Re: 1932 T6 Trans.

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2012/5/4 11:38:20

It's true and there is an article about it in an old issue of PAC's The Packard Cormorant. It was not common, but I had one friend who had a 32 DeLuxe Eight that had one.

Just from memory, when the 32's came out, the 900 and the Twin Six got the new 3-speed synchro (top 2 gears) from the get-go and the Eight and DeLuxe Eight which were introduced well in advance of the Light Eight and Twin Six were supplied with a new 4-speed synchro (top 2 or 3 gears?) for a short time after which it was determined that engine performance made 4 forward gears unnecessary and the supply of the new 3-speed (Packard made their own transmissions) was adequate to meet the demand for all models. So shortly after the commencement of the 9th series all chassis had the new 3-speed synchro.

If you go to the PAC website and use the index to The Packard Cormorant, you should be able to identify the issue in which the article appeared (edit: it's Spring 1972, written by Burton Weaver). Back issues probably no longer available.

PS - OK, located the issue and just re-read the article and made a few minor edits to the above.

PPS - like the non-synchro 4-speed it relaced, the new one was direct 1:1 in 4th gear; had it been direct in 3rd everybody and his brother would be beating the bushes for one as it would be far easier to improve road speed capabilities than adding and OD or changing ring and pinion.