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I'd like to carpet the trunk of my '47 Packard Super Clipper. I don't care about originality in this area, since this was a production car, and even with expensive production cars, it was a case of building to a cost and getting it out the factory door. I long ago cleaned the entire trunk floor and compartment down to the healthy existing metal, leaving the mastic/asphaltic stuff on the wheelwheels, and brushed everything with a couple coats of black Rustoleum, after cutting an inspection cover over the gastank sending unit, something i recommend y'all do as Chryslers came with an access panel from the factory and i've no idea why Packard didn't bother. I made a new cover with a four x five-or-so-inch piece of aircraft aluminum and four sheet metal screws.

Obviously, i don't want to use the chintzy mat the factory used. Since prewar One-Eighties,and i believe Twelves, had carpeted trunks, thought i'd throw down the same nice carpet as i used inside the car, not hogshair and again, please, i don't care that hogshair is "correct." It's a goddam trunk.

A friend suggests before laying down the carpet i use Dynamat or Stinger Express Road Kill, akin to the stuff stereo/audio shops use to deaden sound. Is Road Kill overkill? I'm wondering if deadening the trunk would even make a difference sitting behind the wheel, driving down the road.

When we redid the car's interior, we used the usual jute underpad and then the carpet. I'm not interested in redoing that with the above sound deadening material, just the trunk, if, IF any of you think it's worth the bother. Otherwise, i'll just glue the carpet directly into the trunk, or maybe use a layer of felt underpad first,
then carpet and call it a day.

This ain't critical. Just wonder what some of you have done. Many thanks for any insight.

IMO, sound deadening wouldn't hurt but maybe not that beneficial in the trunk since the actual floor area is fairly small and rigid. Believe Dynamat would be overkill and is fairly expensive. Not familiar with the other product mentioned but there are many that might work equally well at less cost. Ensolite is a much lower cost foam product that has gotten some good reviews.http://www.raamaudio.com/ If you do want the heavier Dynamat composition, that same company has a similar product again at probably a lower cost

If you decide to insulate, in addition to the floor I think more benefit might come from putting something on the cardboard on back of rear seat to stop any drumming and lower the sound and heat transmission.

Mike, here is a photo of the trunk interior of my Custom Clipper. It is covered in a heavy carpet material, but not the Mosstred (sp.?) that is in the passenger compartment. It should not be too difficult to fabricate some panels to cover your Clipper's wheel well bulges. Probably all of this is for appearance with sound deadening being a second consideration. After all, it's all about looking good.

(o[]o)

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Mighty fine. You're right, JW. I'm doing this primarily to impart a finished look, which your car certainly has. I'm told the Custom Supers originally used lowly hogshair in the trunk, Mosstread, which is no longer available from the mills, indoors.

Mine's a Super, so it came with hogshair in the passenger compartment and just a rubber or whatever mat in the trunk.
I picked a gray cutpile carpet used in late model Mercedes to do the interior, and was flattered that a fellow using the same renowned Bay Area auto upholsterer (Armand's Auto Upholstery, Walnut Creek 925-934-4373 est. 1897 ! ) who i heartedly recommend as Armand owns and specializes in Packards,
selected the same carpet for his '41 Packard 180 LeBaron Sport Brougham.

I'm told prewar One-Eighties carpeted the entire trunk, tho' in hogshair. Anyone know what Twelves, etc. did? So i'm going to do that, tho' using the same gray carpet we used in the interior.

After discussion with HH56, believe i'll slap down some Ensolite under the carpet and call it a day. Unsure whether it's worth putting Ensolite on the wheel well arches since these still have the asphaltic flocking or whatever from the factory, which i brushed copious black Rustoleum over as i did the entire trunk compartment, wanting to preserve an already solid California car.

If you're interested, Lowe's sells a gray indoor/outdoor roll of carpet, around $20.00, that you can use for a trunk. I used it to do my interior, for a driver it's OK.

bobp, you too! The Lowe's indoor-outdoor carpeting is a great solution to covering trunks. I used it in my 55 Clipper and 30 Ford Model A Roadster. I also used it to carpet the interior of the Clipper. Nice to work with as it does not need to be bound and does not unravel. Just the right look.

(o[]o)

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I am getting ready to do the interior carpet in my 54 Clipper. Would you post a photo of you car's interior? How did you make the seams on the trunk look good? Are they just butted or are they glued?

Thanks

Willis

Willis, I had the mats and panels to use as patterns. The material is easy to cut, and as I mentioned above, does not unravel. I laid the carpet material on the floor, placed the mats and panels over it, traced the outline with chalk, and cut with regular household sissors (sp.?). The first ones I did had the material face up, this is why there is a white outline from the chalk marking. Later, I traced on the back side. I glued the carpet material to the side and rear seat panels. I also glued the carpet to the wheel wells. I glued the carpet over home carpet padding for the floor covering, but did not glue the padding to the floor of the trunk. I used 3M spray adhesive. This job was described in my project blog: "Adventures With Another Clipper", which is on this site in the Project Blog section, but probably a few pages down by now as I did the job last year.