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Just another note, when I pulled off various pieces of my engine (valve covers, water pump, filler tube, etc that are were originally engine color. There was no paint on the surface that mates with the block, nor was the block painted on the mated surface area.

I've seen NOS replacement parts come painted in thin/dull black. Which I think was more of a primer to ward off "shelf rust", vs a finished paint.

I was under the impression that the A/C, along with better insulation, were added by a third party after the car was built and if that’s the case, the colors do not necessarily follow that same rule. Of course, I may be thinking of prewar A/C.

I never heard that for 53-54. I thought those were assembled in-line during production.

Perhaps you are thinking of Pre-War:

In 1939, Packard became the first automobile manufacturer to offer an air conditioning unit in its cars. These bulky units were manufactured by Bishop and Babcock (B&B), of Cleveland, Ohio and ordered on approximately 2,000 cars. The "Bishop and Babcock Weather Conditioner" also incorporated a heater. Cars ordered with this option were shipped from Packard's East Grand Boulevard facility to the B&B factory where the conversion was performed. Once complete, the car was shipped to a local dealer for delivery to customers.

Insulation done in the first quarter of the shop and the Patrician is parked safely back inside.

Odd, though. The body feed is disconnected with the only connection to the solenoid being the battery cable, yet the courtesy lights came on when I opened the door! I had already wondered why the fuel gauge was working so there is some mystery going on! Any ideas where to start looking?

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What are the two sides of the battery's connected to?

One cable is grounded to the engine; the other to the solenoid post. There is nothing else on that post,

Some kind of feed back through the solenoid to starter switch wire?

If you disconnect the battery cable from the solenoid side do the lights go off?

What's connected to the generator? It could be feeding back through there.

It has only the factory wiring harness and no extra wires so with the body feed disconnected, the generator really has nothing connected it that could feed back into the lights but the solenoid itself being at fault is a possibility.

The key is off (it’s not even inserted into the ignition) but the small start wire is still connected to the solenoid as I could see no reason to disconnect it so maybe somehow it’s getting feedback through that.

Farther back in this thread I noted that touching the body feed to the battery terminal, there is a soft click, then the starter tries feebly to turn so maybe more evidence of a faulty solenoid. This uses the large solenoid which may be different than yours and I don’t think I have any spares so I’ll have to order one.

To answer your last question, if I disconnect the battery everything goes off, of course, and it is disconnected now.

54's were first year for key start. Also they had a habit of going bad and sticking in start mode internally, even with the key removed. What your describing could be the struck ignition switch. Disconnect the small wire for the solenoid and see if the problem goes away. If so, start looking for a new ignition switch as it could be bad.