Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Steve

Onn the earlier Briggs body cars there was a paper code installed on the car with all this info on it.

I don't if the V8's still used the tag, the V8 guys will tell you. On the bathtubs and 'high pocket" cars a teletype strip was taped above the glovebox- you have to reach around and above the outside. Sometime they are still there and sometimes not.

The Studebaker Musem has build sheets for most of the V8 Packards and they can make a copy for you

Regards


John Harley

The paint and trim codes are on the door sill plate. The 55 dealer album showing the various color combinations as well as interior upholstery samples are on site.https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?174 Individual year paint charts from the paint companies are also available which might be more representative of true color since the album is a bit faded.

Not sure the museum has the 55 build sheets but worth a try. Believe someone said they only had the 56 year. If you are lucky and find the build sheet either there or in the car, the option codes and what they mean are also here. Other than 54 where several have mentioned finding a sheet taped to top or side of glove box, there seems to have been no consistent hiding place. Some other places also mentioned were above radio, under rear seat cushion, in the small slot between gas tank filler and vent pipe and a mention of one near back seat in the crack between quarter panel and rear wheel inner fender.

Steve -

The VN of your Packard isn't as complex/detailed as modern VINs. It merely discloses the body number (should be 5582, in your case), followed by a number based on the position of that car in the production run for that model in that year/series.

There should be a tag on the left front door hinge pillar that shows the VN, plus paint and trim codes. That info is decoded in front pages of the parts book (that is, the 1955-1956 Parts and Accessories List), which can be downloaded from this site - FREE. Some call those pages the Introduction or Table of Contents section, but modern manufactures refer to them as the "Front Matter".

Unlike later examples from the Big Three, you won't find a full build sheet in these cars. As other have noted, the factory taped a build strip to the top of the glove box. However, such strips contain nothing but a handful of cryptic codes. While the factory did generate and maintain production orders that contain the same build codes (and more info), I believe that the Studebaker museum only has them for 1956, except Caribbean and perhaps Four Hundred models, which are in the hands of a private collector.

Whether or not you are lucky enough to find a build code strip, you may want to check out the 1955 Build Sheet and Production Code Chart that I compiled exclusively for PackardInfo.

The rear trunk crest has been repro'd, but with mixed reports on quality. I've heard of a company that can recolor your plastic emblems, but it's pricey.

Personally, I suggest you try to salvage as much of the original interior, if possible, as NOS and reproduction yardage is expensive.