R11 Overdrive characteristics?

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2017/1/16 14:59:54

Maybelle is my newest/oldest 1950 Packard and the only one fully "manual iized" with steering, brakes and the R11 overdrive. My biggest question, now that we are having some warm January weather, occurred when I first started driving her on long stretches of smooth roads at speeds approaching fifty MPH. The overdrive knob is fully pushed in, but I cannot feel or hear much difference in engine speed when I lift my right foot at speeds above 25 mph. All seems smooth and there's definitely no clunk if it is going to overdrive, and nothing seems different when speeds drop below the magic 23 mph. With the warm weather, the windows are down, so wind noise may be also fooling me. Are these units really this transparent in their operation or is mine just not working correctly? Having a tachometer would solve this mystery, but I am still only guessing that everything is working well.

My bias tubeless whitewall tires are looking good but are also of questionable age, so there's no real highway speeds envisioned for the present. But still, I don't see any future of effortless cruising at 70-80 mph speeds, even if the OD is working well. I will just be satisfied for no drama at speeds hovering around fifty to remind me of the road conditions Maybelle faced 67 years ago.

My wife wondered if even Rosie the Riverter would have found a new Packard in 1950 easy to drive with her biceps and required planning ahead for stops and curves. She's sworn off driving Maybelle and the 1967 Corvette with a similar lack of powered technology. Perhaps women of that era were just in much better shape.