Re: Hydraulics...how common are they?

Posted by dadoc On 2011/6/15 17:20:29

Certainly the postwar system was very much like the systems used by other manufacturers...GM and Ford. I am not sure how Chrysler's sytem for the Crown Imperials through 1950 worked. I just find it interesting that a company which fitted the hydraulic system as standard in 1941 and 1942 dropped the whole idea at the very time the competition was adopting it...witness Lincoln fitting the window lifts to the standard Zephyr based coupes sedans and convertibles in 1946 as they were moved a bit up market. Cadillac did the same thing for the Seventy-Fives and the convertibles (as did Buick). In my opinion, it served to weaken the Packard cars' image of modernity in a world that had changed. Perhaps the superb craftsmanship should have been enough, especially in the top of the line cars.

Unrelated, but interestingly, Vantage Motor Works in Miami has a 1938 Rolls-Royce convertible sedan which was factory fitted with electric window lifts and an electric to. It has a beautiful row of push-pull knobs on the fascia to control the windows--as well as winding handles, for failures I guess.