Re: Robert
Posted by Leeedy On 2022/3/19 19:37:33
Quote:
Ahhh. Just checking. As I said, I have no records that any of these were ever installed at Conner Avenue.
As for the spring-loaded/antenna switch or not... with all due respect, as I said, I've only seen one of these systems installed on a car. And indeed working. Actually operational.
This car was sold new either at Earle C. Anthony Los Angeles or Frost & French Los Angeles. It was owned by myself and my buddy Joe Clayton in the 1970s. I think we were the second owners. The guy who was (I think) the original owner had three 1956 Packard Four Hundreds (he really liked them). Two were bought new.
Joe Clayton's business? Ironically it was called "Packard Information" or sometimes "Packard Auto Information" and was listed in numerous phone company Yellow Pages back in the 1960s and 1970s. Joe also ran the hotline squawk boxes for hundreds of wrecking yards all over the western USA. They got a Packard in or even heard of a Packard? They called Joe. And Joe called me. We bought them, hauled them and parted some. So between us, we knew our Packard stuff (at least on V-8s)!
But one thing I do very vividly recall is that the switch on our car was absolutely, positively spring-loaded. And it was not a back-alley DIY job either. It appeared to us to be merely a re-purposed antenna switch (and we were guys who had garages full of parts in those days so we paid serious attention to such stuff).
I'm attaching a photo of Joe and myself getting the Torsion-Level suspension operating after sitting un-used for over 10 years. This was taken in 1974 immediately after I just completed tow-barring this 1956 Caribbean 3,000 miles cross-country to California from Florida (note the Florida temporary license).
If you were pushing or pulling on this switch and let go, it would automatically pop back to "off" position. Which makes perfect sense to me. It definitely would not remain engaged in either position or pop fuses. Being the only one of these I had ever seen in the flesh or operated, I made a note of this operation.
And I always had the Packard Service Counselors and Bulletins (still have them to this day–in binders). So I always knew about this system/feature. Not new to me.
Now maybe this particular one on our car was somehow unusual. But it certainly worked. And we demonstrated the operation to other Packard people in SoCal. But... that was decades and decades ago. No idea where that car is today or even if it still exists.
Perhaps other switches on other Packards operated differently. Maybe they appear to do so on paper too. Having seen and operated only one, I can't possibly say.
But I have learned long ago that what ended up on paper sometimes wasn't always what rolled out of the factory doors or the dealers. So who knows? I'm only relating what I know for absolute certain on one lone Packard.
End of story from my side. Thanks.
Attach file:
JoeMeCarib2 copy.jpeg (188.98 KB)
Don't believe I said the manual switch was standard but if I did somewhere, it was a slip. In post 18 on this thread I said it was a late arrival and an option. Whether the factory actually installed any on cars ordered fully optioned out before leaving the factory I could not say.
The factory switch was not spring loaded or like an antenna switch though. It has a definite up or down position which once the operator moves it to raise or lower the car stays in that position to continue the action until either the operator places the switch back in the center position or the limit switch stops the motion at the upper or lower limit. The switch is also somewhat unique because it is not a type used anywhere else. When moved out of the center or normal position it has a sort of safety circuit that cuts the voltage coming from the brake light switch supplying the control switch thus preventing the control switch from trying to move the car back to level at the same time the operator is trying to go in a manual direction.
There have been many non factory types of switches used when manual drive has been installed by owners. The antenna switch is common but I have also seen pushbuttons and toggle switches. Many of the home brew circuits connect directly to solenoids and completely bypass the limit switches allowing damage to occur when a heavy hand drives the compensator too far. Another issue is without the unique switch that has the "safety" built in it also behooves the operator to remember to manually turn the suspension off. If he does not as soon as car leaves level and the time delay is over the control switch will try to move the car back to level in the opposite direction the operator is going and usually blows the fuse.
Ahhh. Just checking. As I said, I have no records that any of these were ever installed at Conner Avenue.
As for the spring-loaded/antenna switch or not... with all due respect, as I said, I've only seen one of these systems installed on a car. And indeed working. Actually operational.
This car was sold new either at Earle C. Anthony Los Angeles or Frost & French Los Angeles. It was owned by myself and my buddy Joe Clayton in the 1970s. I think we were the second owners. The guy who was (I think) the original owner had three 1956 Packard Four Hundreds (he really liked them). Two were bought new.
Joe Clayton's business? Ironically it was called "Packard Information" or sometimes "Packard Auto Information" and was listed in numerous phone company Yellow Pages back in the 1960s and 1970s. Joe also ran the hotline squawk boxes for hundreds of wrecking yards all over the western USA. They got a Packard in or even heard of a Packard? They called Joe. And Joe called me. We bought them, hauled them and parted some. So between us, we knew our Packard stuff (at least on V-8s)!
But one thing I do very vividly recall is that the switch on our car was absolutely, positively spring-loaded. And it was not a back-alley DIY job either. It appeared to us to be merely a re-purposed antenna switch (and we were guys who had garages full of parts in those days so we paid serious attention to such stuff).
I'm attaching a photo of Joe and myself getting the Torsion-Level suspension operating after sitting un-used for over 10 years. This was taken in 1974 immediately after I just completed tow-barring this 1956 Caribbean 3,000 miles cross-country to California from Florida (note the Florida temporary license).
If you were pushing or pulling on this switch and let go, it would automatically pop back to "off" position. Which makes perfect sense to me. It definitely would not remain engaged in either position or pop fuses. Being the only one of these I had ever seen in the flesh or operated, I made a note of this operation.
And I always had the Packard Service Counselors and Bulletins (still have them to this day–in binders). So I always knew about this system/feature. Not new to me.
Now maybe this particular one on our car was somehow unusual. But it certainly worked. And we demonstrated the operation to other Packard people in SoCal. But... that was decades and decades ago. No idea where that car is today or even if it still exists.
Perhaps other switches on other Packards operated differently. Maybe they appear to do so on paper too. Having seen and operated only one, I can't possibly say.
But I have learned long ago that what ended up on paper sometimes wasn't always what rolled out of the factory doors or the dealers. So who knows? I'm only relating what I know for absolute certain on one lone Packard.
End of story from my side. Thanks.
Attach file:
JoeMeCarib2 copy.jpeg (188.98 KB)
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