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I have a 1952 Packard Mayfair and there is no finishing hardware where the air vent tubes come through the insulator. At some point in time someone carpeted over the insulator so there is just ragged carpet edge around the five-inch circular holes. Is there supposed to be flanges or grills--and if so, where might they be available?

Thanks!

Jeremy Wilson

You should have these grills. Used should be available from many places - BigKev may even still have some from the batch of parts he had for sale. New maybe even from the vendors. The issue you will find and maybe the reason yours has gone missing is they are held in place by clips pushed onto 3 plastic studs on the back of the grill. The clips can be a P.I.A to remove and when trying, the old plastic studs are brittle and break off if you even look at them sideways. Once gone, nothing is left to hold the grills in.

I repaired some by JBwelding a small 3/16 dia aluminum tube over the remaining stub for length and used larger clips but not sure how well that will hold up. I recently learned of another procedure using springs instead of the studs and am going to try that when installing my new carpet.

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As Howard said they are plastic grilles and are attached to the firewall insulator pad. I may have a couple ones that can be cleaned up. Not sure the studs are good on them or not, I would have to check.

Thanks for the reply and also the repair instructions. I'll check with BigKev.

my grills fell off he areas aroiund the studs got old and gave out ,I have front rubber floor mats in my 52 200 ,I tacked the grills back on with a little silicone sealer.does ayone remake the rubber floor mats?mive are very hard and brittle and have fallen apart rolling them back to get at the tranny filler hole

I don't recall anyone selling a custom made mat. Kanterhttp://www.kanter.com/eCatalog/s00054.htm has reasonably priced carpet kits that are made to order for a specific car. The material is decent modern nylon pile in several colors and weights but texture is not the same as original Packard if you are looking for authenticity. The RPO sheet doesn't specifically mention if carpets were an upgrade option on 52 200s but I know several are running around with carpet instead of mats. Cost and aggravation wise, I am not sure if carpet wouldn't be the better deal.

Several places have regular rubber matting in varying widths and patterns. Restoration Specialties is a good place for lots of hard to find items useful in Packards.http://www.restorationspecialties.com/catalog.htm They have one mat material that may be about the right pattern but is 36" wide and possibly too narrow. Perhaps that could be made to fit but don't remember if the originals were molded or cut and pieced to fit the hump.