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Has anyone had a chance to look at the 1899-1905 Model Info pages? I am just curious and looking for feedback.

For the Body Model Numbers for these cars I had to invent a hybrid system so the database could store these correctly. Those older brass era cars did not have the same body number nomenclature as the later series cars did, so I created my own.

For example:

1905 Model N's I came up with the following:

Model N - Tonneau = 1905NU
Model N - Touring = 1905NT
Model N - Runabout - 1905NR
Model N - Limo = 1905NL
Model N - Brougham Coupe = 1905NB

Basically the Year, the Model, and the Body Style. Like I said this is just to make the database happy as every model needs to have a unique body number.

So please understand that those are not Packard designations, just for use here. But any model that does have an offical Packard Body-Number, then that will be used in the Database and displayed as such. For example '5492' which is the '54 Clipper Deluxe Touring Sedan.

If anyone has any comments on this then I would appreciate it.

The follow pre-war years are now on the Model Info pages as of 2:30am this morning:

1899-1910

I also redid the Brass-Era Body Number system again to something that made a little more sense.

Every year I advance in the model year, adds more body styles to the list, so it takes longer and longer to get all the infomation in the database and to track down the pictures. So please bear with me.

BTW this is the first rough cut at the Pre-War cars. I am trying to get all the basic information in the database, then I will go back and fact check all the infomation against multiple sources and edit where required.

Just an update:

Brian (BH) has completed his work on the 57-58 Model Info pages and they are now online.

Big thanks to him for his hard work on this.

BH thanks. Even thou I don't own a 57-58. It is people like you and others here that make us younger ones enjoy this hobby and to stick to it. :)

Thanks, Tom.

I'm not really a fan of - let alone, expert on - the 57th-58th Series, but felt that we needed some "closure" at that end of the Packard spectrum. (I didn't want anybody saying we shut those Packard enthusiasts out, either.)

Also, since I had the brochures (still working on getting the 1957 prestige catalog scanned) and BigKev had set up a Packardbaker Forum, I felt compelled to take this on. BTW, thanks to Joel Ray (packards1) for his forum post that clarified the implementation of the '55 hood bird and letters for 1957.

Somebody previously donated the 1957-58 body parts catalog and we now have some relevant Studebaker Service Bulletins here, but the brochures are all I have for these cars. There's still a lot of info out there that we don't have here for the Packardbakers, but it's gonna be up to the fans and owners of these cars to come up with that stuff.

Meanwhile, although Big Kev has access to the required specs for many years, I hope some seasoned enthusaists will step up to the plate and help him with similar write-ups and images for the Pre-War Series.

Well the first pass at the 1940-1942 model years have now been added to the Model Info pages. This is the first rough draft. I do need help in locating all the pictures for these model years, curently only the raw data is in there.

I was amazed how many different models were in the 1940-1942 years. I think that the 1941 model year has over 40 different models alone! I'm tired after inputing all that data by hand and my vision is getting a bit blurry.

So if anyone of you Pre-War experts can help with sending me the pics for the various models, then please do!!! If you can upload the pictures to the photo gallery and identify them by year and model number that will make it much easier for me to match them all up correctly.

Thanks in advance!

I was able to locate a few of the pictures for the 1940-1942 model years and they have been added to the model info pages.

I added the Model ID (Engine Numbers, etc) information to the 1940-43 years. Also I just realized that I was not displaying the optional equipment information for any of the years. That information is now displayed on the Model year page at the bottom. Currently it contains the optional equiptment information for the 1940-56 years. 57-58 will be added shortly.

I am going to let you Pre-War experts browse, comment and request any needed edits to the 1940-42 years before I start working on the 30's. Hopefully we will be able to fill in some of the missing pictures as that process happens. Also if any of the pictures that I have up currently are incorrect, then please let me know.

Unfortunatly because I am far from any type of expert on the Pre-War cars, I am going to need you Pre-War gurus and History Buffs to cross-check me on what I have posted.

Thanks in advance for any help you are able to give!

I made a few changes to the structure in the Model Info pages that were needed to support the Model & Body numbering used in the Pre-War cars.

The Model Number is now reffered to as the Body Number, and the Chassis is now referred to as the Model/Chassis.

The Body Number lookup will still directly display and Body Number entered (for example 5492 for my '54 Clipper Deluxe), but if that Body Number matches multiple listings, then you will get a list of those. You can then choose the correct one from that matching list.

Also the Model/Chassis field is now displayed in the "by Year", "by Series" listings.

This was required because of the way most of the Pre-War cars are referred to. Most post war cars are referred to by Body Number, while Pre-War cars seemed to be referred to by Model Number and description.

For example a "1930 733 Standard Eight Phaeton". Well 733 is a Model/Chassis number not a body number, and is not specific enough.

There are several body numbers that fall under the 733 Model/Chassis number:

401 Standard Eight Phaeton
431 Standard Eight Sport
408 Standard Eight Coupe
409 Standard Eight Convertible Coupe
407 Standard Eight Coupe
etc.....

So now the Model/Chassis number and the Body Number will be displayed in the listings. This should make it easy for every to find what they are looking for, and will also help the Post War guys where sometimes parts are listed by Chassis number and not Body number.

This was also required as there are multi Body Numbers which are the same for example:

1932 906 4000 Individual Custom Twelve All Weather Cabriolet
1932 903 4000 Individual Custom All Weather Cabriolet

Both are the same year and body number, but the Model/Chassis numbers different.

Man, you sure said a mouthful, but after looking at someof the PreWar Series, I see now what you're getting at.

As you work your way backward through time, I think it's easier to see the evolution of Packard's system - and make course corrections.

Meanwhile, why not add a chassis number look-upto dispay all the bodies that fit a particular chassis. For example, the V8 Clipper Deluxe and Super are differne models, but technically shared the same chassis - 5540 for 55th Series and 5640 for 56th Series. Three different cars on one chassis.