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

Hello good people,

I'm currently restoring the interior of my 1949 eight club sedan. I have windscreen trim, and it appears there is supposed to be some sort of attachment support running from the top to bottom of the windscreen centre, for which to attach the centre pillar trim and rearview mirror to.

I'm thinking of fabricating a metal strip to fasten between existing holes at the top and the bottom of the windscreen and would love any advice/photos of what was in place there originally.

Kind regards,

I'm sure there's a number of those left in parts cars, probably would be easier to just buy the piece.

I don't have a photo but do have Packard part number and Group number.
Group 31.393. reinforcement assy-division. Most 21st 22nd and23rd series cars,
part number 376065 and held in place with 4 each screw 8-32x3/4.

I would guess you're looking for something similar to this. (This is from the 3 piece rear window of my 53 Cavalier.) One of the parts dealers should be able to pop one in the mail for you.

Here is a piece from a 21st series which should be the same as yours. It is almost a flat piece of about 1/8 thickness and 3/4 inch wide. It appears to have a very slight bit of curvature down the length for rigidity. At the top is a welded on U shaped bracket with a threaded hole for the mirror mount. At the bottom are a couple of welded on wire clips. The slight curvature of the piece is also visible in this photo. If you have a roof antenna, the lead exits an upper hole in windshield molding, goes thru the space in the upper bracket and down thru the clips to go thru another hole at the bottom of the molding and into an opening in the dash to get under and reach the radio. On this car, to hold the finish molding on there is only a single screw at the bottom with the mirror stem taking care of the top. You can see the bottom screw hole between the wire clips.

Should definitely be easy to find one off a parts car but freight getting from here to Australia would probably cost more than the piece.