I know that the 55 Ultramatic had a cast iron case and that the 56 had an aluminum case. Was the change made as part of the retooling for 56, or did some 55's have the aluminum case? If so, were all aluminum case Ultramatics built to the 1956 specifications? I'm asking because I am reassembling a 55 Patrician, but the Ultramatic has an aluminum case. It may not have come with the car originally. Many thanks!

I don't know how long the automotive industry kept up the practice of aging or "pickling" cast iron blocks, but I know it continued for a time after WWII. As an anecdoital story about this process, a friend of mine in Seattle in the early 60's had a 1946 Chrysler New Yorker with the 323.5 cu.in. straight eight. In the late fifties he had the engine rebuilt and the machine shop complained that the block was so hard it was destroying his boring equipment. Their guess was that the block was cast before the war and (since Chrysler did not use the eight in any military applications) that it had aged for four or five years rather than the usual one and had become much harder than normal. Therefore there may be something to this process after all.

I love Citroens, having owned a CX in the early 80's. Still the DS-19/21 did not have the power, AT or luxurious appointments of the 56 Packard. For sheer engineering nobody came close to Citroen.

To get back to the 56's. I wrote a letter to the Rolls-Royce Owners Club (RROC) that argued that the 1956 Patrician was the finest production sedan of the year, technologically heads and shoulders above the 1956 Rolls-Royce. For some reason they never published it. Looks are always in the eye of the beholder, but I find my Patrician to be truly beautiful compared to Cadillac and Lincoln. On the subject of the merger, it is well documented that Studebaker carefully masked their financial condition. They claimed that their break even point was 100,000 cars, when it was actually about 200,000. Packard did not need to lie to Studebaker since they were the buyers. What I have never understood is why Packard hired a consultant firm to analyze Studebaker. If they had sent a team of their own engineers, accountants, etc. they would have quickly seen that Studebaker (despite good engineering and design) was an anchor that would sink Packard (or Nash/Kelvinator for that matter). I have always thought that Studebaker bribed the consultants for a good report.

I got a title for a 55 Patrician that had been in a barn for over 25 years. I got mine through Broadway Title in Alabama. As I recall it cost about $140. The address and phone number can be found on the web or in any Hemmings.

I have had two senior 56's, one with the pushbutton shift and the other without. I will never buy another one with the pushbutton option. When they get old (and they are) the damn things are a real pain to keep working. And all they do is keep you from moving a simple lever. It was a gimmick on the Packard in 1956 and a gimmick on the Edsel in 1958, and not a good idea in either case IMHO.

Having nothing to do with Packards, but since the Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 came up I thought I would mention a rumor I heard many years ago. After Olds came out with the Futuramic Olds 98 in 1948, they were faced witrh a real problem. The 98 straight eight was the original "gutless wonder". I owned a 1948 Olds 98 convertible and it wouldn't pull the hat off your head. The rumor is that GM management asked Olds if their V8 was ready for production. Olds said it was not. The board then ordered Buick to turn their V8 over to Olds, since the Buick straight eight was much stronger and could keep going a little longer. Anyone else hear this rumor?

Great job Brian, many thanks! On the subject of underseat heaters, I owned an early 56 Caribbean hardtop, 1009, and it had the underseat heater. Someone suggested that only the convertibles had a problem fitting the underseat heater.

Realize that the founder of this thread wrote Hydramatic when he meant Ultramatic, but Turbopacman asked how one put a Hydramatic in a Packard. My 1956 Patrician has a TurboHydramatic 400 installed in place of the Ultramatic about 15 years ago by the fellow I bought it from. An outfit in Georgia (now defunct) did this on a number of V-8 Packards. I don't know all of the technical details involved, but the front of the bellhousing is cut off the Ultramatic and aluminum welded to the front of the GM transmission which has had the front of its bellhousing removed. Works very well and I can have it repaired anywhere. I believe that some outfit in Texas is doing the same type of conversion using the newer GM overdrive transmission.

Many of us with Packard V-8s are bothered by the low octane, alcohol corrupted, gas available today. The octane is too low and it has no lead. How many of you know that it is illegal for gas companies to add Tetraethyl lead, but perfectly legal for you to add it? Furthermore pure tetraethyl lead is available (quite legally) here in the States. It is sold by Vogel Products, Inc., 860 Repp Drive, Columbus, Indiana 47201, Phone: (812)376-2775. With this product you can increase octane to over 100, while protecting your valves. I only use it for hard driving on my 56 Patrician, but it seems to work fine.