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My 1954 Clipper Super Touring Sedan #5462-5901 (Chassis #5411) appears to have brakes that are different than the specifications found in the 1954 Packard shop manual. A #5411 is supposed to have 11" drums front and rear with 2-1/2" wide shoes front and 2" wide shoes rear. My car, which has Easamatic, has 12" drums front and rear with a depth of 2" and the shoes front and rear measure 1-3/4" wide. Shoe length is 13" and 11-1/4". All equipment appears original and the car has low mileage. The rear shoes may even be original. I was wondering if anyone has come across this before or has any idea why the specs on my car differ from the manual. (I am doing a complete rebuild on everything to do with the brake system.) Thank you to all for any advice you might offer.

It's good to see that someone is checking the available shop manual, but know that Packard also published service newsletters and bulletins as a supplemental source of information for their dealers. This site has collected a significant quantity of that material, but did you know we have an electronic index to some of it?

Click on the Packard Service Index link in the Main Menu, along the right side of the screen. Luckily for you, the 51-54 index is open for business. If you take a look in the "Brakes section", there is a bulletin that may prove enlightening, as the differences go beyond the shoes, linings, and drums. It seems as if some '54 Clipper Super chassis (5411) were built with 12" brake equipment, as used on the '53 Clipper Deluxe (2611), because material for the (new) 11" brake equipment was not available.

I can't tell you how long this went on or why, but the parts book also makes distinction in its application listings for the 5411 chassis WRT 11" vs. 12" brakes.

Perhaps others can provide some additional insight.

Brian, check me out on this, but I've seen a 56 Executive with 12 inch brakes and I thought that model should have had 11 inch as well. Owner said (but then again, they all do) that it came from the factory like that.

The '54 Super Clipper was an odd beast for sure. It has more in common with it's '53 brethren then in does the other '54 Clippers.I'm not sure why Packard choose to do this, but it's almost like they wanted to burn up the left over '53 parts. Does your dash cluster have 3 round gauges instead of the sweeping speedometer?

So any way, '54 Super Clippers use the same brake parts as the '53 Models. The '54 Clipper Special and Deluxe use the same brake parts as the '55 Clippers. Also your rim bolt pattern probably is '53. Where as the other '54 Clippers are the same as 55 Clippers.

'54 was a transition year for sure.

Owen -

Though the 1955-56 shop manual was never really updated for the late-breaking Exec models, the parts book shows brakes and related details for the Exec chassis as being the same as the Clippers, which would be 11".

Since I never had the brake drums off of my dad's car (sitting in a field all the while since the day I found it back in 1976) and all my other V8s are Seniors, I don't personally know enough about any diffeences between steering knuckles and rear axle details (Jr. vs. Sr.) to say whether the 12" drums and brake servos would fit. Swapping knuckles, if necessary, isn't difficult, but a different bolt circle for Jr. wheels than Sr. sure complicates things WRT to rear axle.

While Packard did just that for the 5411 chassis, I've not seen any documentation supporting such equipment for the Exec. On the other hand, it's hard to say what they might have done to keep the assembly line moving during the last weeks of production; we've heard plenty of reports of variations and deviations on the late 56th Series cars.

Big Kev, Owen and Brian, Thanks for the quick responses, education and direction to the service index. Mystery solved! (And in answer to BigKev's question my Packard does have the three round gauges.)

Incidentally another odd thing about this car, I don't know if it's normal or not, but the entire oil bath air cleaner assembly had been "tinned" with some type of solder to make it shiny metal instead of a painted air cleaner. Looks as if done in manufacturing. I discovered that when stripping the paint which was only a brush-job.

Thanks for a great site and all the work put into it.

---Steve

Oil bath air cleaners were made of some kind of plated or galvanized type material. Some kind of coating or treatment to keep off rust. The insides are not painted and do not rust, the outside is painted.

It is a dull finish not really galvanized or plated in the usual sense. I don't know what it is but they all have it.

Rusty, I agree with your observation and the reason for the plating. It certainly is not galvazizng, I suspect they are simply tinned (tin plated or perhaps tin-immersion).

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Thats what I figured and what I have noticed. Basically if you have a Super Clipper with the 3 round gauges, then you have the one that is equipped with the '53 Brakes, rims, and gauge cluster (of course). If it has the sweeping speedometer, then it has all '54 parts.