Re: Late 56 windshield washer

Posted by Ross On 2013/12/16 6:48:33

There is a fascinating little piece of history. I have never seen one but will keep my eyes open.

There is logic to it--because of the variable sweep feature, there is already vacuum piped to the control. With a clever redesign of the control its possible to apply vacuum to the washer pump. One new vacuum hose replaces two wires, a solenoid valve, a tee and and another vacuum hose. In mass production, that is a worthwhile cost savings. It is simpler and functionally equivalent.

My guess is that in actual fact Packard production was so slow in 56 that they didn't use up their original stock of electrically operated units.