Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

55 Clipper I just bought as a parts car has no oil filter and no sign that there ever was one.

The 1955 Packard and Clipper specifications indicate that the oil filter was standard across both lines, all engines. It's certainly easy enough to remove and leave no traces that it was ever there.

I had the opportunity today to closely examine the 1934 Twelve 1108 Dietrich that took a 1st in class at Pebble this month, and need to correct a statement I made in post #8 of this thread. In that I said that ALL engines went to full-flow filters in 1934, but that is incorrect. While the Eight and Super Eight did and did so throughout their run (320 and 385 engines), the Twelve did not go to full-flow until 1935.

O_D, Just wondering where you found the specs mentioning the filter as standard on all 55s. I don't find any standard mention other than a service counselor which just gives a location. There is some ambiguity on Packards part however--especially in 56.

The 55 dealer album lists the oil filter as special equipt on the Clippers and standard on seniors. The 56 fact book in the individual model section at the front of book has no mention of the filter on any of the Clippers as standard but does call it out on all the senior cars. Don't have the 55 RPO codes but 56 also lists as optional on the Clippers.

The ambiguous part in 56 is in the specification pages in the rear of that same fact book where it is listed as standard on all 56 models. Perhaps Packard was not even sure on the subject.

I can shed a little light on this, but there will still be some shadows.

Photocopies of Trade Letters on optional equipment, which I used to compose the Build Code charts for 55th and 56th Series, show oil filter (OF) equipment as optional on the Clipper line and standard on the Packard line (including Executive models).

However, I don't have copies of ALL of the relevant letters for 1955-1956. It could very well be there was a running change in the status of oil filter equipment in 1956.

Meanwhile, the Trade Letters that I have examined note the oil filter also being available as a dealer-installed accessory, but I find no listing for any such kit in the 55-56 parts book - unlike the 48-54 parts book.

Of course, all of the pages in the Accessories section of the 55-56 part book on file, here, show a revision date of July 1, 1956. I wonder if anyone has a much earlier edition that shows something else - an oil filter kit that might have been deleted, which might correpsond to a change in production status.

Sounds like another enduring Packard mystery for the ages. My comment that the filter was included on Clippers was based on the specifications in the Service Counselor. I assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that the statement indicating it's location meant it was present. Perhaps they meant that as "there it could be", not "there it is".

Again a bit off topic, but below is a photo of the engine compartment of the Pebble-winning 1934 1108 Dietrich just finished by Automotive Restorations in NJ. This is about as perfect a restoration as you could ever see. Note the bypass filter on the left side of the engine; the full-flow L-8 filter in following years was located on the opposite side of the engine. I believe the oiling system was revised concurrent with the increase in displacement from 445 to 473 cubic inches that occurred at the same time.

PS - just a personal opinion but I think the Dietrich looks so much more stately and reserved by not being all gussied up with Trippes, sidemount mirrors, etc.

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