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My very 1st post after buying my 1st Packard (project) 2 weeks ago. It's a 1936 Junior 120B with straight 8, and I like a kid (make that old kid) with a new toy at Xmas.
I've already logged in about 40 hours of labor (beyond my fulltime job), removing fenders, interior, etc...and this weekend I hope to determine the condition of the engine.

Buying the Packard was a deviation for me, after spending about 20 years with several Mercedes models and developing a couple of club websites.

I'm soaking-up all the information I can find on the internet, but one question leaves me puzzled so far.... Why did Packard make an useable sunroof?
I'm accustom to the Webasto (circa 1929) canvas sunroof 42 x 54 in my 1953 mercedes, but it is fully functional.

Was an actual sunroof available for the Packard ?
Thanks to everyone for an active Forum on this great moniker.

Axman the taxman in Kentucky

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Welcome taxman - looks like a great car you have there! Keep us up to date on the progress...

Yes, the thrill of owning an old Packard will lead to many hours in the garage!!! Even after a full days work...haha!

Congrats and enjoy!

Welcome Taxman, You have a really great project. Look forward to seeing you start a project blog.

Hey are Packards tax deductible?

Best of luck with your Packard, here's hoping it gives you many hours of enjoyment. Though a junior Packard, your 120 should be an absolute delight to drive, is easy to maintain, and was built to a very high quality standard.

I see three folks in a row have dodged your question about the "sunroof"; perhaps they thought you were joking and maybe you were. Of course it's not a sunroof! Stamping very large one-piece steel panels like the roof was just on the verge of becoming common in 1936. It was expensive, even more so when production was to be spread over a relatively small # of cars, and they tended to "drum" with body flexing and be noisy. The construction with the insert of wooden support, cotton batting, wire mesh, and rubberoid covering was more practical and much quieter but by 1936 it's day's were numbered. Packard was quite proud of it's method of composite roof construction and devoted a page or so to it in their salesman's training books. If you're interested I could scan and post that information as they presented it in 1934.

I don't believe Packard ever offered a sunroof, though conversions by outside companies no doubt occurred. The only factory-sponsored pre-war sunroof jobs I'm aware of were on Cadillac and if I recall correctly, they didn't do the work themselves but farmed it out.

If you get a chance, I'd like to have your vehicle #, and the large embossed number on the firewall. Thanks.

Quote:
G'day James,
to PackardInfo. I invite you to include your '36 in the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it.

The first domestically made (US) car with a "sunroof" was an Oldsmobile in the late 30's or early 40's I think.** The second car was the 1960 Thunderbird.



**If I am incorrect, I am SURE I will be corrected. Thanks to those who will correct me.

"one question leaves me puzzled so far.... Why did Packard make an useable sunroof?"

I think you mean unusable???

That's not a sunroof. Most closed cars made before the mid 30s had a fabric roof or roof insert. This was because of the type of steel that was available then.

The steel mills turned out a narrow type of sheet metal at that time. The metal was too narrow to make a whole roof out of one piece. So if they wanted to make a solid steel roof it would be necessary to weld it up out of multiple pieces of steel.

Cord actually did this on the 810 and 812 sedan models. The roof was made out of 7 separate metal stampings, welded together and the seams smoothed out with lead body solder, hand applied and hand filed and sanded to a smooth contour.

This was too expensive and time consuming for a mass produced car. The alternative was to leave a hole in the middle of the roof. This hole was filled in with chicken wire, cotton padding, and a material that resembles a vinyl top material. Practically all mass produced sedans and coupes had this style of top in the early 30s.

Wide sheets of steel were first made in 1934 or thereabouts. General Motors touted their "turret top" models about this time. Other makers followed suit in adopting the new one piece roofs. They were cheaper to make, now that the steel was available, but only if you had the gigantic press needed to make such a large stamping.

By 1938 or 39 I believe all the car makers had gone over to the new style of roof.

Owen I did not mean to repeat your answer. I wrote mine without reading yours. Hope I added something of interest anyway.

Further research reveals the first GM "Turret Top" was on the 1935 models, introduced in late 1934. The Chevrolet Standard still had the old top insert that year. So my memory was correct that the steel mills started turning out the new wide sheet metal in 1934.

The last American car I can recall with the top insert was a 1937 Plymouth standard coupe. Don't know of any 1938 or newer models. Although the English Riley RM had a padded top over a wire mesh base as late as 1955 or 1956.

Rusty, no problem with our near-duplicate responses, and thanks for the added information. Perhaps availability of large steel sheet was an issue though US mills produced much larger sheets than any car roof for the shipbuilding industry even before WW I, though of course in thicker gauges and no doubt of different mechanical properties.

I think if you reflect on it further, you'll come to the conclusion that economics were a larger reason, especially for the low-volume producers. Some of the early 30s Packard body styles didn't even account for 1000 units over several years, some considerably less than that. You could never reasonably amortize the cost of a die over so few units.

My own 34 Eight roof appears to be 4 individual steel panels, front, back, left & right, welded and then leaded over the joints.

Point to remember, labor was cheap during the depression! In the short term at that time it no doubt made economic sense to invest in cheap labor rather than expensive capital equipment.