The thread "where the heck is everybody" seems to have taken on a life of its own, so I thought I would start anew with a response to the posting of the lamp made from packard radiator caps.

I saw an article on them recently, although I can't remember where. If I recall correctly -- a big if -- every Packard left the factory with the radiator cap. The cormorant and "goddess of speed" were then installed at the dealer if the owner wanted them. As a result, there were a lot of extra radiator caps around; the owner could keep the cap just in case, but many were left over at the dealer. So some people made the lamps out of the extra caps. These days, though, the caps are kind of valuable; I've seen them go for around $300.

Yes, I've also seen caps for sale on eBay that appear to be from disassembled lamps (holes, weld-marks, ends-flatened, etc.) So some have figured out they are more valuable as caps than as lamps.