Whoa there Kev--not too fast. The hump and the junction of the hump to the firewall is very different between 54 and 55. Don't think you will find the 55 pattern too useful in the front. I'm just getting ready to cut a rug for a 53 and will sort that for you.

I quite agree with Packardguy. You will have the cost of a 49 Custom Victoria in the car before you bring it up to a decent standard. Every solitary component seems damaged and the only "easy" way forward would be to buy a really nice finished custom Eight Sedan and part it out onto the fastback. And then you still would not have the interior and a lot of the stainless.

Just for reference, the original type carpet is available. It is called Daytona Weave and is the wee little tiny loops on a cloth backing with a foam rubber layer under that. That would be correct for all 55 and 56 Deluxe and Supers. Lucky for us, it was also used in tons of mid fifties GM cars so is readily available, if somewhat expensive. My 56 Stude President had it also.

All that said, I have used the indoor-outdoor stuff in almost all of the pickups and several other cars. It comes in blue, tan, green, and grey and somewhat resembles the hogshair type carpet that Packard used up through 54 in many models. That hogshair style is hideously expensive and not all that durable. The indoor outdoor is so cheap you don't even blink if you ruin a piece, and holds up quite well. I clean grease marks off of mine with brake cleaner!

You are doing a great job with the Clipper and it looks very smart.

Nashes 41 to the end, step down Hudsons, Hashes, and Ramblers way up into the sixties added and subtracted hood with no change to the passenger compartment. Of course, the Clippers and bathtubs did the same, and in the 23d series could come in different lengths even though the engine block was the same length, ie Eights and Supers.

Do prefer the Studebaker and 51-56 Packard method of putting it into the rear compartment.

The rear wheels were moved 5 inches further back, as was the rear seat, creating capacious legroom. The door uppers were the same as on the junior cars so the C-pillar area was made 5" deeper to acommodate the movement rearward of the seat.

Congrats on your successful drive--aren't they great cars? I love driving mine.

Maybe you could shoot us a pic of this knob you are talking about.

With Ultramatic in "H" range, you should feel one shift somewhere between 18 and 50 depending on how hard you are accelerating. Your car doesn't actually use any gears in "H", just the torque converter. Somewhere in that speed range a clutch should engage that locks up the converter for efficiency. That engagement can be quite soft but when complete the car should feel like a stick shift car in high gear;ie the engine speed tracks exactly with the car speed and there is no engine running away sensation. That, and if you were going up a slight hill at say 40 and floored it, you should feel that clutch release and the engine speed increase.

Ultramatic and overdrive would be a very special and expensive aftermarket addition so we're all interested. If you ever have the car on a lift a picture of the bottom would tell the tale.

I actually meant that those fore and aft stringers should be welded to the side to side stringers, not the seat tracks at all. The body bolts are just 3/8-24 bolts by about 2 1/2 long or so. Nothing special as they are not highly stressed.

Those seat track supports are often not welded well to the floor stringers so suggest a bead there before you put the new floor down. You are definitely doing the right thing!

The Napa master cylinder has a check valve.

Fascinating stuff. Never had any problem with the aftermarket pistons in the twenty plus sets I've installed, but even when screaming at the top of their lungs piston speed doesn't even approach 3000 fpm in these engines. There is plenty of friction from all that bearing area but the plus side is that it keeps the components from migrating to other parts of the engine compartment.

I am something of a skeptic about the nine-main 51-54 engines; I think it was a sales point more than a genuine quality enhancement. I can not tell the difference between say a 51 300 and a 51 Patrician in driving no matter how carefully I listen. And I would point out far as warming up a 51-54 nine main is concerned that the crank is probably not as torsionaly stiff as a five main as evidenced by the fact that Packard fitted them with much larger vibration dampers than the five mainers got.

Cortcomp is correct to note that these were production engines and subject to casting variations. Did a valve job on a 51 recently where 6 of the 8 intake ports lined up with the valve seats quite well, and two were at least 3/32 off making a big speed bump. This is quite typical and why every engine I do here gets at least a rudimentary porting job. Seems to make a nice difference.


The biggest problem with Packard gas mileage is that the cars are so un-aerodynamic and often at cruising speed the engines are turning faster than they need to because of lack of extra ratios.