Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I was looking at something for reference and I noticed in the '54th specifications for 5401 chassis (Deluxe Clippers) they call out it having auto-lite electrical. Which is surprising to me.

Everything on my car, (very, very late production) is Delco (starter, generator, distro). I was trying to see if there were any corrections or changes to the specifications, but I didn't see anything in the counselors or letter pointing to a changeover, or a specification correction.

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Perhaps the result of a temporarily supply interruption? Service Counselor #29, November 15, 1955 describes a later supply issue with Auto-lite. Such situations are one of the reasons why manufacturers used dual sources of supply, another example would be tire sources.

I just wonder if that was early information, and it was either a mistake or was superceded before production started. When I cross reference everything else, it points to Delco for my model. So I was looking at this to check the distro number, and that's when I noticed the autolite. Curious what others have in their '54 Deluxes.

I’ve wondered the same about my 56 Executive
Specifications are not clear to me for that model,but

Auto-lite starter, that’s correct

But delco distributor & generator when I’m supposed to have Auto-lite

Rochester carb when I’m supposed to have a Carter?

Maybe car is not as original as I first thought??

Remember that these specifications were written before the cars were actually built and it is very common to see Auto-Lite instead of Delco and the other way around. I am not sure if it was common to mix the two but it has been my experience that it is all of one or the other.

The parts book shows the same number.

The parts books were also written before the cars were built so that the dealers would have them when the cars came along.

Interestingly enough, I decided to look in the "Motors" Repair Manual (17th Edition) book I have, and I noticed that they list no Autolight equipment (Starter, Generator or Distributor) for any 1954 Packard models. Perhaps a supply issue altered production plans after the specs were released? If so, I am just surprised a Service Counselor or Service Letter was never issued to corrected ot note the change.

Does anyone have any '54 model with Autolite equipment?

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There is this note in STB 54T-1, and from how it reads it suggests that the 5401 models could have either, and the mechanic needs to look at the tag on the equipment to verify exactly which it is.

This is under the heading of "Advanced Parts Information" from January 1954. I would imagine cars were already out the door well before then.

I guess back to make the earlier question. Did any actually end up with Autolite? Or are they all Delco? Perhaps Autolite was planned, and they had supplier issues and started with Delco planning to go back to Autolite when the issue was resolved, but maybe it never was, or they just decided to stick with Delco for the remainder of production.

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I have 3 used Auto-Lite IGP_4502-E distributors that came from another Packard parts collector many years ago. They all have late 1953 date codes.