Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I know of a 56 Clipper HT belonging to Dave327 that had a body inspection slip tucked behind the headliner directly ove the rear quarter window. It showed schematic of body flaws requireing correction on the line. Not sure if there was a build slip for the car or not.

Guy -

Know that my purpose in composing those option code tables was to document what I found in just a few Trade Letters and to help owners decode any build code strip or production record they may have found.

I was still working on those tables when Owen started this thread. Shortly after I released them for BigKev to publish here, I was contacted by a gentleman with copies of some additional documents of relevance.

In view of this thread, I felt it was necessary to bring some of that information into this discussion, but as of this writing no one has produced a car or document bearing those codes/options.

Without a complete set of Trade Letters, we may never know the full story. It could be that some of those option codes were aborted - like the Caribbean undeseat heater - or completely stillborn - like the "Jet Streak" parts peformance package for the Packard V8 (see my post of 2008/9/21 22:03, in this same thread).

Of course, I did revise the tables with information that cleared up some gray areas on known options, but be advised that the tables will remain as-is until we acquire further bona fide documentation and evidence.

the body tag on the door pillar of my 56 seems to indicate a normal green over green color, and no high speed equipment. something about the whole 'packard mentality' of luxury kinda makes me think they would not have built a dedicated high speed package.

acording to the officers i bought the car from, it was common, at the time, for police chiefs to use personal vehicles. they figure that the car was a chiefs car, and eventually it became a dare car. the stories about this car are a bit convoluted, and at this point im not sure what to think. the earlist known police dept. said it had been set up as a dare car around 1990, however a friend of my dads told him that he had seen the car in use, in similar form as it is today, and in a completely different dept. many years before that perhaps 25 years ago at least.

Mike -

Unlike body tags on vehicles built in later years, the tag on your Packard will only show you the vehicle serial number, plus exterior paint and interior trim codes.

While there were a variety of paper forms used in the production and routing of cars before they reached the point of sale, if any of them remained with the car, I suspect it was by accident. (There's good reason why people find build sheets so often, but not always in the same place, on vehicles from later years - like GM.)

However, the one piece of paper that seemed to remain with Packards assembled in post-war years was a narrow strip of paper that was taped to the top of the glovebox liner. The build codes for the options that applied to the car, as ordered, were typed on that strip.

Unless that liner was removed or replaced, chances are pretty good that you may find the build code strip still there. Whether it is intact or the print is still legible is a whole 'nuther matter.

It could look something like the following. I've erased the sequential production portion of the vehicle number just because it's not my car and I didn't ask the owner's permission to use it here.

Attach file:

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thanks BH, good info! i will scour the glovebox this weekend!

Your welcome, Mike.

I can empathize with anyone looking for build sheets in these old cars because I wasted a good bit of time looking for something equivalent to my experience with GM cars of the '60s and '70s - to no avail. It's surprising how much the industry evolved over the course of a decade. The high incidence of build sheets found in so many GM cars years later had more to do with the evolution of electronic data processing in vehicle production and the lack of trash cans along the assembly line.

Getting back to Packards, I leared of the general location quite sometime ago, but couldn't seem to find anything. Of course, I was looking for a sheet or even a half sheet of paper. It was only in more recent yars, thanks to online discussion and input from longtime and learned enthusiasts who were willing to share, that I learned exactly what to look for - that strip of paper with nothing but cryptic codes.

As more of these "build slips" came to the surface, and thanks to copies of original Trade Letters from 1955 and 1956 that someone provided to me, I felt a concise, user-friendly table was needed to help decode that information.

If we ever get such letter for earlier Series, I'd be more than happy to construct similar tables for those cars as well.

Meanwhile, happy hunting!

Brian, my experience with finding the so called "build slips" (as opposed to the Shipping Order which also shows which options were installed) is that in an unrestored car you stand a good chance of finding it, though be careful it doesn't turn to dust in your hands. In a restored car you have almost no chance of finding it. Either the "restorer" didn't know the significance when he saw it and trashed it, or it's in some file or notebook of restoration details. Or perhaps if a rare and/or high dollar car, the owner didn't want any comparisons of features on the car as restored to when it was manufactured.

Owen -

That's exactly why I closed an earlier post with the comment:

"Whether it is intact or the print is still legible is a whole 'nuther matter."

Years ago, I pulled the complete instrument panel from my dad's tired old Exec. As I was cleaning it up a little, back at home, I noticed a piece of tape dangling from the glovebox, but - not kowing what it represented - probably tossed it. Still, I bet the build slip was a lost cause as the car had been siting in a field for some 15 years, but maybe I'll climb up in the attic this summer and check again.

I only know what the build code slip looks like because someone had posted an actual photo of one at another forum past. Believe it or not, I've been so busy working on other things since that I've yet to check any of my other Packards again for this little slip of paper. Thankfully, all of them are unrestored and under cover - EXCEPT for the Four Hundred parts car that's sitting out in a field.

I believe the build code slip that's affixed to the glove box shows the same string of codes as what was used on the genuine production order. I suspect use of carbon paper and typewriter by the factory as they also appear on other factory forms, but not all of those forms have a code table.

BTW Brian, what's the earliest year car for which you've found a build slip included with the car, and if you know, when they they begin that practice? The earliest I've found is a 1948 Custom 8 built and delivered in 1947 and I wonder how far back this practice went.

Also of those I've examined, most also included the rear axle ratio.