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1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
#1
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longjohn
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I have a back up light for a 1954 Packard but I don't know which model. The parts book lists two numbers; 439464 for the 300-400-Caribbean, and 439714 for the Convertible-Pacific.
The only marking on the light that I have is "Guide B8-54".
Does anyone know which part number this is? How are the two lights different?

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Posted on: 2019/2/19 16:54
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
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Packard Don
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These are senior 1954-only parts found on Patrician, Cavalier, Caribbean, Pacific and Convertible. I am not sure if the last three are identical to the first two but thought they were the same. I have several of these including an NOS pair with lenses but I have not looked at the part numbers on them to see if they are the same as those on my two Patricians.

The Patrician and Cavalier had different rear fenders than the other three and those three were semi-custom, made from the 1953 Clipper fender stamping so it's possible that the back contour is different where it attaches to the body.

Posted on: 2019/2/19 17:26
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
#3
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HH56
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As Don said, 54 only and there are two different assys. I believe the difference is mounting method and a change at the top where it integrates into the tail light housing.

The senior Patrician, Cavalier and Caribbean used the same assy which bolted directly to the fender. The fender used on those models always had horizontal style tail lights and in 54 instead of being separate assys, the reverse light was integrated and designed to fit into and directly under the tail lights to appear as being a single unified tail light assy.

The Pacific and Convertible on the shorter wheelbase used the vertical Clipper style fenders but because for 54 Packard wanted those models to appear as senior cars, there was an extra chrome pod like affair designed to fit over the Clipper fender and accommodate the wide horizontal senior tail light styling on the narrow fender.

The top of the reverse light used with the pod assy needs to accommodate the pod as well as the different tail light housing and a different mounting to the fender at the bottom. As I recall they will not interchange because of those differences.

Posted on: 2019/2/19 19:50
Howard
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
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Packard Don
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Howard is right, of course, but as the Caribbean's rear fender, which was also on the 122" wheelbase chassis, was based on the same vertical-taillight fender as the others but flaired for dual side-by-side lights using sheetmetal rather than chrome castings, I wasn't sure how each differed in contour.

Posted on: 2019/2/20 3:02
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
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longjohn
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Thanks for the input. The back up light that i have (Guide B8-54) is for the Patrician-Cavalier-Caribbean. I decided to try mounting it on my convertible and the angle between the bottom of the tail light and the fender is not right.
So apparently the Convertible-Pacific fender has a little more curve to it from the tail light down requiring a little more angle between the top and back of the light.

Posted on: 2019/2/23 18:29
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
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Packard Don
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The taillights are the same between these models EXCEPT that the Pacific and Convertible has machined flats left and right where the fender "bulge" was replicated in a pair of bolt-on castings. This change must have changed the contour so now I wonder which NOS pair it is that I have!

Posted on: 2019/2/23 19:05
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
#7
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HH56
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Quote:

PackardDon wrote:
Howard is right, of course, but as the Caribbean's rear fender, which was also on the 122" wheelbase chassis, was based on the same vertical-taillight fender as the others but flaired for dual side-by-side lights using sheetmetal rather than chrome castings, I wasn't sure how each differed in contour.


Even though the Caribbean had the junior wheelbase Clipper body I believe the senior look on those cars was done by grafting on a few inches of the senior rear fenders directly over the Clipper fender. If you examine the trunk area you can see parts of the vertical tail light cutouts and looking thru a few inches the fender with cutouts for the horizontal tail light assy is visible. This provided the same tail light mount as the senior models and also provided a few extra inches so the Continental spare tire appears a bit more recessed on the Caribbean than it does on a standard model without the extensions. Rather than go to the expense of body work to make the 54 Convertible and Pacific be senior they did the pods but still did the grafting on the 54 Caribbean.

Posted on: 2019/2/23 19:07
Howard
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Re: 1954 Back up lights, need help identifying
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Packard Don
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That's exactly what I was trying to say but you explained it much more clearly! The fender bulges, though, are totally different than those of the other senior models so I suspect they were either hand-crafted or a special piece was made.

(Stupid autocorrect kept changing to "fender buglers"!)

Posted on: 2019/2/23 19:21
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