Thanks for the response. As I said, I did not see a fuse indicated in the diagram, but you know that the Service Manual sometimes skips steps or assumes everybody knows about whatever. The radio work fine, for an AM radio. I am glad to know about the polarity issue. I know several people who have replaced the generator with a period-looking alternator and switched the polarity; but personally I don't want to do that unless at some point I want to add an air conditioner.

As for issues regarding the Torsion Level, please don't let me get started. That accursed system has been a bane to my existence ever since I bought that car. Ross Miller got it to work, until it decided it wouldn't. No mechanic near me knows how to make it function reliably. I bought a "control switch" from a Washington club that was supposed to make it work, but that crapped out on me too. So I just adjusted the back end of the car to be fairly level with the front end and that is that. I am not going to deal with it again.

Since I have owned my 1955 Clipper Constellation, its cigar lighter has never worked. That has been OK for me; however, now I wish to used the lighter's coil to power a standalone stereo system so that I can have tunes while I am on the road (the car's AM radio does work alright, but ...!). I have looked at the wiring diagram, but I cannot determine if it uses a fuse or not, and if it does use a fuse, what is the amperage and where is it located?

On a separate note, will changing the direction signal fuse enable the turn signal to work as it is supposed to, i.e. click down or up and turn off automatically after the turn?

A lot of leg room in the back!

Just a random notion I have wondered about for a long time.

Has anyone replaced a Packard camshaft with one made by Clay Smith or Edelbrock?

I don't know what it is either, but I think it's pretty cool nonetheless!

We can't rule out alien abduction either.

I just hope those guys don't get stranded Somewhere West of Laramie ...

"Somewhere West of Laramie ..." (Jordan car advertisement)

There are so many things about this "crazy adventure" that truly bother me. First, taking a 64-year-old car that has been sitting for years and attempting to drive it almost 2,000 miles is definitely crazy. Like they say about committing a crime: If you can think of 90 things out of 100 that can go wrong, don't do it!

I have a 1955 Clipper and I can tell you that even when I drove short distances things sometimes went wrong. Packards are reliable cars compared to their peers, but that does not mean they are nearly as reliable as late-model cars. Unless these guys are knowledgeable mechanics (which, by their posts, I doubt), counting on local repair shops along the road for emergency fixes might be counting too much. Take the Ultramatic transmission. Good luck finding many people who can actually repair one and if they can, expect to have to fork out more than $1,000.

The second point I would make about this adventure is their choice of the time of the year. I cannot see any semi-direct route from Oregon to Oklahoma that does not go through states that subject to intense winter weather. I would be concerned about driving through these states in my 2012 Infiniti, let alone a 1953 Clipper. Picture those the driver gripping the steering wheel while trying to see through a fogged-up windshield as vacuum controlled windshield wipers swish back and forth while snow drifts across the highway.

I sincerely hope that these guys are alright and that they came to their senses before they got themselves in way over their heads. When I was their age, I used to say, "No guts, no glory." Now I prefer to use my brain instead of my cajones.

Unless your mailing addressed happened to be in the Hamptons or Beverly Hills, there was definitely a down side to driving around in extremely expensive, flashy cars in the Great Depression. Not only were the driving conditions of most of America's highways not in the best of shape, but when people are reduced to living hand to mouth, seeing people in high-end cars was a little like rubbing salt into the wound.

My mother told me that in the small Mississippi town where she was born, she remembered men in shabby clothes coming up to the back door of her house asking for any kind of work. She said her mother would tell them there wasn't any work, but would always send them on their way with a sandwich and something to drink.

At that time, my grandfather had a good business and would probably have had no problem affording a Packard or Pierce-Arrow, but he chose to drive a Ford sedan instead.

Anytime people are faced with hard economic times, luxury car brands are the first to suffer. There is no shame in driving a modest car during those times instead of flaunting one's obvious wealth. This might account in part for Packard producing cars like the Light 8 and the 120 and 110 in the mid-1930s. A person could still drive a Packard and not be a snob about it.

For those of you who say the 110 and 120 brought down the stature of Packard, you might want to remember that there were a lot of empty factories and unemployment lines containing employees of companies like Pierce-Arrow, Marmon, Stutz, and Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg.

BDC:

That stolen Patrician is probably hiding out in a parking lot at the local shopping center cleverly camouflaged by assorted Hondas, Toyotas and various minivans ...