Re: RIk's 56 ultramatic

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2018/3/19 13:24:45

I'm with Randy on this, I don't doubt there have been failures but the unit on my car appears to be original to the car, never a problem. And I have 2 spares, 1 NOS and one used - I've looked them both over, they seem defect-free.

Rather than cite piss-poor design for the failures, remember cars were expected to have a average lifespan of perhaps 12-15 years and for a manufacturer to design components for a 50 year life would have been a recipe for bankruptcy. Figures after the Studebaker acquisition are complicated but if you look at the 1949-53 figures, Packard was only making about $70-80 per car in profit - nickels and dimes (if not pennies) unnecessarily spent were critical.