Packard Paddy Wagon

Hi,<BR>I am trying to authenticate a Packard Paddy Wagon. I have confirmed the VIN with Packard and it is their frame. Any ideas who the coach builder would have been? Thanks for any ideas you can send my way.

Tunebug: Post the VIN # This will give us a frame of reference(year of vehicle etc). The only coachbuilder that I know that handled Packard professional type cars was Henny(ambulances, hearses and such) but I am by no means an expert.

Hi, The VIN is 51190 and I believe the year is 1925. --thanks

The paddy Wagon Body could have been built by just about anyone. Being in 1925 that there where a lot a custom body companies small and large. Is there any plate on the body indicating who might have built the body. Chances are that you have a one of. Unless there is a build plate it might be almost impossible to telll who built the body.

I must have missed something...someone..I hope..can explain this all to me...about VIN's..in 1925. There is SO much I need to learn from you young folks about automotive technology and terminology.<P>Back here on Planet Earth Packard did not have a VIN in 1925..NOone had a VIN in 1925..or '35...or '45...or '55....because VIN's did not come in, until the 1960's. as part of Federal legislation.<P>Packard, as is the case with all automotive manufacturers complying with the "Uniform Compact Of State Motor Vehicle Comissioners of 1924", used ENGINE numbers for identification. BODY numbers could NOT be used for legal registration. My old records are still packed away, so I have no way of identifying this number. I do not recall what year in the mid 1960's...the Motor Vehicle Act that gave birth to the VIN system came in.

Hmmm...so much to learn..I see our friend TUNEBUG has "confirmed his number with Packard". Damn..now THAT ( contacting Packard....is a neat trick..wish I knew how to do that.....)

Peter: technicaly u r correct. But making an issue as to whether it is a VIN or not a Vin is trivial at best. The VIN as we know it today is NOT the same as it was when started in the late 60's (68 or 69 i think (but NOT before 66)). PRIOR to the VIN auto companies made up their own Id strategy any way they wanted too. Usually, it was in the form of Model/serial number and may or may NOT reflect ANY similarity to the engine number.<P>In any case, prior to the VIN there really was no specific GENERAL name for identification other than serial number and that was usualy on the body tag and NOT the engine.<P>SO, using the term VIN across ALL years of production is a reasonable form of nomenclature for communiction of the idea. ENGINE number was never carried on registration in most states that i know of. Only model and serial number that was part of the MSO and was to be found on a body tag somewhere in a place ez to find. ENGINE numbers r usually difficult to find and in some cases difficult when KNOWN where to look!.<P>Lets just use VIN for brevity.

John - you are simply mistaken. I am not picking on you personally - I am just puzzled at this "trait" of so many young people ....an overwheling "urge" to say something with no regard or real interest in whether it is correct or not. John..I was working on, and buying and selling Packards probably years before you were born. What possible advantage could there be to you, in "setting yourself up" for criticism like this. The engine number was the ONLY number Packard used for registration, at least thru the early 1950s ( I have NO clue what they did with the V-8's ). Packard body "tags" and/or numbers ( again, up thru the early 1950's I have NO idea what they did in the last couple of years before they failed) have to do with production series and how the cars were fitted out. They have NOTHING to do with and thus could not be used for legal identification/registration. <P>Some Packards didnt even HAVE " body tags" ( my '38, for example, had only a decal, long since faded away).

according to my '37 Packard FACTORY "condesed" service manual it states:<BR>'Serial number location- Plate at front of dash'. It uses EXACTLY thos words.

I'm not sure when the data plate, stamped with Packard's VIN # (i.e. the serial number used by the company to identify the car for warranty purposes) dealership and date of sale appeared on the firewall. About the same time, the factory embossed a number on the firewall between <> darts which was intended to be an indelible "VIN" # since ingenious criminals didn't have a lot of trouble eliminating or altering motor serial numbers.<P>As for the motor number, most states took that as the ID # of choice, but on 20's Packards, it was simply an assembly tracking method, and identical imprints within a range of a couple hundred also appear on front and rear axle, transmission case, frame, and steering gear. Most manufacturers didn't take bookwork so seriously!<P>Pictures of 20s era Paddy Wagons have appeared a couple of times in the PAC Cormorant News Bulletin, and if memory serves, the body maker was identified. They were period photos; I've never seen one in the flesh, not even at Warren in '99. (although it was impossible to see everything!)<P>You may be able to find out more if you know where the paddy wagon was originally delivered. Chances are about 100% it left the factory as a bare chassis.

Pete, not all manufacturers used the motor number. Chrysler and others used the Fedco system, a rather unfortunate system thet I am not aware that anyone has decyphered. This number was on the body, and could be called a "body number". IF there is a way to understand the Fedco system, I wouldappriciate the information.

My 1934 edition of NADA (a used car manuel)seems to indicate you have a 1925 6 cylinder.

Correction. My 1929 Chrysler title uses the moder number, not the Fedco number.

Is there a picture of this Packard anywhere on the net????

For those who want to be technically correct, Packard did not use '1925' or '1926'....Packard designated their cars as Third Series in that time frame.

There was an Early Third Series SIX which had 5 lug wheels and a Late Third Series SIX with had six lug wheels....plus many other nuances.

I KNOW....because we have one of each.

Is there a picture of this Packard anywhere on the net????

For those who want to be technically correct, Packard did not use '1925' or '1926'....Packard designated their cars as Third Series in that time frame.

There was an Early Third Series SIX which had 5 lug wheels and a Late Third Series SIX with had six lug wheels....plus many other nuances.

I KNOW....because we have one of each.

Yes a picture would help copnsiderablity, unless it just frame

This thread is 13 years old. I doubt the original poster is following.