Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hello gents,

My '55 Ignition bezel broke. From what I understand, they are hard to find.

What years do these infamous chrome ignition bezel fit?

Are they '51-'56?

55-56. Packard and Clipper will interchange functionally but there is a subtle difference in the finish. Senior cars have a brushed look on the flat name or label section whereas Clippers are more a shiny chrome over the entire bezel. They are available, but a dwindling resource.

Don't throw the old one away. If the retaining tab(s) at the end is the broken part, there could be a repair option if you want to do it.

Home away from home, I was able to repair mine by clamping on it side with with the broken tab side down on my bench using a wood clamp and placing a piece of thin plastic support under the side that the tab had broken off of and used JB weld to form a new tab on that side. Used a scaple/blade before it set to carve to mirror the none broken tab, when thoroughly dry and set installed and 4 years later it still works fine.
May not look original, but who looks at the back side of your dash?
You may want to give a try.
John

John -

That's a good trick. When mine broke, it cost something like $35 to replace. One bid was $50. JB Weld is good stuff, but I didn't realize it was that good.

Bernardi

Great tip John Miller. Thanks. The 55and 56 ignition bezels break very easily anyway so this tip is good one.

IIRC it was HH56 that some 2wo years ago was also working on somekind of fix for broken bezels.

IIRC it was HH56 that some 2wo years ago was also working on somekind of fix for broken bezels.

It was and is. Haven't publicized it because I don't think it is easy enough to make yet -- or maybe to put on. I gave a few out but with almost no feedback, don't know how many were used or installs attempted, what kind of difficulties were encountered, or if or what changes need to be made. It pretty much was shoved aside for other projects.

One of the big questions remaining was if there should be a one fits all approach or if a separate version tailored to replace whichever tab failed would be better. Once a decision is made, will publish details for anyone who wants to attempt one.

Here's the thread from back in '08

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1419&forum=3&post_id=17740#forumpost17740

Howard -

I think the one-fits-all approach would be best. My ignition switch had been hanging on by just one tab, and when that finally failed, the bezel was useless. By the time the first tab breaks, the damage has already begun on the other.

Your repair for the bezel is fairly simple and straight forward, but there's always gonna be a learning curve with any new experience. A little patience goes a long way.

The tricky part was drilling the bezel to receive a spring wire clip. Your fixture made alignment a breeze, but drilling through the chrome plating takes some time and generates enough heat to soften the hot glue holding the sleeve to the fixture.

Unfortunately, I've so much on my plate that I still haven't had time and space to get the car out of storage to install the repaired bezel in the dash. I don't see any problem with that part.

Have had several versions and don't remember who got which version. The one in the link Keith posted was very early. In later ones, I thought a shoulder to support the back of new tabs (and the remaining tab on bezel if present) would be better. The tabs on some were individual and held on with screws (for the single broken tab version attempt) -- but very tiny screws are not realistic. Am halfway intrigued with possibly making the tabs out of JB weld instead of the individual soldered on pieces.

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Mine was copper sleeve with replacement tabs soldered to the ID - no shoulder. However, the spring wire retainer had sort of a handle.