Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hi folks! I was fortunate enough to pick up a 1948 Packard (Think it's a Super 8 but unsure). It's been stored outside most of its life and the inside of the door is covered in rust.

As I am very new to both Packard cars and doing something like this myself, I'm wondering if any of you have had this issue and what you did to solve it. Would it be possible to split the door panels, or would I have to get inside of it with a tool to remove this?

Welcoming to Packards and to PackardInfo.com! You can look up your car's VIN on the Packard Decoder to see which model it is and to confirm that the engine is also the proper one, the same decoder can be used to look up the engine number!

G'day Junior,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '48 Packard(Super 8?) in the Packard Vehicle Registry.

Nope, definitely none of us have ever had issues dealing with rusty field cars before.


I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. The door panels have these metal spring clips to hold them in, but if there's that much water damage then likely the clips will pull out of the door panel and not the other way around. Just stick a putty knife or something in between the door panel and door and pry.

By the way does it run/drive?

First off, sorry for lacking the information. As of now, I did manage to remove the door panel, and unfortunately a fair amount of the spring clips decided to stay in the door instead of the other way around.

I've attached a picture of the door when it was still on the car and it had all the fun mechanisms in it, but I was wondering if it would be possible to separate the two steel panels that make up the door itself to get in and fix it properly.

Secondly, unfortunately it does not run or drive yet due to a stuck engine. Emphasis on yet, because I'm hoping that I can salvage the big ol' 327 and make something work

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The outer door panel is crimped over the flange of the inner door panel and can only be removed by unfolding the crimp all the way around.

There are probably several hundred youtube videos on rusty door skin repair that will tell you way more than I could in an entry here.

The short answer about taking apart the door is no, but the longer answer is that it can be done but would require a skilled body shop and would probably be costly for questionable results. You would get far better results if you can find a place that can tank and phosphate the door if it really needs it.

That said, to me it looks better that most but, of course, I can't see inside. If just the usual surface rust, you can even treat it yourself with something like Ospho metal treatment.

I cannot see inside the door either but one thing to be aware of is Packard used thin layer of a noise deadening compound over a good portion of the outer metal. This material dries and starts to loosen and flake off the metal or water can run down and work behind it creating surface rust. In many instances dirt and the small amount of tiny surface rust particles that are mixed in adheres or coats the stuff. When it falls off and accumulates it can look like big rust flakes.

One place that can be rust prone is the bottom of the doors. There are a couple of factory drain holes or slots that can get plugged and if that has happened water sits on the bottom and does a very good job of creating some extra holes.

Hi again everyone, and thank you for the advice. Tomorrow I'll try to get a better photo of the inside of the door, but I did figure as much with the solid piece.

Thankfully the bottom of the door is solid, but I will check the others to see if there are holes.

Again, thanks for the advice on this issue and it unfortunately wont be the last one on this old beastie

If you've not seen already, there is a Literature Archive on the left sidebar with all kinds of goodies including original service manuals.

If your goal is to get the window regulators working or other "normal" service/repairs then it will give you at least a good starting point to work off.

Some advice from my uncle is if you buy a car where everything on it is worn out / questionable, you may as well start at the engine and see if you can at least get it to drive it around the yard with some basic work. Getting the accessories working and other such things, while good fun and an excellent learning experience, will appreciate the value of a non-running car by essentially nothing. Put another way, if an engine swap were out of the question, better make sure sooner rather than later that you don't need one!

Link to your manual:
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/archi ... tent.php?op=&catID=10&ContentID=300