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Howard, per you comments...

Here's a pic of the heater unit, which is slung under the dash and seems to be controlled by the standard knobs. It's a Smiths unit, the same as many local cars at the time. The electrical box on top of the air ducting next to the right hand guard looks like a relay or control box for the heater. Made by Lucas and presumably designed to keep the smoke in! The wiper setup does look quite neat. The electric motor is slung down next to the air duct on the firewall. I can't spot the brand but will look more closely.

Are those the Torsion ride units sitting on top of the left hand air duct?

Cheers

Brian

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Thanks again for the photos. The two solenoids above the left air duct on your car are for the TL. On 56 LHD cars they are positioned on the rear side vertical portion of the inner fender and not quite as accessible.

Fortunately the solenoids don't often need attention although getting to the inline fuses for the suspension and brake lights which are located in the wires close to the solenoids can be frustrating when they are under the fender -- and if the car has factory air with the blower taking up most of the access space, then checking a fuse can get into 4 letter word territory. I can't tell on your photo if your TL fuses are near the solenoids or not.

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Howard I see what you mean about the TL solenoid location on the LHD cars. I wonder why it was changed? Maybe somebody did it later.

I don't know where the fuses are - will have to look more closely. The electric wiper setup looks like it might have been a local fitment. Vacuum was virtually non-existent in new cars in Australia by then and would have been looked upon with great suspicion! I will see if I can spot the brand on the wiper motor. It looks like the wiper motor on the locally-made GM cars (Holden) here at the time.

Interesting seeing your engine bay. Is the car running?

Cheers

Brian

The LHD cars had the solenoids moved from under the car to the fender area for 56 to lessen moisture problems and as far as I know were placed there until the end. I surmise your location was something done by the agency. Maybe because of the harness changes needed for RHD they were moved closer to the new firewall exit for the loom. It would be interesting to know if the agency did the wipers as well because it does look like a well done professional job.

My car is running -- or at least it was when I last started it a year or two ago. The photo was taken several years ago during the time I was working on an AC unit and was the reason it was all apart. I chose to make a repro AC unit using modern components and R 134a to replace an original which has issues and a serious lack of repair parts. Rather than butcher a factory original unit to install the modern AC components (in case repair parts are ever found), I removed that unit and made a complete new box from scratch to match the factory look as close as possible.

One nice thing about your Deluxe is it doesn't have all the frill stuff that gets in the way. You can actually see and get to what you are working on most of the time. As you can see in the photos of mine, in addition to the blower taking up a lot of space, the AC evaporator box under the dash takes up most of that area and makes it very difficult to work on anything.

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Looks like your car has air con, too. Is there supposed to be an air duct running to the left hand circular opening on the bulkhead? Do your rocker covers have "Packard" stamped on them or a sticker? Mine are stamped "Clipper" which strikes me as a bit unusual - bothering to make a different pressing for the Clippers in 1956. I have heard that the earlier V8s (55 etc) had a sticker of some sort.

Cheers

Brian

Just saw your pics, which answered my earlier questions. Yes, the Clipper is theoretically easier to work on without most of the accessories to get in the way. The only thing I miss is power steering. Manouvering the car at parking speeds is character building! Apparently it was not feasible to fit this in the RHD cars.

I can't find any reference to RHD components in the parts book. They clearly exist. Hopefully I'll never need anything unique to RHD.

Things like the heater, radio and electric wiper motor etc are still readily available here. I'd like to tidy up the air ducting in the engine bay. Any idea where to get the corrugated tubing from?

Cheers

Brian

The factory AC is on the car and was a Packard built assembly and fairly advanced for the time in comparison to some other units and in spite of limitations of the day. The left air duct opening functions as the blower return as well as a fresh air inlet depending on how the flapper is positioned. The setup works like the heater assy on the right duct of LHD cars except the blower is on the left and takes up the corresponding square box heater core space. The entire assy can come out as a unit which is why the round opening is visible in the photo.

55 Clippers had the sticker on plain covers, 56 had the Packard or Clipper name embossed into the cover. They were really trying to make the Clipper a separate brand for 56 and did a lot to differentiate yet keep the quality. When the Clippers first came out the Packard name wasn't even on them but the public didn't necessarily like not seeing the name so they added the small Packard script to the trunk lid later on. Caribbeans had chrome rocker covers with the Packard name as standard but chrome covers was an option for other Packard models too. Don't know if chrome was optional on the Clipper covers.

Max Merritt or Dwight Heinmuller both have the proper size and look ducting. Kanter might too but it is an odd size and with the older fabric construction, so far not been found at aftermarket suppliers. Makes it somewhat expensive coming from the vendors when compared to other more modern ducting.

Howard, I checked out the electric wiper assembly on the Clipper. It's an Australian made unit branded "Preslite", which I've never heard of, but appears to be an original fitment.

Cheers

Brian

Thanks, I'll chase up Max Merritt re the ducting. Would be nice to keep it original if it's not hideously expensive. I'm assuming all the electrical tape on the right hand duct hides a mess. I can see the plastic grille on the left hand side opening in the firewall. Was there supposed to be ducting on that side in the engine bay? Mine looks fairly original but maybe it was only in non- air con cars? Also spotted in your pics the location of the TPN. Will check mine for Dave Czirr B.

Check out plate 29E in the 55-6 parts manual for what should be there on a LHD car.

Not knowing how your heater is installed, no idea how they might have modified or eliminated any of those components. Assume there would still be ducting connecting between a short adapter tube with flapper valve and the long straight section so the regular knobs would still work to shut off the air coming in from the front of the car.

Unless the heater is blocking it on the inside, if something is missing that you can see the plastic I would block it off temporarily so as to not to have your engine fumes enter the car. The regular air vents do a quite adequate job in the fume department by picking up the exhaust from the car in front of you and funneling it in. They don't need any more help.