Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I was thinking the exact same thing when I laid out the drawings. If it is just a rod change between senior and Jr models, and I could get the data to describe the other size rods we could maybe include those in the set. I suspect however that Packard may have made more changes though, like knob size/style and thread interface with the switch on senior models and other years. Yearly changes in the dash was an easy thing for them and help distinguish one year from another to their sales base.
To your point about failure rate, it is us restorers that are causing the failure. Disassembly of the switch from the dash means gripping the escutcheon with pliers or something to turn it out of the switch base. Heavy damage or outright destruction is common. It is this part that is intrinsic to the switch knob. The production ones have the knob press fitted to the rod and cannot be separated without complete ruin. You may note I deviated slightly on my design so that a 1/2" wrench can hold and tighten the escutcheon with no gripping tool required.
Bob J.

I don't know when the slots in the headlight bezel to assist in removal started appearing but perhaps a couple of slots located next to the shaft could be incorporated in the repro bezels and a tool could also be made available.

Chris made his own tool to remove his headlight sw bezel and Packard had various tool versions to accommodate the different spacing of bezel slots that changed over the years or for different sw functions.

Here are a couple of different versions of tools which do essentially the same thing but are for different switches. Some slots were right next to the shaft and others were toward the outer diameters. Something like flat stock with a notch and bent over tangs sized to fit the bezel slot dimensions and locations should be easy enough to make.

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The rod/bezel/knob is assembled as a single composite part by the factory and it's a one-year-only part.

The problem is that the chrome part of the bezel is a very thin fragile shell over a thicker base which essentially gets mangled if the threaded shaft was over-tightened when installed initially or rusted in any way.

Because of the one-piece assembly, there is no way to replace just the bezel.

It's frankly a bad design that was changed in later years.

On my car, I was able to unthread it by hand. But even then it had roughed up in the past and it shows.

The Assembly is unique to 37's HOWEVER the knob itself is same for 38-39, but the manner of retrofit assembly needs to be clarified.

On another note, this trunk rack knob is begging to be reproduced since Ulrich lost his source. Begging. Demand is there for this. Discuss?

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I think this needs a new 'Topic". Opening one now...
Bob J.