Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

As the other half of the team, I have a couple of concerns as well:

The tags seem to indicate a range of model numbers, not necessarily all the specific models involved. Is that a concern?

There are "set" numbers as well; do these have meaning or are they internal indicators?

Several tags are partly unreadable. Should we post them here for member evaluation?

I am still concerned that with 350 swatches to list, readers manually shuffling through the file names will go blind by the halfway point. Using part numbers and asking you to read the appropriate manual may, in practical use, be simpler than the long file names....

I'd like to see a little more discussion on this, please!

For my two cents, year and set numbers would rate toward the front of the search. Part numbers are important but the set number determines the part number. I would vote for something like Kev's order with year and model to start, set#, part#, and maybe a short description, then any other info to follow.

Are you planning a spreadsheet with the data with links to photos or just the actual card as a separate photo like the car picts with the pertinent info as individual files. Searching for single photos in that format is not very easy.

What it really comes down to is how members would actually use the images. Are you looking by model number to find specifics that pertain to your car (or a friends car, of course) or do you just want to browse an area of the collection?

What is your hierarchy; what do you choose first and then how will you subdivide?

Do you want to download a highres image so you have it to keep, study etc--or do you want it visible on the site. Want to see thumbnails first?

Would it work better if we had a page for each model (or just jr/sr) that then listed the applicable numbers?

Lots of possible ways to do this, but each is time intensive, so naturally we'd like to get it right the first time.

Brian, I screwed up and omitted the Green. I caught it just after I put it up.

My sense to this is the way I thought Patgreen and I discussed. After looking at the actual part CAT number and then going into the parts catalog today to see how it broke things down I realized it was important to include the CAT number in the file title.

As a research curator before the wide spread introduction of computers, I had cataloged a 15,000+ glass plate negative collection and the more descriptive terms you have the easier it is to find what you are looking for later. The file title gives you multiple ways of finding what you are looking for.

I still do not have any idea as to where we are going to park these things here. I would think single file image under the series/year of the cars, maybe in the literature/ manuals section.

Kev's suggestion is simply using caps and hyphens along with the underscore of what I had first put up. Certainly easier on the eyes.

What about a new section in Packard Literature and Manuals? Put it next to Paint Chips. I think the earliest samples are 24th Series so we are dealing with only five or six years of samples here from 1951-1956. 54, 55, and 56 are the most thoroughly represented.

I created a "Material Cards" category under the Exploded Part Plates category in the Photo Archive. I also changed how the categories are displayed as they were getting a little messy. The plan is to upload them all to this new sub-category as a batch.

It's great of all of you to help out with this! Thank you for donating all of those samples to the proving grounds, too. It's so nice that you are putting trying to put them on the site. I posted about carpet a few weeks ago and I never got a response from anybody. I need to know what kind of carpet was originally in my '49 (information below, in my signature) because I have no clue, and would like to replace it back to original, or close. If you have anything else for my car please tell me. Thanks!

Responding to patgreen's comments in post #41:

Quote:
Not a range at all, but the factory simply and efficiently chose not to repeat the first two digits of the model number (which represent the series number for 1947 and later years), when all specified model numbers are in the same series. Based on my inspection of the samples presented here, the information on the tags corresponds to what is provided in the parts catalog. That is, each applicable model number appears to be specified.

Quote:
Both. Trim Set numbers are how the interior was specified in vehicle ordering and the trim number for each vehicle is stamped, along with the exterior paint code, on the VN plate - at least, that's how it is on my 55-56 cars.

On the flip side, a dealer needed to know the Trim Set number to be able to order trim assemblies or even just bulk trim (yardage). Trim Set numbers are decoded in the front matter (Introduction or TOC section) of the parts books. Trim Sets numbers are also used in the Upholstery section of the dealer showroom albums.

The Bill of Materials for an assembled item, up to and including the complete vehicle, is like a tree, where the branches represent subsets of subassemblies and raw materials (and labor, and maybe even overhead). Consider part numbers for bulk materials (yardage) as subset of the trim assemblies (e.g. - seat cover, headliner, etc.) and the part numbers for those trim assemblies as a subset of the Trim Set number. The Trim Set is a subset of the finished vehicle.

Quote:
Yes. I will try to help as time permits, and suspect a few others will, as well.

Quote:
How you name the file depends on how you intend to use the data. Sounds like the current approach is to simply allow users to utilize the Site Search function against the filename. On the other hand, you could make this a database, that is a spreadsheet, where columns are the data fields and rows are the records, simply use the part number (P/N) as the image filename, and use that to feed a new feature like the Service Index, or Paint and Parts X-Ref. IMHO, the latter provides for greater possibilities in making queries.

I'd rather see a database format instead of just a bunch of individual photos. Maybe another possibility would be to tie it into the model info pages since that is already there. Put all the individual files in an appropriate folder, copy them as needed if more than one possibility. Bringing up a series or model could lead to the fabrics folder for that model--sort of like bringing up a model now shows links to pertinent literature.

Stephen -

Thanks for the clarification on the (inadvertent) omission of color name from that one sample.

Yes, P/N (part number) is critical - everything else floats upward from that. That is, you can't build a Trim Set if you don't know the component numbers.

After looking at the additional samples provided against the parts book listing, one might conclude that these cards, by part number, where used by the factory warehouse to match dealer orders to bulk goods on the roll. In actual practice, however, I believe it is quite rare for a dealer to be ordering yard goods. More likely, they would have ordered a trim assembly (e.g. - door panel, seat covers, etc.) Instead, I feel that these cards were more likely used by the factory's in-house trim shop (subassembly department) to help round-up the yard goods to fill internal orders of trim sets for vehicle production.

Sounds like you have a good background in cataloging detail. However, less detail in filename is required if an application shell and database fields are used. Yet, if you were to do that, you would likely have to expand some of the factory's short hand (e.g. - 5622-5642 instead of 5622-42) for proper searching.