Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

hello,

can someone please describe for me what it is like to drive a car with T/L suspension.

It sounds fantastic to me. I have no experience and wonder if it is a noticeable improvement......
would love to hear other people opinion who have first hand experience.

thanks
tim

Quite the delightful sensation. The felt impact and more specifically the body fore-to-aft "pitch" from potholes and the like is about halved, cornering is flatter (less body lean) that prior models which have essentially the same suspension but with front coils and rear leaves. Squat on hard acceleration nearly absent. Occasionally an odd sensation; for example when stopped on a steep him with nose uphill, hard initial acceleration from a start will actually cause the rear to lift a bit rather than the expected opposite reaction. In my case the basis for my comparison is a '54 Patrician to a '56 Caribbean. And all that said, I always considered the '54 Patrician to have a magnificent ride.

"Magic Carpet Ride" was the advertising. At low speeds, a T-L car will go over speed bumps and water rain dips with aplomb. At high speeds it will float over really nasty dips (whoop-de-doos) with nary an effect.

Here's some pages on the T-L suspension on my website:

http://1956packardpanther.com/Panther/torsionLevel.html

Craig

first thing people say ,,is how smooth the ride is, it does not steer like your reg cars, power steering you still need some muscle ,, think they called it the feel of the road,

its a solid ride, smooth ride,

I would recommend you get the Allison Torsion Level DVD from Motor City Packards.http://www.motorcitypackards.com/store.php As well as interviews with Allison the DVD contains some original movies taken of various tests during TL development. One movie that I particularly like is the comparison between a Packard, Cadillac and Lincoln going over some really rough RR tracks at a speed way too fast. That alone will tell you what the TL can do. There is also a clip of a 54 Packard with conventional suspension going over the same tracks with much the same results as the Cadillac and Lincoln.

In addition to the Allison video, the Packard V8 ones from the Studebaker National Museum have some interesting shots.http://studebakermuseum.org/store/books-video-and-stationery/historical-videos/

let, I have that,

I was hoping for a little more,

Well let me tell you what it is like I know the first few times I drove it were interesting. I live in Pennsylvania so we have a lot of hills-so here it tends to work more. You will here a faint "click" and the car will level itself. I had Ross Miller replace my bushings a couple years after I bought it and since then the ride has been nothing less than FANTASTIC-I find the car far more comfortable to drive than even my Merc Grand Marquis. One thing though if you happen to be driving and a monsoon comes in TURN THE lEVELER OFF! I drove up to Macungie Pa for that car show they hold in August in 2009. Well me and my date arrived the day before-beautiful day sun out, warm pleasant. The NEXT day was like a hurricane hit town! Rt 309 had almost 8"of water in it-I passed several modern day cars whose generator must have got wet and died-then I noticed the suspension was acting funny-so I tuned it off. Bob Turnquist alludes in his book the Packard story that the actuating switch mounted on the frame has no cover to keep the elements out-whether he is talking about the bus bars that make the motor level or something else I do not know; I do know several of the electrical parts that make this system work were re-located under the hood in 1956. One day, I drove my car up Germantown ave here in Philly, it is still paved with cobblestones-I was truly amazed as though I could hear the cobblestones passing underneath the car; I COULD NOT FEEL THEM.

55 TL components were definitely not waterproof. Everything electrical was exposed and open to the world. Packard had issues with water shorting things and those in climates needing salt on the roads had it worse because they also had salt corrosion to worry about.

In 56 the control box was better waterproofed with terminals relocated inside an enclosure. The single exposed dual limit switch was replaced with individual switches encapsulated in a waterproofing substance and solenoids were relocated under the hood away from any moisture. About the only thing still vulnerable to some extent was the motor. Both years have a solid case and a band around openings to somewhat protect internals but while 56 is generally very reliable waterwise and can tolerate typical splashing, I would still avoid driving thru deep puddles.

For probably 90% of my driving I don't leave the auto-level switch activated. Yes I turn it on when I gas up, add or subtract stuff from the trunk or passengers, or highway driving that will burn thru a tank of gas in a few hours. Other than allowing it to adjust level for those circumstances I generally turn it off - I don't find it necessary and I guess it's just habit.