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Well, I took a jumper wire to the starter; turned over every time; also with the carbureter switch. Pedal start still didn't turn it over. I'm meeting up with a mechanic from Ohio at the Packard National Meet here in Indiana on Saturday, so I may throw him an offer of stopping by to take a look. He may redo the engine and tran at some point, but would like to drive it in the meantime!

Are you sure its not as simple as the accelerator pedal bottoming out against the floorboard before its linkage has had the chance to trip the starter switch? If so, a very simple linkage adjustment.

Simple enough to check, disconnect the accelerator linkage at the carburetor and then fully rotate the carburetor accelerator shaft to wide open and see if the starter activates. HH gave you detailed instructions in post 2, or you can just eyeball it.

Finally, found an engine rebuilder who located a wire from carb switch to ignition that was spliced multiple times, so intermittent starts. Replaced entire wire and now starts stronger than it ever has. Only problem, it now starts w/o ignition being turned on...probably an incorrect wire connection at ignition box?

For a 52 the starter switch is fed directly from a wire connected to the GA terminal on the ignition switch. If the colors have not faded too badly it would be a yellow wire with a red tracer. GA is typically the longest terminal and that Yel/Red wire goes straight to the starter switch on the carb. It changes color and goes out of the starter switch to the solenoid. The GA terminal is active when the key is turned on in either direction but should be off when the key is off. If the wire is connected to the AM terminal on the switch then it would get battery voltage all the time so an improper connection there would be the first thing to check. If the wiring has been changed much from stock then it is anyones guess where the switch is getting power.