Tigeress, if I were you I would read up on some literature, all of these are in the Literature Archive here, where you can sort by year or category:
- Read and print off the whole owner's manual, it's not that long.
- At some point browse thru the 56 accessories catalog. This is will you when you have an accessory in mind, whether it was a period accessory (= look at parts dealers like MM, Kanter, etc.) or if it's not in there, it's something newer.
- Bookmark the 56 service manual, and download the Specifications section at the end. This is will give a good amount of info, and you may as well print it off too for when you take it to a shop. One note with the 56 manual is it's also for 55... make sure you're reading the correct section.
- Read these two primers on the transmission and the torsion level system:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7994https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5493 Don't worry if you don't understand everything you see, and you don't need to read all of this in one go, it's a bit much for a first time buyer. However I would be remiss to not suggest you try to familiarize yourself a bit.
On the oil pump:
The car you were buying was purchased by Reyman on 2010/8/25 from a collector/restorer who (as usual) didn't do everything quite right and Reyman got things fixed like the pushbuttons rebuilt, TL system working, and minor transmission, carb, fuel tank repairs. I didn't see anything about the oil pump being redone so I would assume it was not. IIRC this car only has like 45k miles so it's not the end of the world if you don't fix this right away, but I would plan on getting it done at some point (there's a kit you can get to adjust the factory one, or people use an Oldsmobile oil pump). One annoyance with Packards is that if you need any "actual" repairs done, it's a challenge to find people that know what they're doing within a reasonable vicinity of where you live, so I would join your local Packard club and ask around. This car should basically be good to go though.
Battery, just take the old one out and go to a battery store. 12V and at least 500CCA. And buy a basic battery charger.
As Mal said, pretty much all consumable parts are available. For very common things like oil filters, just go on an auto parts website and put in your car info. Then it will show the oil filter(s) available.
Also, are you planning on working on this yourself (with family/friends) or taking it to a shop for any/all repairs needed? Are you comfortable working with your hands for basic things, or have someone handy that is?
Let me know if you have trouble finding these on the Literature Archive page.
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