SLEEPING BEAUTY SLEEPS NO LONGER
Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2012/6/29 18:12:40
At long last and after many false starts, I finally got to go get my '55 Patrician last Tuesday. I think I was more nervous than a teenager on a first date. I mean really, I've only waited 56 years to see what it was all about.
As I left the shop I first had to decided whether to take are old 99W hiway or the freeway. That decision was more or less made for me by the very harsh and delayed 1-2 upshift. I figured that after sitting for 27 years that what the transmission and the rest of the car needed was excersise! So I took the old hiway with the route through all the little towns in Oregon's Wine Country - and all their stoplights making sure the transmission got a workout. I did decide to switch to Torque Converter Mode until the car was fully warmed up and the transmission worked pretty well in that mode. As I hoped, the longer I drove the smoother the Twin Ultramatic functioned. So smooth that about half way at a convenient stop light I shifted over to Gear Start - and that went much better. So much so that I stayed in Gear Start for the rest of the trip, about 32 miles. By the time I got within a few miles of home, she was shifting almost as smooth as my Town Car and the engine was quieter to boot.
Finally too, I got to experience the Torsion-Level Suspension which, while it took a while, was functioning before I had the car towed to the shop. It is everything I've heard about and more. So much so that if the AC was working, I'd drive nothing else. I had a route all picked out in Portland to put the T-L through it's paces and it was truly amazing. The claim that T-L enabled longevity of body integrity seems to be true as well as there are no rattles or squeaks heard from the body at all - no matter what the terrain.
For those wondering why the car was in the shop for so long (over a year) my mechanic and I agreed that he'd work on the car during "slow times" - which promptly vanished about a week after it entered his shop. It also got him some new business. A customer who used my guy for his daily driver saw my Packard and gave him his all original 1928 Cadillac to work on.
What I had done was all the maintenance that would normally be done to the car every 2 years plus having the brakes (service and emergency) completely renewed.
Anyway, the car is everything I hoped for and more and worth the wait, though not so long a one.
Here are some pictures of the old girl.
I again what to that (in sort of chronological order) Portlandon (for telling me about the car), Howard, Randy, HH56, Craig, JW and many many others whom I am ashamed to say I can't call right to mind. You all made fulfilling a dream I've had since I was 8 years old possible!
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As I left the shop I first had to decided whether to take are old 99W hiway or the freeway. That decision was more or less made for me by the very harsh and delayed 1-2 upshift. I figured that after sitting for 27 years that what the transmission and the rest of the car needed was excersise! So I took the old hiway with the route through all the little towns in Oregon's Wine Country - and all their stoplights making sure the transmission got a workout. I did decide to switch to Torque Converter Mode until the car was fully warmed up and the transmission worked pretty well in that mode. As I hoped, the longer I drove the smoother the Twin Ultramatic functioned. So smooth that about half way at a convenient stop light I shifted over to Gear Start - and that went much better. So much so that I stayed in Gear Start for the rest of the trip, about 32 miles. By the time I got within a few miles of home, she was shifting almost as smooth as my Town Car and the engine was quieter to boot.
Finally too, I got to experience the Torsion-Level Suspension which, while it took a while, was functioning before I had the car towed to the shop. It is everything I've heard about and more. So much so that if the AC was working, I'd drive nothing else. I had a route all picked out in Portland to put the T-L through it's paces and it was truly amazing. The claim that T-L enabled longevity of body integrity seems to be true as well as there are no rattles or squeaks heard from the body at all - no matter what the terrain.
For those wondering why the car was in the shop for so long (over a year) my mechanic and I agreed that he'd work on the car during "slow times" - which promptly vanished about a week after it entered his shop. It also got him some new business. A customer who used my guy for his daily driver saw my Packard and gave him his all original 1928 Cadillac to work on.
What I had done was all the maintenance that would normally be done to the car every 2 years plus having the brakes (service and emergency) completely renewed.
Anyway, the car is everything I hoped for and more and worth the wait, though not so long a one.
Here are some pictures of the old girl.
I again what to that (in sort of chronological order) Portlandon (for telling me about the car), Howard, Randy, HH56, Craig, JW and many many others whom I am ashamed to say I can't call right to mind. You all made fulfilling a dream I've had since I was 8 years old possible!
Attach file:
(37.61 KB)
(50.67 KB)
(56.74 KB)
(45.32 KB)
(36.54 KB)
(41.45 KB)
(55.19 KB)
(59.65 KB)
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