serial plate has no stampings for either the exterior color or the interior. Normally blank entries were only found on very odd custom orders... for instance where a color was ordered that was not a factory color and thus had no code available. Having both sections blank would be highly unusual, but possible. While your plate does not look new, normally when I see one looking like this, I'm inclined to think the plate is a repop (no pun intended).
Posted on: 2020/4/16 22:48
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
|
Quote:
Leeedy wrote:.....[size=small]Uh-ohhhhh. Something "pops" out at me right away: POP rivets. The Packard factory didn't use modern pop rivets to attach serial plates on V-8 Packards and Clippers. Serial plates from this period were always spot-welded in place. The two alignment holes were normally left open (even though they look perfect for screws or rivets). A couple of '55 Clippers were recently auctioned in Australia. One was missing the Serial Plate but the other did have one. It too was pop riveted and had no stampings for exterior colour or interior, although there are some "scratchings" there. Attach file: (174.85 KB) (195.86 KB)
Posted on: 2020/4/16 23:23
|
|||
|
Mal
/o[]o\ ====  Bowral, Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia "Out of chaos comes order" - Nietzsche. 1938 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD 1941 One-Twenty Club Coupe - SOLD 1948 Super Eight Limo, chassis RHD - SOLD 1950 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD What's this?  Put your Packard in the Packard Vehicle Registry! Here's how! Any questions - PM or email me at ozstatman@gmail.com |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: 1956 Clipper Deluxe
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Quote:
Yesss, I've seen such pop-riveted plates stateside. But whenever I've seen them here, the plates turn out to be repops. I even removed one once for a disbeliever and one could clearly see the old spotweld trace hits underneath the pop-riveted plate. Perhaps there was a process in Australia using blanked plates and pop rivets. But this was not a factory process for V-8s
Posted on: 2020/4/16 23:50
|
|||
|
||||
