BH--I make the contact fingers myself, I made a tool to bend that special shape, and the tinning that is visable in my picture #6 is vital to a good bond. I make the fingers, Sandy Chirco does as well, but I would not advise attempting installation unless you are a V-8 owner with crackerjack soldering abilities. The dependability of the whole system is dependant on the integrity of those eight joints, especially the outer two, the fingers that go to the relay coils. I tend to get a little single-minded about these things, but the (almost unservicable) location that the actuator goes in demands that everything be right, or you don't have a reliable car, and I am against that!
I'll post more pictures as I go on this job.

Bob, what you had happening was a new one for me. I put the motor back on the actuator to see what was wrong. I, like you had shifting in L,H & D, nothing in P,R,N on my test board, just like we talked about on the phone. I poked around with my test light and found that there was power going to the (+12V) bus on the console-keys (through your harness, just like we talked about on the phone) but no action. This had me puzzled for a moment. I checked each finger and when the corresponding button was pushed, I got power @ that finger, like there should be, but no action. I pushed on the finger with my test light probe and got action, it jumped to life. I tried the other two non-operational fingers and they too jumped into action. I removed the finger bridge and inspected it and found two things:
1)The left hand threaded hole that is meant to keep the fastener holding the bridge firmly in place was stripped, you could wiggle the bridge up and down at that end--this isn't supposed to be like this.

2) the fingers for P,R,N were badly distempered and not exerting forcce against the (moving) contact segment. At some time in the past a condition exsisted where those fingers came into contact with ground. When this happens they will glow orange, like a stove element and distemper.

The photos tell the rest of the story.

One thing I should mention is that when a unit is in this kind of condition, it's in everyone's best interest to take it off of the car, send it to either Kanter, Sandy Chirco or me, whomever you like best and get the full work up. I can service one on the car and make it as reliable as one I bench-service, but I can't give 25 years of experience over the phone.
After this full go through the car will never leave you stranded at Dairy Queen in Reverse.

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I wonder if the "Carribbean sports sedan" would look better in a solid color (like Black) than the tri-tone Carribbean island colors?


WWDTD?


(what would Dick Teague do?)

Could you check the level of fuel in the carb bowl after it conks to see if there is indeed a fuel delivery problem?
One thing I learned about fuel pumps is that they can warp under heat and lose prime, even with a new diaphragm. If you take apart the two halves of the pump you may see that the areas around the threaded (and thru) holes are distorted (raised upward) from over-torquing by previous mechanics/owners. You can heat up the housings and bend them back into relative flatness then flat-file the mating surfaces to the point where the two halves are reasonably flat to each other, when you hold the two halves together without the diaphragm and sight through them you can't see a lot of light coming through. Assemble the pump again, keeping in mind you don't want to over torque the fasteners, just draw them up evenly in a cross-torquing pattern. I have fixed "conkers" that way. Having a glass bowl/ceramic element fuel filter near the carb is a good indicator of whether there is fuel making it that far at a given moment.

Oh, you're from Canada, eh?, Ya, thaaat's a lot of dollors, eh?.

Really though, it would be a hard book to borrow from the library, as it is 828 pages long, much important text to read through. Perhaps your period of borrowing it will convince you to buy it.

There are two books I would recommend, the first being "the bible", "Packard, a History of the motor car and company", edited by Beverley Rae Kimes, published by Automotive quarterly. sometimes referred to as "the Kimes book" or "the Automotive quarterly Packard book". three inches thick, chock full of pictures, great writing, the whole story. A few factoids in that book have not withstood the test of time and additional research, such as the business of the senior car dies (falsely reported as) being sold to the USSR for the production of ZIS cars, but whatever small quantity of such errors there are more than made up by the wealth of accurate information and pictures, as well as a unified text that gives the reader a sense of the company, the men who ran it and the customers who were its patrons.
It was originally to be produced in limited numbers then the plates destroyed, I have a first edition copy, but they thought better of that idea and it is still available, you may find a copy on Amazon or Alibiris.com
The second book is "the fall of the Packard motor car company" by James Ward. A straight foreword examination of how a company like Packard failed, told without rose colored glasses, but with an honest admiration for the company and its products.
Here's an Amazon link for a two-fer special they are running for both books, at considerably less than I paid for each (especially if you adjust for inflation!)

amazon.com/Fall-Packard-Motor-Car-Company/dp/0804724571

What do you know about the fuel tank? Have you pulled the sending unit and looked inside?

Owen Dyneto--the reason I espouse the braided cable is not for the sake of authenticity, but for the superior current carring ability that a braided ground offers over most round cables. You would need double or triple "ot" fine-wire round cable to come close to handling the current that a braided cable offers. I've seen ot, double, triple ot welding wire used, and that's fine, but the braided cables were used by Packard (and many others) are not some obscure thing you have to pay botique prices for, nor are they hard to find. I've had this very discussion over on the AACA website, and there is a "wirez is wirez" attitude some folks have. I've seen the difference on more than one 6V vehicle.

Turbopackman is absolutely correct re: battery cable gauge (size). If that car came with a braided ground cable make sure it has a good one now. You can still buy braided groud cables from NAPA, Tractor supply, etc. in many different lengths.
Make absolutely certain that someone before you did not put 12V cables on the car--they won't do the trick.
You might also consider getting an Optima 6V battery after the one you have dies. They put out a lot more amps than the lead acid 6 volters we're getting these days.

Nick--Loyd put it correctly, Lycoming was part of E.L.Cord's conglomerate during the period the ACD cars were manufactured. Packard was a centralized manufacturing entity, they manufactured their own engines, transmissions and rear axles (until the 1956 models, which used purchased Dana rear axles) in a central plant beginning in 1899 in Warren Ohio, then moving to Detroit in 1903, through 1954. The 1955-56 models were assembled in a plant leased from Chrysler, the former Briggs manufacturing plant on Conner ave. that had been suppling all of Packard's post-war bodies. For the 1955-56 model years the (V-8) engines and transmissions were built at Packard's Utica, Michigan plant, a very modern, state-of-the-art facility, and shipped to the Conner plant for assembly into the cars.
ACD at their peak was operating plants in Auburn IN, Connersville IN, Indianapolis, and the Lycoming engine plant in Pennsylvania. The combined size of all those facilities may well have excceded the size of Packard's East Grand Boulevard plant(s)