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Sent four wire wheels off to Dayton Wire Wheel on Monday 06/02. UPS said they would be there the next day. I called Dayton Thursday and I finally got someone who said they received them on Wednesday. I am a little disappointed they didn't call or email me that they had received them. A small thing but perhaps indicative of an attitude - I hope not. Guess I'll have to order those tires soon from Mid-Atlantic Packard as they get a small discount from Diamondbacks. I have to wait and make sure Dayton can seal the wheels up for tubeless tires. The other rebuilder from Fresno, CA had no problem. It's a shame he retired or went out of business.
Dayton did friend Chris' wheels and they are gorgeous.

I note that all 1956 models have a seal (6485354) where the rear center of the front fender bolts to the cowl. I didn't see that seal when I removed the front fenders so I will make one for each side as described in 50.945 - 1/4 inch ID X 2 1/2 inch OD X 1/8 inch thick. I guess some water must have entered the body at that point so they placed a seal there. I am assuming it goes on the outside of the cowl. Any other opinions??

As a seal, I don't see which side would matter but as an anti squeek or vibration, then on outside. What is the mating surface of fender vs cowl look like? Is it big & flat enough the rubber would do some good?

I seem to recall however that not all fenders & doors were created equal. That center bolt sometimes was not tightened down totally otherwise the fender got sucked in too far vs the door edge. If that were the case, seal would not be of much value on outside but would with a nice steel washer pressing in on inside. Conversely, if bolt is tight will the extra 1/8 inch outside be enough to mess things up.

THere is an age old product called body Dum-Dum. Sold at Chevy dealers since the mid 50's that i know of. Maybe not anymore and i'm not sure of the DEALER trade name for it. IT can even be painted and stays pliable for 20-40 years that i know of.

Go ahead and make the gasket and use the dum-dum. Also use it at the top rear fender bolt and the hood hinge bolts.

Packard used some kind of a gooy sealer that is still running out of my hood hinge bolts at the INSIDE of the car.

NOTE that the TOP most hood hinge bolt INSIDE the car does not tighten squrely against the body using the factory washer. I think somekind of mod is needed here.

I'll go out and look at my parts regarding the fender bolt u mention but it will be a couple of hours from now.

Thanks for reminding us about Dum-Dum, it's great stuff for certain applications. You can usually get it at better auto parts stores and body shop supply houses and we should all have a bit of it around.

Dumdum is also sold as "Strip caulk" and I have some really old stuff that is too hard to work with. I like Howard's suggestion of the seal being inside behind a large washer.

I have some of the Strip Caulk too. I think it's made by 3M but came out of a GM supplier. The strip caulk hardens over 2 or 3 years.
Strip Caulk IT IS NOT Dum-Dum!!!

I have some Dum-Dum here in my shop that dates back into the late 50's maybe earlier. It's still soft. The many things i have put it on operating under severe conditions for over 20 years STILL SOFT.

Is this the seal you are describing? This is what mine looked like during disassembly.

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Robert, that has to be it. And it obviously goes inside. Thanks for the very good picture. You didn't happen to takr pictures of the antenna seal when you removed your antennas, did you? I can't believe that grommet that Steele sells is legitimate and now I think maybe that seal goes inside also. It is listed in the accessory section, but the number isn't found in the numerical list.

I didn't look at Steels piece but isn't there quite a different setup for rear antennas on regular cars vs the Caribbean with the chrome piece. Maybe that is the seal you refer to.