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

After stripping out all the rat poop, insulation and other old stuff from the car, I noticed a brass identification plate on the wood sill by the right rear door of my 526 sedan. It stated "303 - 12386".
I have found the 386 marked in chalk on the wood panel in the doors where the window and latch mechanicals are mounted.
Question is does anyone know when this body was manufactured? I have a vehicle number of U145053 but the motor number is missing (probably a replacement or rebuilt motor that had the number scrubbed).
My ID plate shows vehicle number but no sale dealer or location.

Hi rrhorton,

I too tried to answer to the same question for my 5-26. As I'm sure you know, the body, VIN, and engine numbers don't match, but should have roughly the the same relative low or high values if original.

For instance, the brass tag on my rear floorboard indicates 303 (Sedan, despite what the model index on this site says) 2989. That suggests it's an early 5th series--a conclusion also supported by my low VIN, wooden steering wheel, and high-mounted choke / advance knobs.

The best resource I could find for production numbers and dates is the Packard production record from 1930. See page 16 specifically. The 1929 record is interesting too, but doesn't provide end vehicle / motor numbers.

As far as pinning down an approximate date, here's the best I could come up with: My VIN is 129004, which means it was the 3,991st 5-26 manufactured of 41,787 total. Production of the 5th series ran from July of 1927 through July of 1928, so all things otherwise being equal (which, granted, isn't a safe assumption...), there were ~3,214 5th series cars built per month. My educated guess, therefore, is that my car was manufactured around August of 1927, although it's titled as a '28.

If you figure out a more accurate method, I'd love to hear it!