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West:

Did you use the Packard trim pieces mentioned in this thread from Arizona? I just installed a set on my 1807 and found them to apparently be just a little too long. They protrude about an inch and cover that much of the rear fender. I decided to leave it since it looks better than the old set which was too short and obviously wasn't right either.

Martin
I believe they're supposed to run roughly 1 to 1.5 inches into the rear fender. On your car, I believe they're supposed to run right up to the front wheel-well opening. On my car, an 1808, the strips to not run to the front wheel-well opening. They stop around 1.5 inches into the fender.

Unfortunately, the company in Arizona does not make the strips in my size. I'm not sure why that is not possible, as they are shorter, and it would seem to be an easy thing to do. I'm not going negotiate the possibility, though, because I can't afford them anyway.

I used 1941-42 strips, since my car is only a driver. 1940 fanatics know the difference, but no one else knows. It looks a lot better than the totaly bent-up strips that were on there, and looks a lot better than nothing at all.

Just finished some 550 miles to Canton and back. No problems, ran super fine, super fast. I tried to keep my speed down to 65mph, but still experience poor (in my opinion) gas mileage. My father's similar car gets around 10-12mpg, without overdrive. My car gets the same with overdrive. While he has a higher rear end ratio, I'm sure my rpm's are much lower when the overdrive is engaged.

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West, a friend here locally has two 1941 seniors, a LeBaron Sport Brougham and a 160 DE convertible. The LeBaron has OD, the convertible does not. From some tours we taken together, both get about the same gas mileage on highway driving, about 14 mpg which would equate more or less to about 15.5 or so with gasoline of the era (ethanol-free). Certainly the convertible is substantially lighter than your car but I suspect the LeBaron has a reasonably similar weight.

On several tours where we drove in caravan, fueling at the same stops, I always found it interesting that my 56 Carib got slightly (and I do mean slightly) better mileage than the 41 Seniors.

At what speeds? Do I need to slow down to 55mph in order to realize that kind of mileage?

65 mph +/-

I haven't made a good road trip yet; almost took off to Chattanooga for some photos of a restored steam locomotive at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum but the 100 degree temps stopped me. Maybe if I had that a/c unit in your 1808 I may have tried. Do you think that the a/c is the reason for your lower gas mileage? I'm getting about 10 mpg around town in the 1807.

I don't have the a/c hooked up.
I think that steam train was up in northeast Ohio this past weekend.

West, a gallon is a gallon but maybe if you have one of those "measured miles" around you, you might check your odometer accuracy.

I have. It shows 55mph when I'm doing 65mph. I'm also including my odometer error in my figures, which is about 8% (shows 100 miles after going 108).