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Thanks Howard

I should have guessed you would know about this! I'll check out potential sources of an original style pad, as you suggest.

I see what you mean about the stitching on the repro job. It looks neat but is obviously not original (not that I would know!). Not an issue since my car will never be a concours contender. I imagine originals of these covers have long since deteriorated - as they do in modern cars. If I draw a blank, I might just cover the metal surface with something a bit more attractive to see and touch. My car has seat belts, so I guess the padding itself does not serve much purpose but it sure looks better.

Thanks for your helpful reply.

Cheers

Brian

Howard suggested that the padded dash might have been an option on the Clipper and I was about to ask that very question! I have a senior dash that I was going to put into my Clipper Custom but had wondered whether or not the pad should stay. Still not sure if I'll do it or even if I'll get that far on the car but at least I know that it's proper to do so.

The parts book has 2 parts numbers for the pads, 55 & 56.

Plate 30B group 10.0008

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist5556/PartPlates.pdf


packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist5556/10_Instrument_Board.pdf

It does not list models, just 55th & 56th series.

The 55 did not have the stitching, but I believe it is correct for 56 to have the stitch.

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Hello Don

Yes, if you have one of those dash pads it would make sense to put it on.

I began thinking about this only when I saw the parts book illustration. I had already contemplated covering the metal dash with something else, but that would be the perfect answer if I can find one of the pads.

Howard put me on to Just Dashes. They have restored an earlier (1955) pad, but cannot make repros. Still not sure how I'd get one shipped here. It looks pretty bulky. There is a school of thought that the 1956 pad had the stitched edge, but I'd be happy with either style.

Regards

Brian

I just spotted a 1956 dash (or parts of one) on eBay. Lo and behold, it has the pad attached and is showing a stitched seam at the "front".

Hardly had I digested this than I wandered down to fire up the old Clipper. Was busy admiring the reflection of the brake lights in my wife's car, when I noticed that the right hand turn signal was not working at the front and both tell-tale lights on the dash illuminate faintly together when I turn the indicator lever that way. The other direction is working fine. Oh, how I love electrics. Not.

So tomorrow's job is to check out the leads to that front turn signal unit, which holds a combined parking light and turn signal lamp. The old lamp was well and truly fried. I fitted a spare which did not fix the problem so now I'm resigned to checking for an errant ground in the wires or maybe the bulb holder itself. I'm assuming the problem lies somewhere there. If it were the flasher unit, the other direction signals and rears presumably would also not work. While ferreting around under the dash - to find the flasher can - I noticed that a couple of the instrument lights are also not working. Hoping it's the globes. I have some small replacement LEDs with the same #57 bayonet fitting. Hopefully, I'll find a trained monkey to get in there to change them. Hoping the LED replacements work ok so I won't have to do it again anytime soon. I presume that the clock is lit by a similar globe, which is also not working. Come to think of it, neither is the clock so I had better check the power to that while I'm there.

Brian

Packard park and tail light assys do seem to have an affinity for the grounds going wonky. On 51-4 parking lights mounted in the pot metal grills it happens fairly often but there have been reports 55-6 housings had issues too. Corroding pot metal where the assys touch sheetmetal or rust between fenders and attaching bolts make for poor connections. Many have resorted to adding a dedicated ground wire between the pot metal housings or sockets and a reliable ground spot on the sheetmetal.

Well, tomorrow's job of sorting the front right hand park light and turn signal did not produce the desired result. Given my (very) limited skills as an electrician I called for help.

Found a guy who actually remembers these cars. Did not ask why he remembers them. The problem with one park light/turn signal unit looks like a superfluous ground or perhaps a short in the lamp unit itself. I will report back.

While he's in there, my saviour will update the instrument lamps with some LED replacements I bought a while back (#57 pattern) but have so far avoided ferreting behind the dash to install. Guess I'm getting old/lazy!

Does anybody know if the Twin Ultramatic gear indicator is supposed to be illuminated? I'm getting a bit tired of carrying a torch so I can see it at night. I'm guessing it should be lit, since the fresh air/heater controls have their very own light.

I note that even the clock light on the dash is still working. More than I can say for the clock itself.

Now if I can just get my paintwork guy to come out of virus-induced retirement, I will get the paintwork tidied up.

Cheers

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It is illuminated if the car has the column shift. The lamp socket is directly below the center of the cluster. In standard shift cars or those with PB shift the hole was empty and I don't remember what the filler insert looked like other than it was opaque so you could not see the empty socket hole. If the car had the optional emergency brake indicator available for models without the column shift the insert was changed to one normally appearing as a dark blocked off area. When the emergency brake handle was pulled out more than a notch or two it illuminated red with the word B R A K E spelled out. For models with column shift the brake indicator light was placed in a small bracket hanging below the dash edge near the brake handle.

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Thanks Howard

My Clipper has the Ultramatic column shift. It also has the regular quadrant for this transmission, not the park brake telltale light. I guessed it must have a gear quadrant lamp, but did not know where to look. Will check now for the bulb socket.

I do drive the car at night - or before sunrise - and look forward to dispensing with the torch. I've gotten pretty good at "feeling" where the shift is, though.

Have also gotten into the habit of applying the park brake to avoid the problem of getting it out of Park on a slope. Which I gather is typical of the Ultramatics (and maybe other autos of the time).

Cheers

Brian

Howard

I went looking for the lamp socket to illuminate the Ultramatic selector quadrant and found it as shown in your pic. Need to get a bulb which works into that. I did not know this fitting existed. The two "spare" instrument assemblies I have do not have it - must have come from manual shift cars.

While I was crawling around under there, I took a closer look at what else was hanging under the right hand side of the dash. (It's a right hand drive car.). No sign of the telltale lamp for the park brake, but there are:

1 A small push-pull switch fitted to the support bracket for the park brake. This operates an auxiliary electric fuel pump which I have never needed.

2 A rotary switch which manually adjusts the ride height for the Torsion Level suspension. Very handy in practice. This is independent of the on-off switch for the TL system.

3 The usual on-off toggle switch for the Torsion Level suspension.

4 A two position push-pull switch which controls the fan in the Smiths heater unit. It is not fitted with a knob, but has a nut attached to the shaft to operate. Works a treat, though.

This last item was new to me, but means I have an operational heater/demisting system which I was unaware of! Only catch is that the valve which directs warm water to the heater core is not attached to anything, so has to be operated by hand in the engine bay. Does not matter much in practice. It can be left on. The heater unit seems to have little effect when the doors are closed and the fan is not operating.

Perhaps some of this was expediency when the car was being assembled as right hand drive. Certain major items - such as the RHD dash, steering gear etc - appear to have come from the factory as part of the CKD kit, and perhaps some of this other stuff did too. Other items, such as the AWA Pushbutton AM radio and Smiths heater were clearly sourced locally. Whatever, it's surprisingly complete and functional.

And now I don't have to carry a rag to demist the screen and windows when traveling in blinding rain!

Cheers

Brian