Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I assume these are for a sedan? Will a Caribbean version be available? I would be a player for one to fit my 55 Caribbean if in the $100 range.

The Caribbeans use the exact same gasket so it will work perfectly. It will NOT be in the $100 range, that is simply impossible. Unless you want to buy 100 of them, then sure.

I expect $200-300.

The process to make these is:
- Get drawing from Studebaker museum.
- Interpret drawing, make and check CAD model. In this case, since the corners are cast separately, I made two models.
- Submit model to vendors for quotes. In this case I am submitting to several vendors, some specializing in molded parts, some in extruded parts.
- Engineer a fixture and adhesion method to make the assembly.
- Purchase one mold for the cast parts (almost $1000) and one for the extruded. This is the greatest cost overall, since there is so little demand, each unit must bear a significant fraction of the cost.
- Buy a bunch of parts, and don't forget the shipping cost of like 200 lbs of rubber.
- Glue these together over the course of weeks since each joint requires a 24h cure time.
- Sell maybe like 2 per year for the next decade? Therefore, amortizing costs is necessary as well.

So you can see how my pricing comes out pretty close to Steele's. Unless some vendor wants to buy a whole production run from me. The advantage is:
- It will actually fit your car properly.
- Slightly lower price (probably).

That being said, I have more wiggle room on the extruded stuff, so keep an eye out for a very competitive price on some other products in the near future.

Howard,

I notice on Steele's page that their weatherstripping reads 75-1/2" lower, and 78-3/4" upper (total 154-1/4"). I'm not super sure what they are measuring as the arrows are drawn outside but the dimension says inside. If we assume it's the inside channel (corresponding to the outside of the glass) then the correct measurements, using Steele's nomenclature, are 75-3/32" lower and 79-11/32" upper (total 154-7/16"). On the pre- Revision E weatherstrip, add one inch to the lower and total measurements.

The other main issue I spot is that Steele's appears to have the glass and body slots aligned, whereas per the drawing they are at about a 10° angle. This causes the Steele weatherstrip to pull in by comparison, shortening the distance for the trim to attach, and generally forming an incompatible profile.

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Add me to the list for one. Any thoughts on the rear window gasket?

Sounds good. Which type? There were 7 used on the V8 cars and Steele sells all of them except for a 56 Super/Custom/Executive Sedan. I'm not sure if they have the same problems with the trim as almost no one replaces rear windows.

1: 447426, 55 Clipper Sedan + 56 Deluxe
2: 454637, 55 Hardtop
3: 454636, 55 Patrician
4: 6478575, 56 Clipper Sedan (except Deluxe)
5: 6478576, 56 Clipper Hardtop
6: 6478501, 56 Patrician
7: 6478500, 56 Senior Hardtop

There are some patterns; Steele uses the same profile on 5-6-7 as well as half of 2-3; likewise, 2-3 share the same second type. Type 1 uses two more forms, though that one is used on a ton of 53-54 cars as well (for completeness' sake, it's worth noting that all the 1955 rear window weatherstrips were also used to an extent in at least 1954).

Furthermore, to estimate costs, we must consider which ones use a special molded piece in the corners, and which don't. We need one wherever there is a sharp bend (though not necessarily a corner), and it would be ideal to use one wherever two types meet. The lower two corners of Type 1, and types 5-6-7, would probably be OK without them.

I would be happy to coordinate this if some region or vendor is interested. There is so little demand for these that it's a waste of money for me to buy this stuff right now I think. Perhaps I will do a few of Type 1 since I need it for my Deluxe anyway, but it will cost me significantly more up front than to just buy it from Steele. We could do all the 56 Seniors and Hardtops using the same roll of weatherstrip along with some extra corners which I believe I could get 3D printed, but even that combined demand is so small that I will need advance orders to go for it.

I wonder why so many different ones. Didn’t they all pretty much use the same glass? If I were to buy one of would be for my 1956 Clipper Custom sedan as I have an NOS windshield for it but that’s a long way off before I get there and perhaps an even longer before enough ordered come in to actually make it.

Not really, there were 5 types of glass. Weatherstripping types 1-4, and 2-5, mated with the same glass. The differences are in the profile, for correct trim attachment.

Interesting. I can see the need for different rubber if the various models had different trim but I had always thought that the different part numbers for the glass itself was due to the various combinations of whether clear, tinted or shaded rather than to the actual shape and size.

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There's one number each for the clear and tinted type of each.

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