Re: Tips for moving a Patrician that has been parked for 35+ years?

Posted by humanpotatohybrid On 2024/6/27 18:12:25

The “55 MPH” is more for the 30’s cars. You can drive these on the interstate if you want, it’s direct drive and a 3.54 rear end. Right in between a manual, and a manual with OD effective ratio. I would highly recommend keeping the Ultramatic. They were unique to Packard so are a large part of the mechanical provenance, so to speak. Also a replacement will cost thousands. Not including the engine, the whole car will only be a few thousand mechanically if you DIY everything.

These are not performance cars. But they WILL keep up with traffic as they were designed.

You will need to rebuild that trans I guarantee it. One the seals are junk, two it had problems to begin with. And I’m sure this car has like 100k miles which is rebuild time anyway even if you didn’t notice a problem.

This car will need a bumper to bumper mechanical inspection, that is for sure. Probably the diff bearings and U joints will need replaced too. BUT it’s all fixable and you will either get a great education, OR if you have the experience already, I doubt you’ll find things to be too hard. Except it will take you 2 weeks to understand how the Ultramatic works. It’s time well spent, though.