Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I have a new project under way, a '42 160 Convertible Coupe that I purchased from the estate of Charles Blackman. It needs a lot but is very solid. I'm going to need a lot, including most of the front end sheet metal, but I'm picking away at it.

I will have many questions but my first question for now is the correct finish for the interior metal surfaces that will be below sound deadening/interior panels/carpet. It sure appears that the car only has that salmon-colored red oxide primer on the interior surfaces under the now rotten sound deadening (except where a previous owner hit it with some gray primer after sandblasting... should this metal be body color or would it be left in this red primer?

Thanks,
Zach

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They only painted the exterior and visible portions of the cars. Even at 82 years old it's still not rusted from atmospheric exposure, so that's why. Just primer will keep it from flash rusting, and there was simply no need to apply actual paint in those areas.

Good engineering includes not wasting money on what is essentially perfectionism.

Another question: the patent plate on this car shows "F-94-X" in the "city" field. The actual city, Greensburg, PA, was squeezed in under the dealer name in the top line.

I assume the F refers to paint code, so Legion Blue above the moldings and Algiers Blue below... where could I find what the 94 and X refer to? I assume it's the trim code or something but I can't seem to locate that information for a 42 (or even for a 41).

Packard didn't stamp those areas of the plates. They were left blank, and the dealer was supposed to stamp that with the dealership/city and the date of delivery, as that was supposed to mark the start of the warranty. But many cars left the dealership unstamped. So, repeated letters were sent out to dealers over a 10-year span, reminding dealers to stamp those plates.

My '37 has an original unstamped plate.

So that stamped number could have been anything. I doubt it had anything to do with paint/trim codes. It could have been an inventory or sales invoice number from the dealer.