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The radio dial face should be the same shade as the instruments. In Clippers a dark sort of gunmetal color with white or maybe siver numerals and on Packards a light almost silver face with gold numerals. On Clippers the signal seekers had a bright chrome finish and buttons with lines that were in a fairly coarse pattern. The Packard signal seeker finish and buttons were more of a brushed chrome finish and the lines were very fine and close together.

Dash bezels also followed that styling regimen if any of yours need replacing. While they all had the same shape and names and will fit either line, the Clipper bezels had a bright chrome finish including the flat face where the lettering was placed. Packards had a more two tone effect with a duller brushed chrome finish only on the flat face part of the bezel.

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Howard,

Thanks a ton for this. My Radio appears correct based on the info you provided.

Don,
With your advice I looked at the stamped engine number and I'm a bit bummed - the engine is out of a 5542 (clipper super sedan) full number is 5542 - 5291. I had wondered why the generator was auto lite but the regulator was delco remy, and engine painted red instead of creme. Oh well, if she at least runs and drives I'll be happy. Would love to know at how many miles the engine was swapped though....

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At least one mystery has been solved! I once had a 1953 Patrician which had a 1954 Clipper 5-main 327 and a friend in the Packard Club had a 1954 Clipper with the 1953 Patrician engine. We simply swapped engines! He ended up with an excellent mostly-rebuilt engine and I ended up with what was apparently a little used new replacement with no wear whatsoever (it didn't even have the engine number stamped on it). Point is, maybe someone out there would have the same issue or possibly even has your specific engine in their garage or car!

I wondered about that! Considering how many folks seem to have these cars up here in WA or OR I wonder if that engine is floating out there somewhere!

Forging ahead I dropped the tank. It's got an area that looks wet - I'm crossing my fingers it isn't leaking but I'll try and track down a radiator shop that will clean it. The Gas in it must be about 14 years old (2006 was the last time this was driven).

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It looks like dirty engine oil! That's what I expected from my 1954 Patrician too but the gas in it, which had been there for close to 40 years, still smelled like gasoline. Of course, it had lost much of its flammability but was very clean-looking. Anyway, the wet area may have been dribbles from the steel line once it was disconnected but do be sure that any shop you take it too looks at it carefully. New reproductions are available, though, so I wouldn't spend much on any repairs if I were you as it's probably cheaper to replace it.

I agree with Don, the wet area looks like it's heavy around the fuel line connection so probably was leaking at the connection. There is some around the drain plug too, so possibly a leak there. Hopefully it's just a matter of cleaning up the threads and getting them back on correctly. My original tank was leaking around the drain plug bung because it was no longer crimped to the tank. It would spin around when trying to remove the drain plug.

I went with a new tank from Auto City Classics. It was an unplanned and unwelcome expense, but I have a new tank now that shouldn't give me any issues.

-Kevin

Some of the wetness is PB blaster - although the area around the drain was already wet... Kevin I saw your whole ordeal in your project thread and I avoided the drain plug on mine. I also saw you ordered a repro tank so I will keep that in mind should this one be no good.

Thank you both for the guidance!

Today I started tackling the front brakes. Had a buddy when I opened up the shop this morning. Guess he wanted to help! Thanks to the parts ref list the replacements were easy to come by at NAPA. The brakes looked to be in very decent shape - someone has cared on this car in the not to distant past.

I also decided to grab new hardware for my rear left bumper guard, which was loose and bothering me, so now that's right. While underneath I noticed the about 10 lbs () of dirt in the rear fender. I couldn't imagine why the lower part of this car is so rotten :p

Tomorrow I'll finish buttoning up the brakes and then it's on to the BTV for removal....

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Anthony, what the heck is that critter in the first picture??