Re: Peter Wherrett's 1956 Packard Review

Posted by Peter Packard On 2010/2/4 6:46:15

G'day all, I am not certain that there were not Packards converted, as my 56 Patrician has been. It has the original wiring loom and has a/c with dash vents( not working), power seats (working), power windows( working but with a Jaguar window unit in one window), Esamatic Power brake (working well, touch wood!), Push button Auto ( working now but would start in any gear when i got the car), electric antenna ( working). The dash metal woven screen material was reversed and looks ok but can be picked around the gauges if you are fussy. The power steering was changed to a Ford Fairlane PS (about 1975 vintage),and works ok but has a poor anti-clockwise ( sorry-counterclockwise ) turning circle. I consider that one of the primary reasons that Packards were not converted was the general inability to convert the luxury items, such as PS ,PB and Packard heater system.
In the Twenties and Thirties, Packard was "the" car to have in Australia. However, after WW11 the domestic market shifted to home grown Holden and Ford porducts, as well as a host of "buy British - Buy Best" English imports.
Packards were still a very respected car but were heavily Import Dutied and less were sold. They were considered luxury cars and fitted into the same basket as Alvis, Delahaye, Rolls, Bentley, Cadillac, Le Baron, and Lincoln. I consider that it was a pretty good marketing move for Packard to keep the offering to mainly Clipper items from 1951 onwards and they sold hundreds of good cars. More on the above when i can go through my files. best regards Peter Toet.