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I believe the compressor was also by Frigidaire and was a large rotary job. Forget how many pistons but it was the precursor to the smaller A6 compressor GM used from the late 50s, thru 60s and into the 70s or early 80s. Think the basic compressor was the same for both Packard and Cadillac but don't know for sure if Cadillac added the clutch late in 53 or waited till 54. On both 53 and 54, Packard used a fixed pulley where you had to remove belts to stop operation. By 54 Cadillac had added a large solenoid on top of the compressor. When the system was turned on it pulled a long arm hinged at the bottom. When pulled in, the arm moved a plunger in the center of the pulley to engage a mechanical clutch on their compresso pulleys to start and stop the compressor. Like Packards 55-6 Lehigh, the clutch only operated when the system was turned on or off. Compressor ran all the time and temp control was still by a solenoid and hot gas bypass.

On the outside vent control, Packard used two controls on the package shelf - one for each side - They were positiooned near the seat next to the return air vents and did look to be like wiper controls with longer cables having an eye on the end instead of a washer. Cadillac had a single control on the drivers side of package shelf but with two cables, one going to each side outside vent

The compressor I saw in a 1956 Lincoln last October in Sutter Creek, California looked more like a V-type similar to that in the 1955-1956 Packards but not sure who made it or what they used prior. My Imperials are a V-type with 2-cylinders while my Cadillacs use the 6-cylinder type with a central crank shaft powering pairs of pistons at opposite ends of the same cylinder and the Packard one for 1953-1954 was, as you said, the barrel type as shown here.

Original 1953-1954 Packard A/C compressor



For reference, here is the Lincoln type which, other than the pulley being behind the clutch while Packard's was reversed, it looks like the same Lehigh for 1955 and 1956.

It turns out that I have the A/C water pump and pulley although not sure yet how it differs from the non-A/C type.




I also have the condenser which at a glance looks just like one I already have for an aftermarket A.R.A. unit that I was told had been in a 1953 Packard Mayfair.

I’m at my shop now but no answer to the above!

I'll be heading up to my shop in a couple weeks and not sure if I'll have time to pull the Patrician's head but if I do, I seem to recall some specific details needed for putting it back on in order to minimize the electrolysis as it's the aluminum one. Something about greasing the studs maybe and something about the proper side for the head gasket's orientation? The one I have is from Olson's but is apparently NOS.

Since most of my Packards and other cars are missing the rubber covers for the brake adjusters, I bought a box of them through Amazon.com. Here’s how they were packed.

Your order must have got sent to a packing station where they were out of small boxes or envelopes. Did you at least get a packing pad or some paper crumpled up inside the box?

More and more of my packages are arriving in recyclable paper envelopes, several of which have been stuffed too full and arrive torn or split where a corner of the item inside the envelope has broken thru. I would welcome an oversize box in those cases but then they are skimping on packing material inside many of the boxes now. A single air pillow or short length of wadded up paper does not prevent items from just bumping or sliding around inside the box.. Can sort of understand why many reviews are mentioning receiving damaged items.

It was packed - and I’m using the term loosely - exactly as shown in the photo. No paper or anything else.

The last time I was here I received five crates from U-Line that were boxed with each being padded with hundreds and hundreds of feet of craft paper, each in its own box. It took many hours to get it all flatted for recycling. They were crates! Why not just stick a label on them and ship as they are with just a little wrapping to soften the shard edges? (That was rhetorical, no answer needed.)

I few years ago I ordered a length or rubber strips and they arrived all wrapped and padded. Were they worried about the rubber getting broken? Other times I’ve received relative fragile items without any padding at all.

I’m not sure that much more diagnosis is needed as there is clearly coolant in the oil. The next step is to pull the head and if no visual damage to the gasket, then time to check for cracks in the block.

The dipstick and definitely not the Royal Triton color!

Although I’ve not done any work on the Patrician yet, my 1965 Cadillac Fleetwood on the lift above is profusely leaking power steering fluid and, even though I expected it (that’s why it’s on the lift) and there are drip trays under it, some of it missed and got onto the Patrician’s hood and ran down the grille and onto the floor making a mess. Yesterday I tried to push the Patrician back so that I could access the Cadillac’s underside to see if the source of the leak was obvious but the Patrician would not budge. I even tried prying it with a long piece of wood but it was as though it were glued to the floor. That’s when I noticed a low tire which turned out to be all four with only about 9 lbs each! All filled, I was able to move it and saw that there was nothing I could do from underneath on the Cadillac anyway as it was the power steering pump leaking but it took well-over an hour to get the Patrician moved to find that out.