Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Dear All,

The interior of my 733 sedan is completely out of the car now. The material is English broadcloth wool. I would like to clean it as well as I can before either re-installing it or sending it to a museum (I keep changing my mind on this).

Anybody have any good products and/or techniques for thoroughly but carefully cleaning this material?

Thanks,

Tom

Might be a good question to ask of Bill Hirsch.

If original it is wool broadcloth, but as far as I know it ws made in the USA, often by LAIDLAW. Somewhere in my stuff I have a dealer swatchbook with the cover empossed "Packard fabrics by Laidlaw"

Dave,

Good idea. I'll give him a call tomorrow.

Fred,

Perhaps. The early broadcloth definitely came from England. Maybe later stuff was US made. This interior is 100% original. So do you have any tricks for cleaning it?

Tom

Tom,

Have a look at this thread. Could help.

Laidlaw was a supplier of many different materials including wood broadcloth, leather, rubberoid, etc. for automakers, and was both a manufacturer and an importer/distributor. The wood broadlcloth used in the Canadian plant was specifically cited as Canadian-made, other than that I think at this point in history it would be pretty hard to establish the COE for all the different materials. But one thing is for sure, the Laidlaw wool broadlcloths were magnificent fabrics, the material in my 34 is mostly original and still in remarkable condition.

I did not mean to imply that my interior was from England, only that the original material was developed in England.

Is the Laidlaw that made fabrics the same company that now operates school buses? If so, quite a shift in business.

The fabric that Packard used during the 20s and 30s really was something. Soft as velvet and nearly as tough as linen. Really great stuff.

Tom

Right you are Tom. I was a terrific product! And a replacement wool broadcloth I bought from Bill Hirsch many years ago to redo the front door panels was a near-perfect match in color and weight, and seems in every way an equivalent to the original. I bought enough at the time to redo the entire interior but the original material has held up so well it wasn't necessary.

Quote:

And you still are!

I have read the thread mentioned above with great interest. I just finished recovering the armrests and kick panels of my 47 Super Clipper. Now the broadcloth on the door panels looks tired compared with the armrest/kickpanels. Has anyone closer tried this exercise of cleaning the broadcloth? What equipment/cleaner etc was used?

David