Packard Forum Index » General

If you haven't noticed, there is a menu option on the Main Menu (to your left) called "Packard Part List".

You can search by Group Number, Part Number, or General Search

This will eventually contain all the data from the various Packard Part Lists (Books).

As this is a tedious painstaking process, it will take awhile before all the Part Lists have been added.

Currently, ONLY the 1955-56 is online. I will be adding them one-by-one working backward. So the 1948-1954 one will be next. But with the Holidays and my upcoming wedding, it may be a month or two before that one is completed.

The pages were OCR'd and then using software that I wrote for my company, the OCR'd data was parsed and formatting was fixed to extract the data in a format that could be stored in the database. The 1955-1956 parts book changes the layout on several pages and you can tell some of the pages were assembled in individual pieces before copying as the rows and columns are uneven and skewed, even on an original book. So that made it even more difficult for the software to parse. So a lot of "hand-editing" was needed to tweak the final data. So, there are probably going to be some errors and possible omissions. If you see something, then please let me know. These Parts LIst only contain items with Packard part numbers. So things like Carbs, Generators are listed, but their internal parts which have non-Packard specific part numbers would not be.

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Feedback appreciated if you have any suggestions.

I would put the full search column front and center with some instructions to just type in what you are looking for. Place the group and part number boxes secondary because I doubt many would have either number without going to the plates. If you have to go to the plates first then it would be less work to just find the proper part numbers the old way while you were already in the book.

Of course the problem with typing in a name would be that what I call a whosit you might call a whatsit and one or both names might be different than what Packard called it. In that case the item would not be found. A good example happened a couple of days ago when Joe was looking for a throwout fork or clutch fork and finding nothing because Packard was calling it a shifter fork.

To avoid that problem it would almost require having the drawings linked in some fashion. It might be that typing a common name that brings up the group number pages now could at the same time look thru the parts plates for any with the same group number and bring up a couple of the picture plates first -- or at the same time as the group numbers pages it pulls up now. If the needed part number was not obvious from the offerings then finding the proper picture and clicking on that group number would then automatically pop to the proper page to find a specific part number. If you could do that it would be a very worthwhile tool.

There is a long-term plan to have back and forth interactive linkage between the Part Lists and the Part Plates. But that will probably wait until I have all the Part Lists ingested. Each takes several days of work to get into database form. So finding the time is for sure the challenge.

Understood. If I can help in some way I have the time but maybe not the equipment.

Right, but Packard didn't even call it a fork, but a lever. A clutch fork in Packardese is a shifter lever.

Here's how one of the Jag suppliers does it.
You pick the type, then the model within that, then the general category like engine, transmission, body, etc. Then you get a numbered illustration...like the plates from the Packard parts book...click on the number in the illustration and you get the details and cost. It's pretty slick, but would take a lot of time to program. And one big problem I have with Packard plates is that not every part is identified.

Wouldn't it be nice if the major parts vendors did this for us by updating their online business. Maybe Amazon will do it.

Give it a try.

sngbarratt.com/CatalogueModels.aspx?f=4

That Jag site is slick but you are right in that it must have taken an extreme amount of time to set it up. Maybe some but not that much time to maintain and keep it updated afterwards though.

Max's site is probably the closest Packard has to anything approaching a place where you can see if what you think you are buying is what you want but it leaves a lot to be desired. More and more of his items are now being listed without photos so like Kanter, you need to call to try and describe or verify what you want.

Kev -

I commend you for undertaking this admirable, yet arduous task. As many hours as it took for me to scan the original, updated, edition of the 55-56 parts book from my personal archive, I shuddered to think what it would take to OCR and proof just that much data.

I did something similar, though much narrower in scope (by year) for the Cosworth Vega club. Initially, it started out as a mere interchange with known aftermarket part numbers, based around GM P/Ns, group numbers and nomenclature. However, I went on to add cross-model applications and expanded the listings to many other parts (with no interchange) - though well short of a complete parts book. All that info was compiled manually because the OCR software available to me at the time was not so good. While mapping the catalog illustrations was complicated by GM's copyright, actual images of hundreds of parts were donated to the cause, but I haven't had time for such pursuits in years since, and no one else ever took up the cause.

Getting back to Packard, although I feel a search by group is needed, one problem may be that Packard's grouping can be very specific. While using the basic group number (that is, left of the decimal point) makes for a convenient Table of Contents (TOC), some of those categories are quite huge in scope. I wonder if you could do some string trimming in the search, but most users aren't sufficiently versed to know what to type in the box. Know that the primary search for the online CV Parts X-ref is by keyword(s) for part name through the Part Description fields.

Meanwhile, an immediate, secondary benefit of just the 55-56 information is that it reveals any multiple applications for a given part - that is, a "where used" feature. This would become even more useful as catalogs for other series are added - provided we're talking about one comprehensive database for all catalogs. On the other hand, from my experience with the Service Index, I would like to remind you that as the database grows, it take much longer to search and report the findings (at least, whenever I was editing). Then, I wonder if this database could eventually be linked to the Parts X-ref.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing the progress on this new aspect of the site.

Kev,
I can appreciate what it may take not only to execute the import scan, OCR and formatting script, but also in the possible validation of the output. Perhaps you could use an army of us to perform spot checks on the outputs?

I could see how the variable formatting and callouts that Packard used would make the OCR difficult.

Thanks in advance.
Pat

Here is a basic sample of what could be done.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/partslist/viewplate.php

It shows a Part Plate and all the group numbers belonging to that plate underneath. The clicking of the image would require extensive image maps to be created which is too laborious. Currently, if you click one of the group numbers from the list, it will open the detail for that group number. I may try to have it open up nested under that header. But that code for another day. Once again, this was a quick and dirty sample. Once the data is in, we can do a lot more.

The issue I have found is that the parts plates do not OCR very well. There is a lot of call-out lines, tight groupings, and the image confuses the OCR engine and creates a lot of misread in the OCR results. I found that manually transcribing the values off of the page is faster than trying to find and fix all the OCR misreads.

So, if we want to proceed with this, then I would need some volunteers that what to take the time to fill the group numbers from the part plates into an excel spreadsheet, and then I can batch import them into the Database and go forward. I found each sheet only take about 5-10 mins to transcribe at the most.

If one or more of you are interested in helping out then please let send me an email.