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I'm trying to make keys for my '55 Packard. I have experience in making keys for locks that don't have them, but (at least on my Packard) the lock cylinders don't disassemble which makes making a key for them very difficult without additional information. I humbly request info from any Packard owners reading this two things:

1.) Does one key work everything on your car? Or are there separate keys for door/starter vs. trunk/glovebox.

2.) If you have a caliper, please measure the grooves on your key and post them, along with the year/model of your car. The order is not important, just the measurement. See the image below for instructions. This tells what bitting depths Packard was using, as there (unsurprisingly) is no info anywhere that I can find on this.
Edit: I think I've found enough info just from pictures online concerning this part (see update below) but you are still more than welcome to post yours and see if it matches.

P.S. If you are brave enough to post a picture of your key, please do and take the picture as a profile (like the left image below, w/o markup of course).

P.P.S. If you somehow have info about Packard keying, please tell me so and we can get in touch, though I doubt there is actually any out there.

P.P.P.S. I've already looked though the maintenance manuals for such info.

Update: Doing some pixel-measuring of Packard keys I've found pictures of online, it seems that there are 6 levels of cuts:
75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, and 100% of the uncut height. I think the uncut height is 0.250 inches, making the cuts .1875, .2000, .2125, .2250, .2375, and .2500, but it would be good to have some confirmation on this. Key blank is a B1, I think. Hopefully this post is helpful to any mechanic-locksmiths out there.

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There were two keys and locks were made by Briggs and Stratton. Sometimes you still find a key with the name BASCO stamped. I do believe the Basco style blanks are still available because I have found Packard keys fit nicely in some aftermarket locks. The same locks were used from the mid 30s until the end and several very knowledgeable posters have said Packard used only 250 key combinations that entire length of time.

The round head key was for ignition and doors. The oval and later years octagonal head key was for glovebox and trunk. If no one else comes up with info first I can attempt a measurement for you tomorrow.

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Ah, that is slightly annoying; I took out my glovebox lock as it's easiest to remove but I really need a starter key (for convenience). I'll probably end up making both. I have a ton of spare keys lying around and there's multiple types of GM keys that fit it; I'll go to the HW store tomorrow and pick up a couple blanks and tell you what I get. Fortunately, car locks from this era are stupidly easy to pick open which is how I've been using the ignition; they have a nearly identical security level of an ESP filing cabinet that you would find in your home or office. Everyone knows you can hotwire them, but you can pick the starter switch in a fraction of the time.

BTW, is there some "trick" to get the starter switch out? In the service manual it says to push it towards you from behind then rotate, but I can't get it out. 🙁 Maybe I'm just too weak?

Howard specifically: thanks for the info, and you may want to double-check my original post as I may have updated it after you replied.

Thr ignition switch does have a heavy spring. You need to hold the bezel from the front and reach under the dash to give the switch a good push toward the dash and then a slight rotation CCW if you were looking at the switch from behind the dash. The push will let the pins clear the notch in the hooks and the rotation moves them into position to slide out. Use caution when doing this because the hooks on the pot metal bezel are delicate after all these years. If one or both of yours are not bent or ready to break off that in itself is a slight miracle. If you find one bent suggest you not try to straighten because the pot metal is so brittle it can break if you sneeze on it hard. NOS bezels are all but extinct and good used are getting scarce and expensive.

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If you need the ignition key, make it from the door lock and if you need the glove box key, make it from the trunk lock. The reason for this is that the ignition switch seems to have a simplified set of pins, as does the glove box. If you make keys only for those, they will likely not fit the doors or trunk!

Case in point was a 1954 ignition switch for which I recently had a key made. It works fine in the ignition switch but does not work in the door locks and looking at the key's cuts, it looks almost like a new blank with hardly any cuts or marks on it!

If you don't have a key . use a. Lock pick set. To get cylinder out.

There are 2 little rods holding pins in. If you can remove those then its easy to make a key. Otherwise its hit or miss. With the pins.

Page 46 in my blog.

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Post #458 in this blog.

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Yeah I can't disassemble my glove box lock anyway, I'm hoping I can for the ignition and trunk. The door retainer clips are rusted so I don't think I'll be able to get the door locks out, though I soaked the less-rusty one with PB Blaster at every angle I could hit yesterday so maybe it will have freed up. Seriously considering hotwiring the ignition with a spare GM ignition switch I have for the time being while I make the key, depends how impatient I am haha.

Unless there is a "magic button" I'm not seeing (don't think so).

And the key blank seems to be a B1, the "Briggs and Stratton Key".

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Thanks for the info, I don't think the glovebox lock is not designed that way though, there's no holes anywhere on the outside and I can't feel anything on the inside aside from the wafer tumblers. Today I'm getting my starter and trunk locks so I'll look at them when I get home probably in a few hours.

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Sometimes the locks will have a slightly different design and a key made for one won't work for the rest. My uncle owns a '41 (?) Buick and got ignition keys made but they didn't work the fuel door, glovebox, or trunk. I made a key for the fuel door and it turned out it worked that, the trunk, ignition, and doors. Only the glovebox was separate. The guy that made the keys used the wrong spacing (by a bit) on his machine and on some of the locks it was fine, others not.

By the way PackardDon and R H, have you guys made keys for the trunk/glovebox? I'm not sure how to disassemble either. No worries if you haven't done it, but I may well ask you if you have. :)

Update: I got a key made for my ignition! It's a P1475 for anyone curious. My key depths are .183, .248, .233, .233, .202 but those numbers are a little wonky because 1) I file 90° grooves with a square file so neither the wafers nor the caliper actually rest in the bottom of the grooves and 2) I'm using a $2 plastic caliper because I left my good one at my parent's house. I might re-measure later.

Relevant image attached for anyone interested. :D

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