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Just out of curiosity, anyone here have a Packard with the Electromatic clutch on it that still works?
From what I've read they seemed somewhat trouble prone. And with 50-60 years gone by probably more touchy to make work.
Just when did they start offering this option?

John

Just looking at the number of pages in the service manuals related to adjustments and service you can reach the conclusion that it was fussy. I've been driven in one or two cars where it functioned flawlessly and in those cases it was a real dream. But most owners of EC-equipped cars, myself included, just inactivated it by blocking off the main vacuum feed to the unit, and pulling the fuse rather than dealing with it.

I believe it was first offered in the 1941 Clipper line though someone willing to take the time to research that may have better information. It ended with the introduction of Ultramatic in the 23rd series. Perhaps curiously, AMC offered a similar system in the early 60s known as "E-Stick".

That is what I wondered if it had a bad vacuum cylinder, whether it could be repaired or not. The diaphragms would harden with age.
Hudson had something along this line also. A vacuum operated clutch and also Drivemaster which shifted the transmission between 2nd and 3rd automatically.
Was this offered on all models of Packard or just the senior models?

John

They were introduced for 41. The vacuum diaphragm rubber is available from Steele and most other parts are still around from Kanter. Believe they were available on all models.

The prewar version is somewhat more complicated and requires more adjustments. There are some switches and relays selected by the particular gear the car is using which operate adjustable solenoid valves. In conjunction with the accelerator linkage and its switch plus the internal "feedback" or monitoring valve which is calibrated to work approximately the same rate as the power cylinder, the solenoid and mechanical valves all modify the rate of vacuum release of the power cylinder to control the smoothness of the clutch engagement.

The postwar version is much more refined requiring only a single solenoid valve to block or allow vacuum to reach the control valve. It is not adjustable and is either on or off. Once the vacuum is present in the control valve it is modified by the accelerator linkage and the feedback valve and then out to the power cylinder. Adjustment and complexity is much simplified.

My current 47 is not on the road yet but the last one I had worked reasonably well. It cannot be expected to be flawless though. It is designed for a dignified driver who sedately goes thru the gears in an orderly fashion and has no ambitions to compete at Indy. Since there is only the one set of adjustments it might be good for one driver but another regularly driving the car would be totally upset with the operation. I don't have a prewar but several with the prewar versions are also operating satisfactorily. It is all in the adjustment and understanding how they interact and taking the time needed to do them.

If you want to learn about the units and differences and how to adjust, there are training books in the literature section. The prewar version is in the manual entitled Electromatic Clutch and the postwar version is covered in the Clutch and Electomatic Clutch manual.

That is what I wondered if it had a bad vacuum cylinder, whether it could be repaired or not

Vacuum cylinder diaphragms were available at least a few years ago, from Steele Rubber. Still listed in their catalog as p/n 50-0063-24.

I have gotten intact units to function, but the linkages wear and the adjustments never work the same way the manual says. Once working they do okay for demonstration purposes and provide smooth breakaway on level surfaces without excessive revving.

In theory the unit should provide superior performance to a manual clutch because engagement is a uniform assumption. However, in reality they caused accelerated clutch wear.

The above Packard mavens sum it well. My '47 Super was delivered with Electromatic, which a longtime Packard gent who had one in his '47 Custom Super rebuilt. I drove it engaged a couple times, worked fine but disliked the robotic aspect. However, i'm a sports car guy who long ago "fell in" to 1940-47 overdrive Packards and appreciate them as road cars more than the circus wagons plastered with every available option they are for many today.

To Tim's observation about accelerated clutch wear, which makes sense given its real world operation, i'd add hastened throw out bearing wear, since at long lights, the clutch pedal's depressed with ElectroMatic engaged. Savvy drivers of any manual transmission know to always shift into neutral and take your foot off the clutch pedal at long lights.

Electromatic was Packard's response in their box office poison 1941 models (sales down 24% from 1940 while GM's '41s up the same amount) to HydraMatic in the '40 Olds, '41 Cadillac,
just as the Clipper later that year was Packard's better late than never response to GM's racy new '40 "C" bodies, some of which cues it incorporated.
Packard had the finest chassis in the industry, as Dutch Darrin observed, but was also, as he pointed out in early '40, "So afraid of GM they couldn't see straight."

Packard was so cowed by HydraMatic that in ads for the 1941 models with Electromatic and overdrive, suggested motorists in city driving leave the shift lever in second and let overdrive second approximate third gear. Continually starting out in second gear, especially in city traffic, is murder on the pressure plate, but Packard was trying to sell cars, and their desperation creeped into their ads, especially compared with Buick's breezy and Cadillac's self-assured copy. It was a long time since the understatement of Peter Helck's 1933 "Hush."

Packards have a lovely transmission, twice the bearings as a three-speed Cad or Buick manual, and a good clutch, so i'd think much of the draw of owning a Packard is to control them yourself. Off subject a little, but to underscore Packard's thorough engineering without the Hudson Drivermaster-ish Electromatic and other gewgaws, my mechanic happened to be rebuilding a transmission out of a '40 Buick Roadmaster the same time he was rebuilding the overdrive transmission for my earlier '40 Packard One-Twenty. I noted the main shaft of my junior Packard was half again stouter than the senior Buick's.
In his '60s rail dragsters running methanol blown 1,000-hp Chrysler 426 hemis, Don Garlits switched to R-6 junior Packard transmissions (as in your '39 Six) after the Cad-LaSalle boxes' cases shattered.

BTW, HydraMatic is strictly a convenience feature doing nothing for performance, so why would anyone want a desperate response to such? But then, i don't understand "buffs" who want to burden their engines with air conditioning when you've got vent windows, or cope with the extra half ton of limousine.

Hi

For comparison, take a look at Hudson's Drive-Master.

Who knew Rube Goldberg had consultancy with Hudson!

Steve

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