Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Nothing really that interesting: just going through my cars' receipts:

10/3/56 "install new shifting flange. Adjust throttle linkage. Repair shifting problem."

12/6/56 "repair windshield wipers"

1/30/57 "Repair levelizer short"

2/2/57 "Install new windshield: shaded glass" ($113.60!)

3/4/57 " Remove & replace ultra trans. Recondition converter. recondition high range. Install new bell housing. Install new rear oil pump drive. Install front pump rotor set (?) flange"

3/18/57 "Remove Ultra Oil pan, fix(?) & clean governor"

7/17/57 "check torsion level. Repair. replace levelizer switch with late type"

The car had gone from 13052 mls to 19983 mls in that time,
and Mr W Huggins 910 Nth Western has had to pay for it all!

Fairly obviously the trans rebuilds the major, but maybe it happens more regularly on new cars now than what we may think? Just today they get swapped out rather than repaired.

Thoughts? :)
Muir

I don't know how other mfgs covered their cars at that time but Packards warranty was 90 days or 4000 miles so some expenses could be expected after the warranty was over.

Windshield -- who knows -- but I wish you could get anything done for $113.60 today.

If the driver was trying to hotrod the car as you could some of the other cars of the era then the trans probably suffered. I guess we all know now that V8 Ultras were somewhat delicate and didn't take to hard use but back then I expect that wasn't even considered with that big engine. It could also have had some poor linkage adjustment from the start and suffered as a result. Another possibility is the mechanic might not have been too familiar with what he was working on and helped an early demise. At any rate, it was an expense that shouldn't have happened. Can you imagine what would happen today if a mfg put out such a delicate item. Remember the uproar over the bad O ring in some of Chryslers K car transmissions.

The 55 torsion level was subject to shorting in poor weather conditions what with everything being exposed. No idea where the car was located but if in a place where they used a lot of salt on the roads can easily see shorts and problems. The replacing of the switch with a later version makes me wonder what the car had -- or what was really done. In 56 components were moved out of the wet and into the engine compt or was waterproofed if it stayed under the car. A 56 car should have had that setup from the start -- although there was a shorting problem with corrosion developing around a rivet on some early 56 switches so maybe that was it. No idea what is meant by replacing with a late type levelizer switch because until the modern solid state replacements came about a few years ago, the 56 version was the latest. Maybe they replaced an early corroded rivet switch with another.

Is this a 55 or 56 Packard?

Was the car serviced by the same dealer?
Who was the dealer, and where was it located?

I wish I has some of that information on my cars, kind of neat.

Actually thats a good question:
"Packard Parts and Service
Harry J Miller, Service Manager"

Curiously some of the receipts show 901 W. Main Peoria, Illinois, and also 1800 Main St, Peoria, both with the same phone number.
Mr William Huggins Mansfield, Detroit 35 appears to have bought the car June 14, 1956.

Early in '57 he appears to have moved, and theres receipts from Murphy Motor Sales Grand River, Michigan.

Must've had a hard life, both rockers were replaced, bumps fixed both front fenders etc: Paint and materials: $6.50, replacement rockers $13.00 etc...

BUT, most importantly, The SHOW OF THE CENTURY: University of New Mexico Stadium, nine performances, July 6-14: yep, you're invited to Alburquerque's 250th Anniversary 1956. I have the invite right here in my hand.... may have expired though, I wonder if he ever went?

several points.

Virtually all cars were warranteed for 90 days in the early 50's, that was industry standard. The internet and federally mandated recalls did not exist so owners and the general public were not aware of many problems. The transmission was the V-8's Achilles heel and this car got various factory recommended updates at teh owners expense: rear pump driver and front pump rotor kit but I do not know of any bell housing problem. Today with 3, 5 or 10 year warrantees it would cost nothing.

The car was obviously in a very rusty area as it needed rocker panels after 2 years. Note a short was fixed in the levelizer system, very common on '55's exposed to salt where the wire connectors were in the open. Packard issued a mini-harness to retrofit a '56 control box (switch) to '55's and the wires were under a sealed cover to eliminate that problem. Both years suffered from shorts through a rivet in the bottom cover.

As far as getting anything fixed for $113.60 today like the windshield bill, first you must consider inflation which has been 880% since 1956. That bill in today's dollars would be $995.04.

There were a lot of complaints of poor quality from all car makers in the fifties. It was a time when many new designs were tried out, some of them didn't work too well, and a time of general cheapening of quality.

To get to specifics, was this amount of repairs to a brand new, expensive car typical? I don't know but if all 55 - 56 Packards were this bad I can see why people stopped buying Packards.

Pity the poor sucker who traded his 1955 or 56 Clipper on a 57 Chrysler or Ford product, both of whom had bad quality problems that year.

Just for the heck of it, I looked up the 901 W Main address & there's a photo of a dealership type building. Could this be a Packard place?

I've just been reading a bunch of popular mechanics magazines from the late 40's to early fifties with the road tests, and interestingly enough the Packards rated highly in quality, all the car manufacturers seemed to have there issues (including the tri-five chevy's: They don't appear to have been quite as trouble-free as the chevy guys think...) a new lincoln owner had had three 430" powerplants replaced in the first two months...

re: the Packard with the receipts, when it came over to NZ the car was the most extraordinarily rusty car I've ever seen, the frame had actually give way into two halves because of the rust.

In this particular case, apart from the ultramatic and the levelizer switch there wasn't any apparent with anything else with the car - my 1960 Imperial Crown only had one window motor operational, both quarterlite window motors were dead, the seat only moved in one direction, odd transmission behaviour etc etc. With my '56 Packard everything works a treat, and it'd been dumped 40 years ago (the aluminium levelizer case had actually broken in half).

The Title shows the owner registered it in June '56 and the last number plate issued for the car (DY9942) was in '62 which was when it was parked up until my brother bought the car a few years ago.

Muir

Just in case I've made things confusing: I bought the 1 owner, parked since '62 '55 Packard off my brother, complete but wow! the rust! so....

Bought a bitsa '56 Packard (65000 mls) from new mexico, rust free, no interior, no trim, no grille etc, but turns out good 374, great T/U, and good dana rear, no pushbuttons: appears to have been altered to lever some time ago (pity!), so, of course, I've now got a '56 with '55 trim both inside and out :)

means to an end...

Muir