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

I have a couple of the thin plastic peices that are part of my waterfall radio speaker grill broken off ('41 120). I have the peices, but can't find anythig that does a good job bonding to the material. Too early to be plastic and both model glue and contact cement seem not to work.

Has anotone out there had luck with a bonding agent for repair of these peices?

Not recently. Have you tried cleaning thoroughly and using Super Glue. I prefer the gel kind.

Have you checked with Jerry as Yesterdays Radio? I believe he was reproducing much of the Pre-War dash plastic.

Too early to be plastic

Not the case, plastics were in use for quite a few years before this, though they were rather primitive formulations compared to today's materials; they were probably tenite or perhaps a bakelite. Plastics predate World War I and saw a bit of use in cars in the several years prior to World War II.

Yesterday's Radio does reproduce these, but at $700 a pop I thought I would try to fix mine first. I don't really show the car much and it is a driver.

My Packard guy out here tells me these were made of some sort of product based on soy been material. Sounds nuts to me, but I actually have no idea. They do tend to shrink and disintegrate over time, so whatever it was, it was not extremely stable.

For cocktail conversation... the plastic on the dash of the '41 Packard is Tenite.

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Unfortunately, I have no clue as to what solvent/glue would be appropriate for this miracle material. You should see the ashtray on my '41... looks like it's been baked, compressed, stretched, sand blasted and then smacked with a big stick.

Maybe you could ask Eastman Chemicals... believe it or not, they are apparently still manufacturing Tenite.

Link to Eastman Chemicals

the problem is not really "what's a good glue for Tenite", because these parts are degraded irreversibly by now. The stabilizers, UV additives , etc weren't too great back then, and in fairness it was 69 years ago.
Because of the degradation/cross-linking, it's going to be hard to come up with a solvent glue. Cyanoacrylate (superglue types) are possible. I think epoxy type or other thermosetting adhesive is a better shot. I have used Bondo-type body filler. If you are hoping to not paint, use sparingly. Also consider that anything you use on the backside will not be visible installed. Depending on the damage that may give you extra options

Tenite - isn't that what used to do Superman in?

Part of my problem is probably the gluing surface - it mates up pretty good, but it is very small- just either end of these little spokes. There is room to work from the back, but little clearance when it all goes back together. Some kind of really strong bonding tape would work pretty well. I am hoping not to paint as everything matches nicely right now.

I think epoxy is probably the next item to try.