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My car came with body off and a tarp over the non metal roof area. I have wood around the perimeter but nothing across the space. Does anybody know where to find drawings, photos or anything else to determine what goes into finishing the roof before the outer and inner materials are laid?

Have a look at Ray's Project Blog about his 526, here, but probably more so this thread.

The wood "top" was just strips to hold up the soft top, covered with chicken wire. You won't find any useful drawings, just make strips of about 1" thickness that follow the contours of what the top should be. Look closely, and I bet you will find where the strips were joined into the rails. How about some pics!! Welcome aboard.

My '32 901 is under construction and I have yet to cover the top so the wood bows are exposed. The bows on the car and been replaced as some kids decided to jump through it before I bought the car. I would guess that your '28 would have the same type of construction.

I'll need to take it out of the garage in order to take some picture, which I'll try to post in the next week or so. It is not too difficult to replace them - just a pain in the ass.

There is an article called "How Packard Builds a Body" floating around which may provide some usefull pictures.

But I don't know where it is. It might be on Youtube.com.

Here's a discussion from the 1934 Salesman's Data Book on the roof construction; hopefully this will be helpful as the general method of construction stayed pretty much the same over the years.

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Isn't that description of the roof interesting! I knew it was wood framed but there is more to it than I thought. Somehow though I think Packard PR was alive and well when they described their wood roof with chickenwire as strong yet light. I don't think it would be that strong in a rollover. Of course, in relation to canvas tops and open cars of the era -- and perhaps a less expensive car or two, maybe so.

All great information. The salesman's book is very helpful. I wonder if there is one similar for the 28?

There is a 28 fact book for the 443 model in the literature section but it's all text -- no pictures. Doesn't appear anything for your model is available (yet).
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?450

The opening on my '32 901 is ~40 ?" by 81". It has 7 bows the 1st one (from the front is 1 ?" wide and 1 ?" high. The remaining bows are ?" wide and 1" high. They are made of a hardwood probably oak, but could be ask or hickory. Between bows 4 and 5 there is a support for the dome light (see photos).

The main criteria is that the roof line must flow in a nice curve going from front to back and from left to right. The bow serve as the platform on to which 1" chicken wire is nailed. Cotton goes over the wire, then cotton muslin, and finally the top material. The goal is to have it all flow in a very naturally flow across the top with no lumps.

Let me know if the size of your opening is close to mine. If it is I'll trace the profiles of my 7 bows and mail them to you. I'll also try to get pictures of them this weekend. Also, I'd use a water proof glue like Tite Bond III for gluing the new ones in.

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