Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi all! I'm new to Packards, being an Aircooled VW/Classic Mopar man almost my entire life.

I recently picked up a '55 Clipper Custom with a 352 and a two speed ultramatic. The shifter feels fairly loose, but the linkage is confirmed to be moving not only from the column, but also on the transmission.

However, even after starting, or parked with the engine off, and no matter the position of the shifter, the car will not come out of reverse.

This car is parked on solid, flat, level ground; yet it refuses to come out of reverse. I have tried moving the linkage on the side of the transmission in every conceivable direction to no avail. It is full of fluid, and I cannot for the life of me figure out what is wrong unless it is something internal.

Thanks in advance!

There is a chance it is internal. A lever is held by a setscrew to the shaft rotated by the lever on the outside. The inside lever is made of potmetal and the threads for the setscrew are known to strip letting the screw loosen or fall out completely. Once the screw is loose or out, the lever is free to rotate on the shaft and cannot move the selector valve.

If you disconnect the outside linkage and grab hold of the outer lever, once out of the park position there should be no discernible play between positions as you move from one gear to another. The detents are in the valve body and in park and neutral the valve body is in the neutral configuration. Rotating the lever after leaving neutral, each of the drive and reverse positions will have a distinct detent. If there is any slop you need to check the setscrew. If the lever is stripped, the screw will not hold and you will need to add a roll pin. Even if it still tightens, for peace of mind tighten it gently, set the lock nut, and drill a hole thru the lever and shaft to install a roll pin.

If the lever is still tightly attached to the shaft, one other possibility is the link connecting the lever to the manual valve and detent has lost a pin on either end. If that has happened the valve and transmission will stay in whatever gear it was in when the pin fell out.

Here are the two suspect things to check. Both can be checked by draining the fluid and dropping the pan. If the pan comes off, you may need a new gasket. Before replacing also use a straightedge to verify the bolt hole locations in the pan have not been distorted by bolts being too tight. If the metal has been pushed out of line the new gasket will leak. A few gentle taps at any distorted hole using a small hammer to level the holes is all it takes to get things good again.

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Deaty, to PackardInfo and for including your '55 Clipper in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

However, I'm concerned your Clipper may not be correctly identified in the Registry. As per the image below, the MODEL BODY your showing is 5522 while the VIN NUMBER is 5562-4551. I could be wrong(somebody correct me{gently} if I am), but I thought the Body Number and the first section of the VIN Number should be the same. I.E 5522 OR 5562 for both. Fixing this, if it is an issue, can be done by going in and editing your Registry entry to reflect the correct designation.

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Yes, they should match.

My door plate does read 5562-4551. Was it possible it could have been swapped? I don't see any signs of anything being removed, but yet again with its age, anything is possible.

Am wondering where you found the 5522 number. As Oz said, the numbers were posted in two places -- engine and door jamb -- and should be the same on both. The door jamb number is the official VN but if the engine were swapped it would be the mismatch and is a frequently found issue when failed engines were replaced with one coming from a junkyard car. If that is where you found it the engine would be a 320 from the base Clipper Deluxe model instead of the 352 that should be in a Clipper Custom.

Here is the chart showing the possible combinations.

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  55 chassis and body.jpg (173.92 KB)

You said it was a 55 Clipper Custom 4dr and the VIN begins with 5562. That's perfectly correct.

If the engine says 5522 then it was swapped from a 55 Clipper Deluxe.