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What I didn't like was the fact that it appears to be so large, it has to be in the trunk and makes it so glaringly obvious. While I am not a stickler for authenticity, I do want something hidden enough that at first glance the car looks proper--or at least like it was something that might have come from the factory.

Welcome to the Packard world. The trim strips and assorted pieces should not be too hard to find--although the gravel shield in good condition might be more so, but they are available.

If the car is reasonably priced then another consideration is why the engine won't turn over--not enough battery or is it stuck or rusted and going to require a complete rebuild? That can get a bit costly. Also maybe find out why it was parked 15 yrs ago. Did the transmission go out. That is frequently why those years were parked--something happened to the Ultramatic and no one locally wanted or knew how to work on them. How is the interior? Patricians had a very good interior so that can also get costly.

Before you make a commitment, might be well to look at a few more and get a feeling as to what one in good shape will cost to buy vs one you have to spend on to make it drivable. I know there is a lot of enjoyment in buying and fixing but don't get overwhelmed. At any rate, one is surely out there with your name on it--maybe that one, maybe not-- but they are there.

PV8. the booster scenario you mention has been done. There is a kit available on some of the Chevy sites--but is large and almost has to go in the trunk. There is a better picture on another site, but can't remember where right now.

There is also a site that has a lot of good information about ratios and calculations.http://www.deanoshiro.com/brakes/brakearticle.html#booster

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I agree with flackmaster. It's your car so please yourself, not the kids inheritance. You won't be around to worry about it anyway.

Strict authenticity is OK to a point and while a Chevy engine and tiger print upholstery might raise eyebrows, who is to say the first owner decided he liked the maroon paint and leather upholstery better as well, had the car refreshed and it was that way when you got it. Was leather an upgrade option? Packard and their dealers did go a long way to provide a customer what he wanted.

I don't think finding a master is too difficult and his particular one may be something for a car never brought over here so not available anyway. This site has multiple small bore masters that look to be very similarhttp://www.carshopinc.com/advanced_search_result.php/keywords/master%20cylinder/page/1 -- page 3 shows a Tilton cylinder with a 5/8 bore with remote fill and almost any street rod or drag site seems to have something similar.

What I have been looking for on and off is a remote booster setup. At a quick search, those don't seem to be that plentiful new unless you want electroboost or hydroboost.

Bendix is out-- although several will rebuild Hydrovacs, wonder if that would be a good choice even if new. Lockheed seems to be almost in same category here with a few mentions of the Jaguar units but haven't found it for sale yet at anything other than Jaguar and other English car sites. That kind of makes you wonder if it would be a wise move on that unit for future parts. Midland used to have something small Ford used but now seems to be mostly in the big truck business. There is a fairly large vacuum remote boost unit on Chevy sites that mount in the trunk. Otherwise, so far I have not found much.

They might look a little bit alike, but I think all car mfgs copied bits and pieces--and some maybe even more than a bit. There was a discussion some time back on cars both here in US and in Europe that were very similar & had features close enough from another car that you had to look twice.

On the concept drawings, it mentions the artist that did them came over from Sweden in 47. Didn't RR use an outside body builder just like Packard then? Hooper, Mulliner and others, I believe. Maybe he saw or had access to some of those ideas.

Have you pulled back the carpet or looked up at the floor above trans. Some 23rd series had a large removable plate over trans hump held on with screws. I don't know if that was only on the Ultramatic cars of if maybe they had only one body stamping and all did.

Now that it is disconnected, did grounding the wire to harness try to bring the solenoid in? Of course, ign on and all other switches need to be set for overdrive for that to happen. If so, then problem is with governor--if not, then problem is toward the kickdown sw and overdrive relay.

Governor wires perform the same function to ground but at different times. Right now with the car standing, one of the wires (the unused one) to governor should be grounded, the other not.

The grounded wire would go to the Electromatic clutch if you had it so all those circuits would be active while you are starting out. As soon as the car reaches speed, that wire will open disabling all the clutch circuits and at the same time the other wire would be grounded telling the overdrive it can engage.

It would not be possible to operate the OD on the unused wire.

The black thing is a connector. There are two types. This one looks like the tab type with approx 5/16" wide tabs on the wires. The other type uses round bullet connectors. Those usually pull out but sometimes takes a bit of effort. If this is tabs, approx in the middle of the tab is a small hole which captures a tiny pin or tang which is part of the mating connector contact. I don't remember which side it is on but pushing wire in and opposite the tang may release it, otherwise a tiny screwdriver on one side or the other will push the tab away from the pin. You still may have to push in on the wire slightly while doing it but once released, wire will pull out.

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Drive shaft or joint related only under load maybe?