Yes that's what I said last October when I bought this car.

"Who could resist this beautiful 1954 Packard Patrician?"

I had purchased a really decent '54 Patrician just a month prior in September. My first Packard. I'd wanted one since junior high school. That means like 1965.

Then I saw this other car and decided I couldn't pass it up --same year and same model -- as a source for parts. See the 19 July 13 post on Packards For Sale featuring this car.

So I bought it sight unseen. A really unwise way to proceed.

The fact is I should not have purchased either of these cars. I already have too many projects going on.

I put off having it delivered as long as possible. Which means all winter. The day of reckoning finally arrived however and I had it shipped 10 days ago from Blake Young's Winding Road Classics in Willis Texas.

And ... I am more than pleased! The car is just as good as I had dared hope. It appears to be original and basically solid. An authentic eminently restorable '54 Patrician. Too good for a parts car in my view.

Even has the aluminum head.

Of course -- I haven't had it running yet! Blake said he had it running. But it needs a water pump gas pump and brake work including the Easmatic master cylinder. I have already removed these and plan shipping them off soon for rebuilt units.

This isn't a project blog I'll be contributing to daily. And I hope to avoid infinitely detailed and complex tasks.

But questions are bound to arise. Moreover I need to keep up my motivation.

Here are two initial issues.

I'm wondering whether I want to embark on a total frame off or a less perfectionist restoration. I know this is my own choice but I wouldn't mind some input. Some for example might say this model is not worth the trouble.

Then right away here is a much more specific question. Which partly relates to the one just prior. While I'm waiting for the rebuilt parts I want to clean and paint some of the black parts under the hood. The air cleaner heater blower oil cap and so forth. I might have them sand blasted (but not the blower motor). As a simple solution would it be OK to repaint these using RustOleum spray products? Red primer then gloss black cover?

I'm not a total originality/authenticity obsessionist. I do however consider preservation a priority.

Someone once loved this car. It came with old volumes of Packard Cormorant magazine from the 1970s. This was probably once someone's prize Packard.

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When I posted yesterday evening saying "Frankly I agree entirely" about buying the Packard factory I was half kidding. Actually LESS than half kidding.

Many young guys spend much of their time in a virtual reality anyway playing video games so why shouldn't I do the same. I'm going to use the Packard Factory as my virtual reality and have some fun. Nobody really knows how serious I am or am not.

Several months ago we visited a microbrewery in Colorado. A person working there was involved in an art community. And told about hanging out at the Packard factory in Detroit. It was a fascinating story.

Quite a while back I can't remember exactly when I had this idea about Harlem. Here was all this real estate just a few miles from Manhattan with deserted buildings. Manhattan -- probably the financial capital of the world. Who could go wrong. I actually went so far as to phone a real estate enterprise in New York and they gave me this line about people out of state not being able to own property there or something. Of course a little thing like this wouldn't stop the big guys. What do you suppose that Harlem property is worth now. Plenty.

In the 1990s I bought a little over 100 acres in southern Ohio. I wanted this to be my hippie farm. I liked the 60s and early 70s. Remember hippies? Remember Vietnam? Remember Nixon? Remember Carter? I paid $450 an acre. It included a house a barn outbuildings wells cisterns a stream loads of walnut trees hickory trees butternut trees a great view. Nobody else wanted it. Now that land and the mineral rights are worth at least $800k. No it's not for sale.

The biggest problem as I see it is environmental remediation. But one doesn't have to do the whole place at once. Do just part. Then what? Put there Packard Artworks and Museum. Where Packards are on display. Where devoted artisans build new Packard clones new custom Packards and neoPackards. Don't you know a few people who like to design build and work on cars? Sell them for $300K apiece. I'll bet there'd be some interested buyers. Buicks are big in China. Remediate the balance parcel by parcel and sell leases.

In a world where CEOs get millions and millions of dollars PER YEAR all it takes is ONE wealthy Packard owner to land this historic property.

Or a few Packard owners willing to invest a hundred thousand or so.

Or a moderate number of Packard owners willing to invest a thousand dollars or so.

Get Elon Musk involved. The leading edge with Tesla and the classic with Packard.

When I was a kid the owner of the largest trucking company in the whole USA lived in our village. His net worth was around $500 million. His advice was "Buy low and sell high" I remember him saying it. Sounds glib doesn't it. But there's great wisdom in those words. Some people are so dense they just don't see the obvious. BUY LOW SELL HIGH.

These anecdotes all are true.

The Dow reached an all time high today. 21st November 2013. The stock market leads the economy. Interest rates and inflation are low. People are sitting on piles of cash. Even better times are on the way. The stock market has been going up for a century and all things considered it will continue to advance.

Only two things hold the human race back. People who have no vision. And people who won't work together.

Let's not forget why we're all here. I'm the proud owner of two 1954 Packard Patricians. Which I haven't even seen yet! One is in great shape and the other needs to be restored. Both belong in a Packard museum. How about in Detroit Michigan. These cars are priceless.

"I think we should all chip in and make an offer. Think of the wonderful publicity that could be generated".

* * *

Frankly I agree entirely. Even minus the publicity. Property anywhere is valuable. Let alone property with an illustrious history. Not too far in the future people will be kicking themselves they didn't act on this. Who wants to help organize?

"I think we should all chip in and make an offer. Think of the wonderful publicity that could be generated".

