Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Any idea on the date of the humble Deluxe referenced above?

Firedome. I tried that with my 5672-1074. I used the STB's and SC's available here as pdf download among other documentation. The best i could do was to interpolate and extrapolate between the dates and Utic engine numbers and VN's to come up with a time frame of not-before and not-after dates. But the range was wide as i remeber. Something like between feb 1 and march 30th.

The problem is that factory documentation is full of holes that beg cross examination. For example i found that my 5672-1834 did not fit the range of the oil pump modification cited in 56T-20.

Also see post #3 of this thread about ordering your build sheet from the Studebaker Museum.

We also have to remeber that Mahogany Row of large corporations tend to pull off a lot of shady strategy.
For example, starting Vn's at a rather high number (e.g. higher than 1001) only to deceive dealer network and competition into thinking more car production/sales volumn exists than is reality.

That is to say that one must always view ANY published documentation with a most circumspect and suspicous eye.

Does anyone know if cars tended to be built in batches of like models or come randomly down the same line? I seem to recall seeing pics of cars coming down the line at Connor in rather variegated fashion, something like a Carib 'vert followed on the same line by a Clipper Custom sedan, for example. I shall look back at the usual suspect references to see if my memory does not fail me...It seems inefficient, but if so, that would well make determining build dates even more difficult by the manner of extrapolation referred to above.

THere again the problem is perhaps factory photos were striclty photo-ops for PR.

It requires a great deal of crossing ALL each and every piece of documentation into each other looking for consistant data as well as contradictory data.

I suppose your best and fastest avenue would be to contact the Studebaker Museum for the build sheet. I don't remember what they charge.

Let us know what u decide.

I certainly plan to do just that, meantime, picking brains here, the depth of knowledge is pretty comprehensive. I'd venture to say that the average Packard owner is a tad more fact and detail obsessed than your average vintage car owner! At least from my experience with Olds, Cad, MG and Mopars, and some the other cars I've owned.

We have to be that way.

Your query is an interesting experiment among all of this.
Go ahead and crunch the numbers of the STB's and SC's to start. Maybe start another thread as a blog for us all to follow and contribute.

Just maybe u can narrow your build date down a lot closer than i expect. Thru the proces we may come up with more ideas and documentation.

Great experiemnt to try just for fun. THEn order the studebaker museum documentaion to see how close we can get.

Sounds like fun to me.