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There is a 53 owners manual in the literature archive you can download. That might answer a few of your questions.

I would suggest for the old holes you install some cheapo "dummy" bolts and washers. Eight 5/16 bolts, nuts, and lock washers, and 16 fender washers to match. Not required just would be nice to "patch" the holes in your floor pan while you are at it.

By the way, the seat uses 5/16-18 x 7/8 bolts with washers, it's this specific part number: G424209. I am saying this because the original bolts may not be reusable once they are removed, as they tend to get very rusty. Only if necessary... probably if you cook them with a torch you will be OK and they will come out, though. If not you should be able to replace them with a stack of 5/16-18 x 1 bolt, fender washer, and split type lock washer.

By the way, how did I find this part number? Go to the Factory Parts List and click the Part Plates for your year. Then find the most applicable diagram (for a seat, we look at the Body group). Note that Packard in general did not use model years and instead used "series". All you have to remember until the end of time is that a 1953 is a 26th series. There is no 26th series seat diagram but there is 22nd-23rd series here:packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/parts ... PlateNumber=116&cat=11#resultanchor

We are presented with the various seat frame parts:packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/parts ... partslist=1948-1954&PlateNumber=116

We note the base itself is 30.930 and click that. This is not a great first example since you are presented with quite the list. I like to use Ctrl F to find things, I would type 26. You will note that there are a bunch of right and left frames, then at the bottom a hardware list. They help you a bit in this listing, explaining which hardware is "to seat" and which is "to floor". We see that the only hardware for a 26th series is 8 bolts, and 4 each of washers, lockwashers, and nuts. From context, quantity, and the fact that the nut pitch happens to not be the same as the bolt pitch, it's pretty clear that the bolts are track-to-body, and the rest are seat-to-track. Then if we click on the bolt link we are taken to the parts entry. The 55-56th series book is kind enough to explain what this bolt actually is. Sometimes there is nothing and you have to go grab one off the car and figure it from there.

Just wanted to give you a rundown on the easiest way to find parts. While most stuff in the parts book is not Googleable, some things are. The other convenience is you can easily check what part was used on what years. Example, if you again look at the list, you will see many body numbers. If you look at the Model Information section to the left, it will tell you the body numbers for anything. A 53 Deluxe Touring is 2662. So we can see that 424502 and 424503 are the parts. If we again cross-reference the body codes with the Model Information section, we see that the same parts were used on pretty much everything 24th-26th series (1951-53) except the Cavalier and Patrician.

So, let's say you needed this part, you could call up a parts dealer like "do you have a 51 to 53 front seat frame, not off a Cavalier or Patrician" and maximize your chance of success. This is most important for oddball parts, or if you have an unusual car (you don't, but owners of convertibles and extended wheelbase cars rely on cross-referencing all the time as parts cars for those are very rare and relatively expensive).

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Thank you both for the help.

I am learning a lot about this car and this web site, but it does get kind of overwhelming trying to figure some of this out.

The last thing I want to do is butcher this car in anyway. For the first time in my life, I really do want to keep this car as original as possible. In the past I would have done a modern drive train, possibly even a frame swap of some kind adding modern suspension etc. Over the years I have had my hand in many projects both of my own and helping others with building Hot Rods.

That said what actual got me interested in cars to begin with was a neighbor of mine as a kid growing up. Mr. Bahan lived a few doors down from me. I mowed his grass for spending money and one day he showed up with an old model A Ford on a trailer that was really rough around the edges. Over the next 2 years every evening and every Saturday I would help him. We did a full frame off restoration, and I am talking every nut bolt washer and part was either cleaned, rebuilt or replaced with new. The pride of my childhood was him allowing me to drive it in a local parade after it was done.

Moving forward in life I went in the U S Navy as a jet engine mechanic. The rest of my life was mostly as a heavy equipment mechanic. I consider myself to have above average skills when it comes to all things mechanical and metal fabrication.

Because of my age and various health reasons this is going to be my last go at bringing an old car back to life. I am not interested in big HP and shiny chrome or custom paint jobs on this one. I want to go back to how I was originally taught in my childhood, keeping it original. At this point I am not ready to commit to a frame off deal, but this car is already well on the way to being restored to at least driver quality and that is all I am going for right now. This will also be the first time I will be documenting anything I have ever done.