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What I believe was the factory paint on a 22nd series was very closely matched by Rustoleum Smoke Gray

After reading Ross and Big Kev's replies I went and took a look at my trunk. As far as the trunk floor covering on my 53 Derham, the flocking is sprayed around the perimeter of the floor and up the sides of the inner fenders and wheel wells. The floor has a beige-ish short bristle carpet (I guess this is called hogs-hair). The carpet is stamp cut and is made of three pieces adhered by a fabric adhesive tape and covers the entire floor. My recollection from the summer is the spare tire well is flocked (more ways than one) also.

Rear of the seat also has a hogshair? panel over the seat back.

David, I can photograph it for you if you would like me to.

thanks - I suspect that a Derham is a bit fancier than a 200. I'll still like to see the photos though.

David,

When I finally got into the trunk with the help of one of my former students who is a locksmith in real life, I was frankly underwhelmed. To the point of thinking what a cheezy set up on a higher level car. I guess I was expecting carpeting/ fabric lining of the entire trunk compartment. My MGA had a much nicer finish in the trunk/boot when I got it back in 1970.

I will photograph the carpet for you so if you want to make one you will have correct proportions. Will have it up before the weekend.

Non-authentic over-finished trunks are common - Packard trunks are generally quite plain. The chauffeur is handling your luggage anyway, right?

I don't know how authentic you want to be with your project, but I used some indoor-outdoor carpeting from Lowe's to redo the trunk in my 55 Clipper. The Clipper has panels to cover the insides of the fenders and a panel on the back of the rear seat cushion (yours may be missing or never installed). All of this was covered with carpeting in addition to replacing the floor mats. It turned out very nice, in my opinion, and a great improvement over the woven straw-like material that was originally fitted. Check out my project blog (Adventures with a 1955 Clipper) on this website for before and after photos.

(o[]o)

I'm resurrecting this post for reasons of having what I THINK is a different scheme for the interior finish of the trunk of my '51 Deluxe which is a 2465 Club Sedan.

Reading this post, it seems like flocking was the original finish.

Trouble is, I'm pretty sure that my 2465 wasn't done that way. There was no sign at all of any flock (-I've since had it grit blasted so it's bare metal now). Makes me wonder if it was done differently because it was a RHD Australian car.

My 2465 had been repainted when I got it and there had been some rust repairs so what I had is probably different to standard. Currently I can't find any decent or reliable photos of a '51 trunk, even on Packardinfo.

My car (when I bought it) had:

- sound deadener all over the inner 'flat panels' of guards (inside trunk), but I don't think it extended over the inner mudguards (wheel wells)
- My trunk floor was gloss black (- rubber mat long gone, if there ever was one fitted in the 2465). Did any 51 200's have a rubber mat or even carpet originally?
- Underside of trunk lid is painted with color, with color painted over the deadener (schutz) that was applied in cavities between frame. I'm sure this is correct - mine looks original. That's why I'm thinking that much of the trunk interior maybe should be color.
- Some deadener was applied to the trunk floor especially in the spare wheel well.

Like I said, no flock visible! There is a possibility that what I considered to be sound deadener was actually flock totally worn down so it resembled deadener? Having never seen a flocked trunk I'm unsure if I could be making this wrong assumption . . . .

Any opinions welcome, I don't know which direction I should take at the moment so will rely on the 'multitude of counselors' out there.

A photo would really help if anyone has a '51 they feel is close to correct. Thanks in advance.

This may not be applicable to your '51, but I can say that when the flocking goes, in many cases it's gone completely. There was no trace whatsoever left in the trunk of my '50 and only miniscule traces of the original flocking in the trunk of the '49. I know both cars were originally flocked. Whatever Packard used to adhere the flock didn't hold up at all (at least on my cars). The floor of my '50 (Custom) trunk has what appears to be a factory stamp-cut hogshair carpet.

Flocked sides and a coarse hogshair carpet is correct for the 48-50 Custom 8 models. If memory serves, the 51 200, being the baseline car, had flocked sides and a rubber mat. As I remember, the 200s, perhaps the early ones, didn't even have carpet on the floor in the driver's compartment.

FWIW, my two 53 Clipper Deluxes (the 200 Deluxe two years later with a new name),one of which I still own, had (has) a thin gunmetal gray colored wood fiber type sheet cemented on the trunk floor. It is similar to the kick panels in the front passenger compartment underneath the dashboard but thinner, appearing to have a vinyl gray type of coating on the top. Whether that would also be true of the 51's your guess is as good as mine.
Ken

P.S. My two 53 Clipper Deluxes also had (has) a rubber mat in the front seat area rather than carpeting.