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I am gathering parts and spending money on another Packard. The current 39 six convertible coupe was sold about a half mile from my home in December 1938 and had been sitting in a local garage as an abandoned project for over 25 years.
The car appears to have been painted originally in a dark gray metallic( Blackhawk Gray metallic) by the looks of the paint under the door rubber.
The car was painted yellow at some time in the distant past and the interior upholstered in a tan Naugahyde vinyl. The car retained rubber floor mats and the door panels incorporated carpeting at the bottom edge.
I plan to install carpeting both for appearance sake and because I imagine the rubber floor mats are either no longer available or...like covers for the running boards...outlandishly expensive.
The conversation today was whether an open car like the Six would have come from the factory with leather seats and door panels to be more weather resistant in an open car?
I do not think that leather was the expensive addition it has become in recent years and doubt that vinyls were readily available 80+ years ago.
I will be doing the interior in modern vinyl since it will not be.a show car and the newer materials are pretty much bullet proof...and look more like leather than leather.
Was also wondering whether anyone is aware of a supplier for replacement thresholds.....I have the originals but they are pretty well shot.

Thanks for any insights.
RJR

Flexible vinyl was first developed in the late 1920's, so the material was around. I don't know if Packard used it in 1937.

I'm assuming that by the word thresholds you are referring to the aluminum door sills. They are available from Doorsills LLC of North Haledon NJ, or thru one of the regions of The Packard Club. Doorsills (973 423 1196) is owned by Don Kuehn and his products are of outstanding quality, doorsills for the 1700 convertible coupe are listed in his catalog #13.

Dave- Thanks for the info on the sills.
One tidbit of info that may be of some interest...... my friend and body man is insistent that Packard did not install carpet on the bottom of the door panels in 1939. The ones being replaced on my car had carpet added at the time the interior was redone in the 1950-60 era.
I found pictures of a 39:coupe roadster at Daniel Schmidt that had a spectacular interior with the carpet added to the bottom of the door panels.
As of last evening I was willing to accept my friends assertion....backed by several pictures .
Today I visited an old upholsterer who took me to his back shed and pulled out original door paneLS from a 1939 Packard sedan he had worked on a few years ago...
The bottom of the panel was carpeted.
He was unable to confirm whether Packard had ever utilized vinyl on the seats of any of their cars but did confirm what my research had disclosed.
DuPont had developed a vinyl material in the 1920's that was utilized in certain auto interiors as early as the 1920's. The Naugahyde brand was developed by UniRoyal and became a popular interior material but it didn't come to market until the 195o's.
I took a picture of the 39 door panel and if I can figure out how to upload, I will add it to the post.
I am still curious as to whether Packard relied on leather for the interiors of open cars.
I also uncovered an older post from the forum regarding replacement rubber mats. Apparently Kanter's supply of NOS mats had deteriorated with time and they determined that new molds would be $150,000 which killed any plans for reproductions. The site listed a supplier but when I checked they only offered carpet.
Maybe someone knows another source.
Thanks again for the info.
RJR

Often answers to questions about interior materials and patterns and options if any can be found in the Salesman's Data Book. I know it's on this site, have you browsed it?

Someone has recently reproduced one or more of the prewar junior car rubber front mats, I saw them displayed at the Traverse City National Meet. I can't recall who had them but I'd bet a phone call to Joel Ray would get you the answer.

The Naugahyde brand is Uniroyal's, and goes back to WWI era, but referred to a rubber-based fabric. The vinyl version came much later as you say. Flexible vinyl was invented by BFGoodrich, not DuPont, in 1928. I'd check for references to "leatherette", as vinyl was often referred to as this. Packard was using it in the 22nd series, but I don't know for the 17th.

If you go with carpeting, I recommend a "hogs hair" type. Not as pretty as traditional carpet materials, but better in keeping with the time of your Packard.

Don Lampen (of Premier Runningboard and Floor Mats, (616) 796-4429 or donaldlampen@yahoo.com) re-produces the rubber floor mats. I bought mine from him at Hershey 2018, and it is very nice.

This is the 39 packard sedan door panel with carpet at bottom.
Not sure of model.....or accuracy....but upholsterer said he did the interior some years ago and this was the original panel removed

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1938 Eight (120) door panels done similarly. See photo in this thread of original feature details.

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