Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I have the Body number and VN number. The body number is Z74811 or Z748II as it looks like. Is there any way to tell what the original interior upholstery color would have been. This is a 1937 115C Convertible and I'm trying to do some research on it while it's in for restoration. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also would like to know what color the covertible top should be as well. It seems that before I got it, the car has been repainted twice. Thanks again.

If you can find a bit of original paint, perhaps in an obscure spot on the car or under the later layers, that would help in narrowing down the options for upholstery and top colors.

No such body serial number as Z74811, it would be 6 numeric digits, maybe you can post a photo. If the first character is a 2 (as in 274811) the car is a 1936, not a 1937. Note that in the font Packard used for this number and vehicle numbers and other purposes, the "1" looked like an "I".

The vehicle number is the most definitive number, please provide.

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If it's a 6 cylinder it couldn't be a 36 of course. pictures would help a lot.

G'day Quillas,
to PackardInfo and I invite you to include your '37 115C in the Packard Owner's Registry.

I am puzzled by the font.

Consider this data plate of a 1937 Twelve Limousine....
The '3' and '6' are very different.

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Styles changed over time, different fonts for vehicle numbers in different eras - compare a 55/56 data plate numerals with the 40s, 30s, 20s, etc, many differences.

But we were talking about the theft-proof numbers, that font never changed. The font I showed was Packards proprietary font from the early years and used mostly for their advertising copy text. I showed it mostly to show the digit 1 being represented by an I.

It could be a 2 to start it. Since everything else is numeric. Here's the back story on the car, my Dad bought it back in 1967. At the time the car was painted black and had a cream convertible top, with red interior. Since the old convertible top was shot he had it replaced with a tan one in 1968. I remember before it went in for some of the restoration work that some of the black paint have bubbled up and there was a cream color underneath. Since my dad never had the build sheets I am trying to figure out what it was supposed to be originally.

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Looks like someone at Packard loaded the 2 upside-down.

It looks like it might of been a "7" that someone tried to turn in something else.