My 55 Deluxe has the R11.
One trait BW overdrives have is their dislike for sitting nose down for an extended period of time. Shortly after I got the car I jacked up the back to remove the very noisy rear end. It sat that way for several weeks while a replacement was located. The new one was installed and my son drove it about 35 miles on the freeway without a problem and pulled into a parking slot. Backing out didn't. He drove the car home and determined that;

A: We had completely lost reverse.
B: I had completely forgotten a similar issue 55 years ago involving my father and a 49 Lincoln.

We removed the Trans. And found the planetary gears completely defanged. The sun and ring gears were slightly worn but the planetaries were smooth. The problem, it seems, is the separate oil fill for the OD and trans. If it sits nose down for an extended time, the OD oil leaks in to the trans. but doesn't leak back in time when level. This accomplishes two things for you. It burns up the OD and it overfills the transmission, blows the front seal and soaks the clutch. The replacement parts came from a 66 Mercury, but using the longer output shaft and housing from the Packard. The rear end is from an automatic. It's a great road car but the speedometer is about 7 MPH slow and it eats up clutches.
Happy packarding, Tom

I finely unburied the 55 far enough to read the various numbers.
Theft Proof; 042309
VIN & Engine; 5522-8855
Paint; JV
Trim; 11

There is a 54 Henny long wheelbase hearse in a storage lot nearby. I attempted to get numbers and pictures but was thwarted by a rather imposing lady with a European accent who barred the driveway. No amount of cajoling, begging or pleading swayed her so I will have to gain entrance some other way. I don't give up easily.
There is also a 42 - 47 parked behind 50, 60 boats in a yard about 7-8 miles away. I'll try for those numbers also.

Happy Packarding, Tom

I have had very little contact with bio-fuels, however, it is a subject that I might be involved with in the future. I was, however, involved with a 1961 Mercury station wagon that was imported from Brazil. Along with being right hand drive, it was built to run on pure Ethonal. The car was collected by a friend that owned Baldwin Auto Wreckers in Elmonte Ca. around 1973-5. It was pure Mercury if you didn't mind sitting behind the mirror. If I hadn't been a GI bill college student with a 5 year old, it would have been mine. The striking feature was the stainless steel fuel system from the gas tank to the carburetor. Every thing in contact with liquid, including the gas cap was stainless. I spent some time in the library (remember them?) looking up Brazil. It seems the overwhelming amount of available land for corn reduced the cost of Ethonal to less then pennies. The life of a pot metal carb using pure Ethnoal is, give or take, two years. Considering the almost free fuel, the upgrade to stainless is cheap. Brazil is not a big exporter of cars to the US, so that's the only one I have seen. It has, though, refined my opinion of agriculturally based fuels. I hope the last 50 years of better living through chemistry has reduced the problem while keeping costs in line. I hope we don't trade our dependence on the worlds oil supply for a dependence on the world's supply of pot metal. Should we pay $0.30 for gas and $30.00 a cob for barbequed corn?

Happy hundred dollar tank, Tom

The number is in the 1952 series which indicates to me that the chassis and cowl were built in 1952 but the vehicle finally finished and titled in 1953. That would make sense; I understand the Jr. didn't sell as expected. They probably had a few leftover bodies at the end or the year. Are there any other differences between a 52 & 53 I can look for? The original fenders and hood were too crunched to save but were drilled for the 53 grill corners. The parts I collected came from a 53 Clipper that showed up in Pick a Part. The grill is a very nice one that came from the Packard International swap meet in Orange Ca several years ago. The corners were Ebay. Packard wouldn't have made some "Design Improvements" in 53 that would have moved bolt holes around would they?

There was a 53 or 4 Henny full size hearse in a storage lot a few years ago. I'll stop by and see if it's still there. If it is, I'll record the numbers for you. I see abandoned Packard's laying around all over, I'd be happy to keep a list of location and numbers if they can be of use. I'll send the numbers from my 55 in the V8 forum.

