Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Greetings all,

I have purchased some leather hides that are the same dark teal green color as the interior of my 56 Executive (interior code 43). There are 5 complete hides for $50 each (the upholstery shop was selling off all their leather stock). I also have about 5 1/2 yards of 64" wide Packard fabric that was included in the sale of my car. The vinyl materials are in good shape for patterns to be used, but the fabric is torn faded and no good.

My question is should I have the interior re-done in leather and fabric? I was told that since the leather doesn't stretch and the fabric does, the mix is not a good idea.

Any thoughts or pics of clipper interiors would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

You can mix leather and vinyl, but I wouldn't mix leather and fabric, for the reason you mentioned.

I'm no upholstery expert, but Packard offered Bedford Cord with leather bolsters, for example the 48 - 50 Custom Convertible. Aren't 56 Caribbean reversible seats leather on one side and fabric on the other? Perhaps only feasible for certain seat designs?

The original interior of my 56 400 was leather and fabric. It held up well, but the fabric was soiled and the leather old. I had the interior redone in original material (SMS) and also had them supply the two colors of leather with the proper grain. It looks great and has held up well but I don't have many passengers. Packard routinely did this in the 400. Whatever they did originally seems good enough to me. Several members of this forum have seen the 400, including BH, BigKev and AColds. I think they will all agree that the interior looks good.
One other thought: the material is all tuck and roll which would help it hold its shape and minimize stretching.

Looks like there are several trim sets with cloth and leather in the charts of the 48-54 and 55-56 parts books. Not sure about earlier years, but seems like cloth and leather combos were only available in the full Seniors for 55-56. The Exec used same trim as Clipper Custom - no cloth/leather combinations offered in those cars for regular production

Packard was much more generous with the use of leather than other brands in later years. These days, you won't find much more genuine leather than what's behind your back and under your bottom.

Randy's '56 Four Hundred is among the best I have ever see. His car gets DRIVEN (not trailered) to shows and cruises all over the Penn-Ohio area, and beyond. The upholstery has held up extremely well.

Since Packard offered the combination, perhaps there is a fancy stitching method that is used to prevent problems.

The 54 Pacific I had was leather and nylon. I do remember the upholster said it was somewhat different in the seams and had extra panels under the fabric at a bias (or something like that) than other cars he had done. As I mentioned in another post, at the time I thought it was something he said to justify the cost--but now, maybe not.

This would be a good question for someone who does top end upholstery work. At any rate, you have the leather & fabric. The combination was available and while technically maybe not that model, being a Packard model in name, who is to say it wasn't a special order.

Mine was a standard interior for the 400. Come to think of it, our 52 Mayfair had dark red leather and gray nylon interior. That was a standard interior for that vehicle. It still looked good in '59.

I will talk with the uphostry guy and see if it's a problem. If it is maybe some sort of under fabric panel will solve it? I'd like to stay with the overall design of the Clipper interior. I know it's not an authentic restoration (I've already violated that by changing the braking system).

BTW - are there more pictures of the '56 Clipper interior?

Bob

On the website here is the upholstery book for 1956, which I believe shows all the patterns.

Leather and fabric combination on seats was very common in cars of the 40's and 50's. Buick, Cadillac, Olds, Packard to name a few. There is no reason to think leather would stretch when used with fabric on the same panel as full leather interiors held up well for 50+ years as did the combos.

Stitching at the edge of a panel of leather or fabric logically would have no effect on stretching, only on the durability of the seam.

Any competent upholstery shop can do the job, it's not an Ul Traumatic after all.

Fred Kanter
Kanter auto Products
Boonton NJ