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Not a Caddy in the crowd. Gee? I wonder why??? Ba ha ha ha.

Quote:

"Most people I have known who bought Packards new said they were always putting gas in them."

Maybe the tanks were smaller?

I can't think of much of a difference in number of trips to the gas station between a '54 DeSoto (17.9770) and the '54 Clipper Deluxe (17.8957): .08, hm, that is, eight hundredths of a mile per gallon. That is, 6.6 more feet per gallon.

But carrying out MPG results to five decimal places is proof positive that these have got to be scientifically sound test results, isn't it? Well, isn't it?

Once again, the only usefulness in these comparisons is that they create a nice promo for Mobil... which runs no risk of comparing their gas to any other brand.

(On the other hand, there was no need for these promos back then, most people never put gas in their cars. Just those @#&^$* Packards... )

Dec-jan 2015 check
13.45 miles/US gallon. (56 executive). Note i usualy do long warm ups.

Hydramatics were dual range even in 1955 and back. This referred to the 2 drive positions on the quadrant. One was for country driving (1 to 1 ratio) the other was for city driving (1.5 to 1). I have a 1956 Pontiac Chieftain that uses the older version without the separate park position on the quadrant. The Chieftains got the older style transmission.
I believe the Jet-away I think was Oldsmobile's name for the Hydramatic. In the Pontiac they are known as Strato-Streak and Strato Flite.
They have to have the control rod adjusted just right between carb and transmission or they shift hard or slip going from gear to gear....

John

Maybe the 288 with a manual trans might approach 17 mpg, but a 54 Patrician is going to get around 8 mpg city and 12 mpg highway.

Just about ANY engine of the pre e-ignition era can obtain much better gas mileage by lighter springs in distributor advance and jet the carb smaller and drop the float about 1/32". Run one heat range hotter on the spark plugs.
That will pick up at least 2 mpg more if not 4 mpg more but will mostly apply to hiway gas mileage.

I'd like to try it on my 56 Exec but just not compelled to research it at this time.