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Does anyone know of a business that repairs the flippers on the 56 Caribbeans?

Thanks

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What are "flippers"??????

I believe he is referring to the weatherstrips used on the hardtops above the door windows. Because they flip up for clearance when the door opens and down to cover the gap when the door closes I have often heard those items called flippers. I believe their official name is Weatherstrips, hinge type, and listed in parts book in group 30.344.

I don't know of anyone in the Packard world who mentions repairs but Tucson Packards does seem to repair a lot of items no one else offers services for so maybe worth a phone call to them. I seem to recall reading that the same weatherstrips or at least a very similar item was also used on some GM cars in that era. Maybe one of their vendors would be a possibility or might know of someone.

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Okay. So many new names are being made up these days that I can't keep up with it all. We used to call these gadgets "door flaps" or "hardtop door flaps."

Yes, GM absolutely DID use spring-hinged stainless weatherstrips that "flipped" back and forth with door opening and closing. Just like Packard's versions.

Rather than repairing these pieces, it might be far easier (and cheaper) to simply start buying up a few sets off of the many sitting parts cars around the country. These parts were the same for Packard hardtops whether they be Four Hundreds or Caribbeans. The few I've ever seen failed were usually due to never being lubricated or a spring giving out (or both).

As for the term "flipper"... In the 1940s and 1950s around Detroit, when people said "flippers" they meant bars or blades or spinners or anything attached to wheel covers that glinted in the sunlight and appeared to be "flipping" as the car drove along. Some rodders and customizers back then actually used to hammer out wheelcovers so that the caps poked welll out from the wheels and then attached Oldsmobile or Dodge spinners to them. Some even went to the hardware store and bought chrome drawer pull handles and screwed those onto wheel covers. These were all generically known (at least in those days) as "flippers."

Even the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone concept car had bright shining thin bars added to the wheels and people around Detroit back then called these "flippers" too. And then there was this dolphin...

Thanks,

They were used on many GM Tri Fives and they used that term to describe them.

In my earlier years "flippers" referred to semaphore directional signals as used on many early Europlean vehicles, also sometimes called "wig-wags". Just for interest here's a really unique semaphore.

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Yes. Same here. WOW. That is one serious semaphore... and it appears to be on a Packard? Let's see more!

By the way, Los Angeles had "STOP" and "GO" semaphore traffic signals for many years but they quickly disappeared after WWII. Look for one on a famous L.A. intersection of the 1930s in an upcoming issue of The Packard Cormorant magazine.

My family’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 2-door hardtop (which was my high school driver) had flippers too and I expect that many hard tops of the era used them.

Leeedy, glad you enjoyed. I forget the details of the Packard in the photo, perhaps it was in foreign service at some point. Here's the right side flipper, in the retracted position.

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Will state up front I have never gotten up close and personal with a Chevy flipper. Having said that, IF the Chevy and Packard flippers are close to the same Danchuk Classic Chevydanchuk.com has some repair parts for the Chevy flippers. If you are inclined to experiment perhaps their parts would work on the Packard flipper.

Looking at the flippers on my 56 Caribbean HT the springs listed for the 56-57 Chevy appear to be very similar but not exactly the same. The Packard has 3 springs in total -- two very similar to the two long legged springs per flipper and what appears to be one of the double ended springs. My double end spring has 4 coils per end. Cannot tell if the Chevy does so the Packard might be stronger than the Chevy unless the Chevy springs double up. With that in mind, the Chevy spring kit might work. They also have something called a front and rear stop for the Chevy flippers. No sign of these on my car but maybe mine fell out or self destructed long ago. Does anyone else have any kind of stop on their flippers?

The felt strips are a question as I have no idea of the Chevy vs Packard length. When I replaced my felt in the 80s I cut the pieces from a long length bought from Restoration Specialties. If the Chevy felt is long enough the kit would sure save some hassle.

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