Re: Are there production figures for 1955-1956 Packards with manual transmissions?

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2008/4/4 8:38:12

Hey guys, let's cut the pokes and jibes at the clubs which many of us on this forum belong to and get considerable enjoyment and benefit from, and try to answer the guy's question. No, there are no factory statistics that have ever surfaced to my knowledge about the number of Packards with standard vs automatic transmissions. Given the public's red-hot passion in that era to give up gear shifting, I'd say standard shift equipment was quite low, perhaps 10-20% at most, but that's a pure guess. In the V8 era you can tell from the Utica engine plant number if the engine was built with a standard shift flywheel or automatic flex plate by the letter prefix. For example a Utica plant# of A-XXXX (Clipper) would be equipped with a flex plate, a AA-XXXX with a standard shift flywheel. Ditto for the B and D series engines. There is no CC indicating that no Caribbean engines were built for standard shift.