It appears there was a design change for the Paulchen racks last year.
The main result is that the bikes now ride about  4 inches higher.

The problem for me is that when I rise the rear hatch with the bike mounted
on the new style Paulchen the bike hits my sea kayak mounted on top of my
Westy.

But there are benefits to the new style Paulchen... with the bikes higher
the weight is closer to the hatch hinges... this provides more leverage and
makes lifting the hatch with bikes a little easier... and the hatch is more
likely (depending on which struts and their condition) to stay up with the
weight of the bikes. Also, with the bike mounting platform being 4 inches or
so higher you have more head room when getting at your license plate access
door to check oil & coolant or to add oil & coolant.

So if anyone has one of the old style Paulchen bike racks with the first
class mounting kit (in very good condition) and would be interested in
swapping with my unused, new style Paulchen, please email me at
wdavidson@thegrid.net

Apparently the first of the new style to be sold by Steve Lashley came on
the order last fall... I know of at least one of the old styles that came
sometime last summer... an easy way to tell which one you have is:

Look at the bottom mounting hooks... if they are one piece and have a side
view that looks like and 'L' and they attach to the rack tubing about 5
inches above the bottom lip of the hatch, then you have the new style
Paulchen like mine.

If your bottom hooks are made of two pieces of metal riveted together and
have a side view that looks like a 'T' and they attach to the rack tubing
about and inch or so above the bottom lip of the hatch, then you have the
old style Paulchen.

Thanks,

Bill