Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Kev, I have the templates for both right and left, door and fender mount, for the 55-56s. If you can confirm your locations are the same, I'd be glad to loan them to you.

Dave, I believe the 55/56 mounted directly to the door skin, on 51-54 they mounted to the stainless belt trim. Not sure if the actual "hole" template is the same, but as Brian pointed out the base profile is slightly different.

If you can send them over to me, I will try to match them up. A scan will do just fine. Thanks!

I'd also be interested seeing a scan of the V8 templates and maybe Kev could add them to the archives. I have some aftermarket mirrors which came on the car but surprisingly do resemble the originals rather well -- even made out of real metal. Those were mounted on the fender several inches in front of windshield and for all practical purposes, not a great location for the intended purpose. I removed them but they cleaned up & look fairly decent. Would be nice to reinstall them in a somewhat more proper location.

(Edited) This is the template that came with the factory mirror accessory, the handwritten info on the post-it is my own. TWO positions for 1955/56, on the door or forward on the front fenders; two different sets of reference locations, Packard and Clipper. Turn over for right side of car. Template is too large for me to scan in a single image and of course must be used in original scale; if you can print the two halves out correctly sized to the ruler and then tape together you'll have it.

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Thanks Dave!

If anyone also has the 51-54 template, lets get that added as well!

D-train -

WRT to the bevel on the edge of the glass, you wrote:

Quote:

IIRC, the original glass was ground reverse of what you are thinking. That is, the O.D. of the face of the finished glass was smaller than the O.D. of the back - similar but not identical to the angle of the crimp. I believe that was done to help keep the glass centered in the crimp - prevent it from walking out. I suspect if you were to try to cut the bevel the other way, to use as a wedge, it would result in pressure-flaking along the edge or even breakage.

Still, I like your additional thoughts on the use of a wood backer, application of heat and cold. When I get a chance to attempt glass removal/insertion, I'll report back, here.

Kev -

WRT to template for the 51-54 mirrors that mounted on the belt line trim, go to the Section III - Accessories of the 51-54 Service Manual, starting at the bottom of page 3. Figure 7 shows layout for drilling, but is somewhat illegible; perhaps you can rescan the figure (and related text) and post in this thread.

However, drilling requires a fixture - perhaps to locate the holes vertically, but certainly to keep the bit from skipping off the crowned trim and onto the paint. Although it looks like the holes are centered vertically, looks can be deceiving. It would help if you could find a car (or at least the moulding of one) that had been fitted with such a mirror inspect the location of the holes. I'm sure you could make a fixture from a scrap of hardwood and drill bushings.

Meanwhile, read the shop manual instructions carefully on final installation. It appears, to me, that Packard had an elegantly simple trick for mounting this mirror (on 51-54) WITHOUT any special bracket.

I can't tell from the present, low-rez scan, but am guessing that the special screw (with Allen recess on one end) used the washer on the bottom end (with a little help from leveraged gravity) to hang on the top of the one hole that goes through the outer door panel. (Refer to Figure 7, Section A-A.) The mirror is cinched in place by BACKING the screw out to tighten the washer against the inside of the panel.

Meanwhile, a locating pin, that's part of the casting, projects beyond the bottom of the base on the 51-54 version of the mirror, engaging the other smaller hole in the trim only. (Refer to Figure 7, Section B-B.)

Did your mirror include this screw? If not we'll talk about fabricating a replacement, later - as was done for the 55-56 repro.

BTW, except for the projection of the locating pin and the angle of the stem where it meets the mirror head, I believe that the base of the OE 51-54 and 55-56 mirrors start out as the same casting, just machined/finished a bit differently.

Pics of the mirror in question. I guess when the mirror lost all of it's silver, a previous owner, just stuck one of the small convex mirrors on the front to make it still somewhat functional.

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Brian to answer your question, I don't have any of the hardware with it.

In the absence of having the correct hardware, i'm thinking based upon the picture above that Dave provide, I should be able to fab up a similar metal bracket could fit under the stainless belt moulding.

But obviously that odd allen "footed" bolt would be the problem. But a longer standard bolt and a washer, through the back of the door skin and into the mirror should accomplish the same thing. You just wouldn't be able to remove the mirror without taking the door panel off first. Hmmmm