Re: New member, setting off on a crazy adventure... PICS!!!

Posted by NeedsRestoration On 2017/12/26 15:43:39

Nothing wrong with those post-war "small eight" Packards. While not a fan of UltraMatic, I drove my '51 convertible back and forth across the continent several times.

Of course the "trick" is to properly maintain a car. Hope we hear from these guys what happened - hopefully they followed the recommendations & advice you guys gave them. If you did, they had a non-eventual trip.

As an illustration of what even the post-war eight cyl. Packards were capable of - my mom ruined our '51 convert. by continuing to drive it after it developed a water leak. I found a complete engine & trans. out of a '54 ambulance (four barrel & 327 cu in) mickey-moused the governor on the UltraMatic so I had an instant convertor "lock up" at any speed over 23 mph. Drove it from the George Washington Bridge on the Hudson River, to the Barham Off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway, in 2 and a half days, and I SELPT EACH NIGHT (doing around 80 mph most of the time) - and that was before the Interstate !) This was in August - so nice and warm crossing the desert - but again, properly maintained Packards are not capable of overheating . No - no need for an electric fuel pump - in those days the Ried Vapor Pressure of consumer-grade gasoline was much less than today.