Re: Ultramatic or Manual?

Posted by DrewLA On 2016/12/11 1:21:55

Everything is as it should be. The Patrician 400 came standard with Ultramatic for '52. There is no script. The shifter handle is correct. And yes, the toe board in my '52 Patrician also has the hole where a clutch pedal would go (mine is a power brake car), though it was covered as HH56 guessed, with an asphaltic mastic type material.

The 327 should have the "high compression" cylinder head on cars equipped with Ultramatic, which could have also been installed by a dealer looking to boost power on the standard trans cars. The Patrician engine was a nine main bearing version of the straight 8, and it was only available with the high-compression head for '52 because Ultramatic was standard. I'm sure there were cases of folks having a dealer retrofit a standard 3-speed to the Patrician (the Ultramatic acceleration is best described as leisurely), and someone perhaps could've bribed the factory into deleting the Ultramatic, but if that were the case I'd be hard pressed to think someone would then convert the car back to Ultramatic.