Also, I plan to attend the Orange Ca Packard swap meet Feb. 17. (barring rain) If anyone wants to make a wish list, I'll take it with me. I will make a special announcement on that about two weeks early. Any suggestions about will be appreciated.
Thanks. Tom

Forgot the next question, what the heck is a "theft proof number"?
Thanks; Tom

Hi Mal;
"Another detail you may be able to supply is the Thief Proof Number, that's the number embossed into the firewall". You're right, I checked the VIN against the driver's door tag, but forgot about the firewall #, it is B55376. Thanks for reminding me. Should I contact Owen directly or will he find it here? I know what the Leveldraulic is, but what the heck is a Mound #? This thing does look kind of rounded and bumpy.
(I'm playing with format in an Email, if the final result looks strange, blame the programmer)

It's been about a decade and I have a mind like a steel sieve, it could have been 10". The second replacement was the largest and heaviest I could find that would fit the bolt pattern. I recall thinking there was an awful lot of unused surface area. The clutch is not riding and the flywheel surface is in good condition. I drove it out of the driveway, with difficulty, last week and I can park it in gear and walk away with the engine running. (I didn't) I recall considering the 68 Hurst Oldsmobile multiple disk pack, but I wasn't sure about throwout bearing clearance. It will be at least a month before it can be moved to the designated repair slot in my driveway, so, until I get the trans out, I'm guessing. I'll crawl under the car and see if I can get some exact measurements as soon as I can. The Orange Ca. Packard's International swap meet is coming up in February, I'd like to finish my wish list by then.
I'll report my findings, Thanks Tom

I collected this Clipper about 10 years ago; it had a defanged pinion gear. I couldn't find an overdrive rear end so it was replaced with a higher ratio one from an automatic. I noticed that the clutch would slip slightly if pushed so I drove it easily. The clutch lasted a few months and got progressively worse. I replaced it with stock parts, but it still felt soft and lasted less then a year. Clutch #3 was a racing disk and heavy springs. It lasted slightly over a year. Time and ambition deferred #4 until now. I think the problem is the 9" clutch is too small for the load. The 352 engine was bolted to a larger, I think 11", clutch. The plan for #4 is to pull the flywheel and re-drill it for a larger clutch, at least 11". I recall from 8-9 years ago thinking it looked an awful lot like the 12" one from my Chevy truck. I have access to a complete machine shop so getting the holes in the right place is no problem.

Questions I have:
Will this affect engine balance? I don't expect it to but a second opinion is good.
Will a 12" clutch fit and if so, would it be over kill?
Do I ignore, chamfer, or plug the other holes?
What other gotya's am I missing?

I don't plan to tackle this for a couple of months, but I'm collecting parts early.

It needs lots more but this will make it reliable. Thanks, Tom

I use the Cadillac, Jaguar & Mercedes Forums a lot, now it's your turn. One of my British car friends found this about 7-8 years ago, and I, of course, grabbed it. It came with the entire front loaded in the back and Ca Historical plates from 1984. I'm finally finding time to attack it. The car was on some property my friend bought and the only clue to its history is a nicely lettered but faded sign on the side, "Professional Detail Complete Car Care". It's been sitting outside with everything past the fire wall exposed for years before I bought it and about 8 years after. By some miracle, the engine is free and runs nicely on starting fluid. Whatever it hit was higher then the bumper. The frame and bumper escaped injury but every thing above was shortened about 2 feet. The hood, fenders and grill in the back were un-repairable as was the generator and water pump. The radiator was missing. I salvaged the bits I could and scraped the rest. The Henny badges were both missing from the fenders, but the un-faded paint showed where they were. I've collected all the major pieces needed through friends and junk yards and now I'm deciding where to start. I've started on the brakes which, surprise, blew a front wheel cylinder some time back.

I'm trying to identify what I have. The grill and fenders are 53, based on the corner pieces. I don't have the grill center so I don't know if it was a Senior or a Clipper. The windshield has the curved corners which I thought was 52 Clipper and most of the pictures of Juniors I saw have the square corners. The dash is 53.
The Henny data plate shows the following;
Engine #; L-200049
Serial #; 2633-2008
Body #; 20124
Factory Order #; 59163
Mound # blank
Leveldraulic # blank

Now, with everything exposed, is a great time to clean and paint. I just haven't figured out where to stop. Step one; get the engine running on its own and the brakes to stop, so I can move it around.

My son's company builds TV and movie sets. If he can use it for advertising and write off the expenses, I may go further then just operational.

Either way, it will be fun. Tom.