As well as a motoring reporter, Peter Wherrett became well known as a cross dresser - seems like strange behaviour to an old conservative gent like me! I can say that when the RHD conversions were done (not sure who did them), a "universal" steering box was mounted a little higher on the RHS chassis rail, necessitating removal of any heater as it fouled the steering column. The steering column was also slightly offset to the right under this arrangement, although it wasn't uncomfortable for driving. No power steering with this arrangement either, from what I understand. Most local cars in Australia at the time didn't have luxuries like heater, radio etc, so we were pretty much ignorant of the power options available to you guys. Oh, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm sticking with Pack-hard. Cheers, John

Jack's comments about pinging you can't hear are very interesting and I would like to hear more about that, particularly how do you identify it. As far as vac advance units are concerned, I had mine ('56 Patrician - Delco) rebuilt in New Zealand for a total cost of AUD$63, including postage to Australia and it seems to work fine - it came back looking almost new (www.qualityrebuilds.com. Not being a purist I also fitted a Petronix electronic iginition kit as well and everything seems to work OK. I run it on 95RON petrol and can't hear any pinging, which is why I ask about the pinging you can't hear. Cheers, John Payne

I do too and mine still works, although I had a problem with the sector fingers when I first got the Patrician. Hardest problem was accessing and removing the confounded shift motor from the tranny to fix it. Mission accomplished though, and it hasn't let me down since. Unfortunately, there's no nearby knowledgeable Packard technicians over here in good old Oz to help. Cheers, John Payne

Good advice! My '56 Patrician has this electric wiper motor conversion and, provided the slider switch on the wiper motor is lubricated every so often, it all works fine.
Cheers, John Payne

My '56 Patrician has a late 50's Chevy electric wiper motor fitted and it is pretty much a direct swap. The existing dash switch and cable operates the replacement wiper motor on/off function and speed control without any problems, as long as the switch is lubricated every so often on the wiper motor. I made up another washer bottle that is almost identical in size to the original, and the original wires and wiper switch press button function activate it nicely. The only hassle is that the button needs continuous pressure for pumping, unlike the original system. Cheers, John

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Hi Guys, I know my '56 Patrician appears in one film and possibly another. The lovely old gent that I bought it from, Dick Benjamin from Temecula, CA, drove it in a film called "Calendar Girl" and in the filming of another called "Hollywoodland". I've got the video of Calendar Girl and the Patrician is definitely in it, along with some of Dick's other cars (eg, '64 Studey Hawk). I haven't seen the other movie so don't know whether the Patrician made it into the final print.

Cheers, John

G'day Brian,

I haven't heard of Bob Berg and was wondering if he was still in the switch game and if so, are his contact details available.

Cheers, John

Hi BH,

I haven't heard of Bob Berg and was wondering is he someone who is still in the switch game and if so, are his contact details available?

Cheers, john

G'day Randy,

Sorry, I've confused the issue. The "up" and "down" terminals are actually the words that are marked on the aerial switch. The "new" yellow and pink wires definitely go into the terminals in the compensator control box as advised by the factory. The original pink and yellow wires were then spliced into the new wires. So I shouldn't have any worries about bypassing the limit switches, although I've since been told the system travels quite a fair way before reaching them, maybe raising or lowering the front by 4" and the rear by even more. I haven't tried this so hope the limit switches still work OK.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but when Cole-Hersee was mentioned as the manufacturer of the factory switch, I contacted them to see if they still made them, or something similar (they don't), and was also told that about 20 years ago a lot of car clubs were contacted to see if they were interested in old parts stock and, as none was received, the parts were all junked. Pity!

I still haven't given-up on acquiring a correct type switch particularly if, as BH mentions, reasonably priced ones can be found. The momentary modification you made to yours? It sounds like you have spring-loaded the switch so it will return to center automatically. If so, like BH said, you would have to switch the on/off switch to off to keep the suspension at the height you wanted. Is this what you did and what did you use to make it all happen?

Cheers, John