* * *

Frankly I agree entirely. Even minus the publicity. Property anywhere is valuable. Let alone property with an illustrious history. Not too far in the future people will be kicking themselves they didn't act on this. Who wants to help organize?

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I'm still interested in knowing more about the Ultramatic.

If and when you rebuild it I will be following closely. I'm following closely anyway.

bigmoparjeff says "how bad it looked inside". Did you have it apart? I didn't find this yet on this long thread. Is it posted somewhere else?

You said things were "funky" on the highway on the way to Palm Springs. What exactly did you notice? Slippage? Sounds? Sensation of heat? Burned fluid?

Whoa!

But hey this is great!

These Packards are worth their weight in gold.

Every relationship has [at least] two terms. There will never be another car that will ever have as much effect on me as did the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. Because of what that car was and because of what I was -- a teenager -- at the time. A beautiful car. Like a modern version of the Cord 810. A real Up Front statement. And fast 0-60 7.2 sec top speed 130.

The 1967 Eldorado. Dark and beautiful.

I love automatics and torque converters. Someday would like to have a 1956 Buick with the complex Dynaflow transmission. Twin turbine torque converter with variable pitch stator blades.

HH56 I have a 1996 XJ12. I saw this engine when it was new in London in 1971. In dealers' showrooms up on stands. Always wanted one. Has a beautiful quiet sound when one starts it not like any engine I've heard before. Hardly ever drive it.

Right now I'm happy with my two "new" '54 Ultramatic Patricians.

Of course a Cadillac V16 would be cool ...

BigKev what a fantastic job you've done on this car. As you know I'm new here and recently bought a quite nice Patrician. I'd also actually like to do a project car but it might be too big a job for me.

Anyway what I'm really interested in is the discussion on pages 184-5 about your nonfunctional lockup. Because when I first became interested in Packards way back in junior high I also became fascinated by automatics and all the elaborate torque converters they had in the fifties. Especially Buick of course. But also Packard's Ultramatic.

For decades I wanted an Ultramatic and now I finally have a car with one ...

I do actually want to buy just an Ultramatic to dissasemble and rebuild it ...

But what I want to know is whether your nonfunctional lockup is intentional or unintentional. Because I'm wondering if any modification is possible to change to a driver manually-operated lockup control. Because I might prefer to be able to have voluntary control over the lockup so I can engage or disengage it when I want.

I assume your nonfunctional lockup actually is unintentional. And in this case do you know what the cause of the problem is? Is it hydraulic or is the clutch worn?
Have you disassembled the torque converter assembly? Interesting and important to know it doesn't seem to overheat.

Thanks for the input everyone.

My original question was about the best Packard inline 8. Defining best in terms of dependability and longevity. To at least my current satisfaction this question has been answered and I'm pleased the Patrician has a 9 bearing engine.

So it looks like the limousines had the 212 hp and the commercials either 150 or 212 hp.

A good thought Pat that length of life is a function of a shorter stroke.

Rusty I define "best" in the terms above because I've always had the persuasion that the primary quality of an automobile of prestige needs to be dependability and longevity. Cadillacs for example were always expensive and more or less luxurious - and flashy -- cars but I am not sure whether they ever had a reputation for durability. Of course long life alone is probably not sufficient to characterize a prestige vehicle. Quality of appointments and design also are important.

Mercedes cars of the 1970s come to mind as possibly the most recent line of vehicles having these characteristics. Solid luxurious and long lived at least the diesels. Mercedes of that period may have come closest to representing what Packard did in its prime. Somehow Mercedes seems to have gone downhill in dependability since then and I am not sure of the reasons for this deterioration.

Rolls Royces were always outstandingly elegant. But in the last fifty years were they ever exceptional in terms of mechanical integrity? In what cars was this Rolls Royce 6?
WHAT is special in the bottom of the Speedster engine? (Too many questions.)

The most reliable and long lived cars of course seem to be Toyotas. But they don't quite have the character of a luxury car. Of course there's Lexus. Maybe Lexus is the modern equivalent of a Packard.

Sometimes I like to go to the U-Pull-It yard in Albuquerque - not to buy parts but just to look at cars. I also look at the odometers of cars with mechanical displays. A recent excursion there yielded the finding that no car I saw had exceeded 280K miles and there were few having reached this figure. The only ones were a Toyota naturally one Subaru one BMW - BUT not a large BMW this was a 3 series with a larger 6 cyl engine - one Mercedes BUT it was a diesel - and exceptionally one Volvo. I say exceptionally because most Volvos it seems don't have engines lasting that long. Be advised that on this occasion I did not look at any American production to compare.

All of which is a certain amount of opinion but it may generate additional commentary.

If anyone knows other Packard owners in Albuquerque I'd like to make contact. I tried a SW Packards email but did not get a response.

Thanks gentlemen for your responses and it appears a consensus may be developing for the 9 main bearing engines.

I can understand the 327 as the obvious choice but hope the 359 is not far behind as I just purchased a 1954 Patrician. My first Packard. And really the year and model I wanted. I would have preferred a '54 limousine but I believe that's a tall order. I want to add it to the registry but need to get a photo first.

Were the 9 main bearing engines available only in the Patricians? Were they also used in the limousines? What did hearses use?

Pat please pardon my having left the V8s temporarily in the periphery. How DO they compare with the inline engines in terms of longevity?

Do any of these engines have forged cranks?