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Though it does have Packard accessory seat covers, are these pictures of a totally original 51 Patrician useful? I have many more photos of that car that weren't posted. The car is now in Scandanavia but I could request other photos if you need them.

http://www.packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1512

Quote:

Thank you O_D for your reply and for posting the pictures. Especially the one showing the Factory Seat Covers as that exact set was on the seats of the '51 200 Deluxe I bought for parts. They are now on the seats of my '51 Patrician. Now I know why they "looked like they belonged there".

The main question I have regards the chrome trim on the base of the rear seat. In the Patrician Brochure the rear seat is shown having one wide band of stainless that matches the top piece on the lower door panels above the thinner piece. The rear seat of my Patrician has the wider piece. However, the Patrician section of the big folded poster size Packard's the One in '51" shows a second narrower band below the first which mimics the lower, thinner piece on the door. My car doesn't have that piece - at least now it doesn't.

What I'm wondering is which version was used in production? One band on the seat matching the upper band on the lower portion of the door like the Patrician Brochure? Or two bands: a broader upper band over a thinner lower band?

As far as further pictures go, naturally, I'd love to see everything I can get my hands on. Realistically, the main question marks concern the carpet and the edging on the carpet; the kick panels and the lower portions of the front and rear seats.

Thank you again, O_D for the quick response and the pictures. It looks like a lovely car in beautiful condition. A condition I plan on returning mine to.

(If she saw that last sentence, my 8th Grade English Teacher - Mrs. Foster - wouldn't just turn over in her grave, she'd be spinning like a lathe).

Jim, I've just come back after not posting for ages . . . good to see you starting work on this '51. And it's sure exciting to discover a bit about the history of the car - even something as small as a service tag! I'm looking forward to following your project as much as time permits.

Regarding photos of parts . . . . something I encountered was that a couple of times I went and purchased new / used bits when I already had the parts 'somewhere' and couldn't find them!! My original job of cataloging them wasn't quite good enough it seems. Stuff was catalogued and then stored but I had moved the item to somewhere else, etc etc.

For example, I bought two new (expensive) door handle retainer clips and had them sent over, only to find later that I had two good ones . . . damn!

Great pics...I always thought the lettering on the trunk chrome was red. Now I know it should be black!

Charles, not sure about the lettering colour, as I bought a NOS trunk handle and the lettering was red. Quite a 'transparent' red applied lightly, so you can get the chrone 'bling' through the paint to some extent.

It's possible that Packard coloured the Patrician handle black but the one I have is original so red was done for the 200 Deluxe cars.

There is a earlier discussion here about that color. Brochures show both so don't know if they used both or if there was a running change. Reading Mr. Neals book on all the indecisions and problems getting the various model 51's in production that could have been one of those last minute changes or decisions.

I'm glad the subject of the trunk handle came up as that is one of the questions I was going to ask in the future. I think I went over every picture in the '51 section of the photo archives trying to see what the correct color was or even if there was a color. Some of the pics look to me like they were left blank.

What I would like is info on the number of trim pieces around the base of the rear seat. Were there two ribbed bands like on the bottom of the door panel or just one? If there are two, are they spaced like they are on the doors?

Also every picture of the interior of a '51 Patrician seems to be the 501 trim: taupe pleated door panel inserts on light wool body and a dark beige instrument panel. I have yet to find one with the 503 like mine: Dark Blue over light beige (a strange combo) with a sort of silver grey dash and window trim.

If I were ordering the car new in '51 I would have gone with the Taupe and Tan interior myself. It looks so much warmer. I'm sort of done in one grey interiors as both my mom's 88 Tempo Sport has grey interior as did my first '95 Lincoln Town Car. I'm burned out on grey but am thinking I should stick with it in this case as, judging from the number of pictures, the 503 treatment looks to be rather rare.

My thanks to O_D, Howard, Larry51 and 51Packard for your help and encouragement.

Jim, on my project blog I have posted a pic of my '51 interior which has the Lt Gray with Dk Blue, if that is any help? Also the dash and garnish trims are a silver-gray metallic and mine match the original colour that was used in some 200 Deluxe cars. This was an 'eye match' done at local automotive paint shop, so don't have a formula for it.

Perhaps the colours are the same as used in your car?

Larry, I saw those pictures on your blog and let me add my congrats on a beautiful job. As far as your interior vs. a Patrician interior goes, I've been wondering the same thing. As a matter of fact, I sent off to SMS for samples of the cloth used in the 200 Deluxe and received a swatch for both fabrics used - what appears to be an excellent match for the cloth you used in yours as well as my 200 Deluxe - allowing for "a few years" of fading.

I took the blue swatch out to the Patrician and it appears to be a lighter blue, though not by much, of the color used in the Patrician. More importantly though, the sample seems to be close to the same weight as the Patrician fabric.

The description you give of the color of your dash seems very close to the color of the dash in my Patrician which is more silver than grey. Interestingly the dash of the interior of my running 200 Deluxe is a light tan while the "parts car" dash is a darker grey.

Thank you Larry, for your help in this and for the paint formula you gave me for Matador Maroon a while back. At some point I'll be using it to bring the 200 Deluxe back to it's beautiful original color.

Thanks Jim. Regarding SMS, I noticed a very slight difference in the colour of the Dk Blue cloth they sent to me (to be used for my seats) and what they used on the door trims. I was not at all surprised that could happen, and suspect the door trims were made separately and a different dye batch led to someone sending the different cloth.

They should get across this, and set aside the cloth so it cannot happen. I know of others who have had the same problem. So advise you to beware of similar things happening!! The quality of the broadcloth is very good, albeit very expensive. And as you've no doubt seen, it takes forever and a day to get things made by SMS, like a year or more is not unusual. That is a huge shame.