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Ok guys, getting back on topic...

Here is a very nice 56 400 in teal, and nearby in Rhode Island. The paint job has its flaws so it would not be the end of the world to repaint it to your choice, and the rest of it seems very solid. I suppose you would need to modify the interior to match, but it would be the same or less work than the other one you were considering. The door cards, for example, can be carefully disassembled instead of being made anew. Not too hard to DIY, or I could help you with it. The seats could go either way (all new, or carefully swap the leather). The dash and some things would need a simple repaint to match the exterior. New headliner. And I can dye a new carpet set to your specification, or Neal Porter still has Dark Green in stock.

tomlaferriere.com/listings/1956-packard-400-coupe/

The 400 at the beginning of this thread would be soooo much work, yet there's barely any green ones out there. You could take a mechanically flawless car like this, that is in need of some aesthetic TLC anyway, and really get it to your specification. Just be sure to budget appropriately.

If you absolutely have your heart set on a green one, but don't want to do anything like this, I would definitely reach out to Stewart and try to contact the other owners of these. You never know, someone could be willing to let it go to a good home, at a fair price.

By the way, I know of a green 55 Caribbean project for sale as well...

That one looks nice but the listing says off-market so it’s not clear that it’s actually for sale anywhere.

thanks PGH.
I just got off the phone with the dealer of green one in CA. They are willing to drop price to 9750. He said they had the car for a month. I seem to think it has been quite a bit longer than a month. Not cheap enough considering all the current work and potential work. Then spending another 2500-3000 to ship it here.
Changing color does seem to be a logical path. I just looked at all the pics of the 400 in RI. Not trying to be too picky but the Danube Blue is too much. Aegean Blue or Adriactic blue would be good, even with Danube blue accents. There is a lot of pitting on the car. The repaint could have been masked off better as it is on the weather strip. Despite it driving, not sure it is mechanically flawless. Close is good except for the corrosion of the northeast.
I have to say I am not a big fan of color changes it's a lot of work to do a complete color change along with an interior color change. Not sure which of the two cars are the lessor of two evils.

Who is Stewart? I can say I am not crazy about the idea of soliciting. As people have called me trying to pressure me into selling one of my cars. On the other hand, if someone is considering selling but hasn't made the move to list yet...then maybe it is a good idea. How do I get in touch with Stewart?

thanks,
Mark

The one from Tom Laferriere has been listed for a quite a while, I believe it's been sold. But a phone call would confirm. I'm a big fan of the Persian Aqua and Maltese Gray. Not a color combo you see very often. Most everything is combined with Dover White it seems. The Maltese Gray really gives it a sleek look.

The paint on that car is in similar condition to mine. Some bubbles, some flakes, etc. Most repaints I've seen have overspray on the weatherstripping, including mine. Trunk weatherstripping can be replaced pretty easily.

Mark, my advice would be to find a 400 that doesn't need a lot of work. You're neck deep in the '40 and I think you would really enjoy a car that you can drive now and then restore as you go. I'm sure you can do all the mechanical work and body work to get exactly what you want, but you don't have unlimited time to work on a massive project. At this point in life (I'm right there with you) we don't have a lot of free time between work, family, and other obligations. If this one from Tom is actually available it would be an excellent car to get. Sure it may not be your first choice in color, but I think it will grow on you. Something that you can pick up and enjoy now.

I misspelled his name. Stuart R. Blond. Roster keeper for the V8 cars. If anyone knows where those cars are, it would be him. I'll PM you his email. P.S. Join the Packard Club (PAC) if you have not, since they support the rosters and have the best publication (sorry PI folks, not trying to start another flame war in this thread, just my OPINION) but also PAC has a MUCH larger presence on the East Coast. PI is basically a West Coast club.

Unless you can do ALL the necessary bodywork on that green car YOURSELF, I would not touch it with a 10-foot pole. The bill would be exorbitant, even compared to changing an entire interior theme. And yes 10k is still wildly overpriced. That would barely be a 6k car even without the body damage. Everything about is good but not great, though it has the additional downside of no known mechanical status. Look at Kevin's 56, I looked at it myself and told him all the quirks, it's really not too bad, but there's still a bunch of little annoyances. My 400 is the same way, I'm still "ironing it out".

At some point you have to look at what you want and what is available, and the best option ends up being a complete restoration on a solid but unloved car (not referring to the teal one here, that is much nicer and more expensive than "unloved"). For that green car, I worry that you may end up having to practically take the whole thing apart anyway between the bodywork, paintwork, interior patches, and questionable driveline.

I can second the "choice of color" comment since I am likewise a big fan of GREEN cars, including my Deluxe, as well as I tried to buy a green daily driver (Toyota Highlander) but ended up getting black since that was what was available. I likewise thought that the Sardonyx was a bit much, yet when I realized there was a promising project that was pink inside and out only 6 miles from my house, I picked it up and the rest is history.

And now for less heated comments on the Twin Ultramatic: The latest editions had a very high torque multiplication at stall--up to 2.9 if I recall. That is part of what necessitated the convertor lockup as the drivetrain will lack a solid feel at cruising speeds. With less multiplication available, other convertors like in a Powerflite or Flightomatic felt just dandy at cruising but didn't assist nearly as much on takeoff.

In 56, convertibles and hardtops got a higher stall convertor than the sedans did. The pump vanes in the convertor are slightly canted while the sedan vanes are straight.

So while the sedans take off right smartly with all their engine torque, the hardtops seem to about leap off the line when you goose them. Very fun--I liked it a lot when I first drove one back in '78 or so and nothing has changed since then. And that is why I have a 56 400.

I recognize that most of the Packard owners I work for drive their cars as if they were delivering eggs, but the cars are capable of much more. The Twin Ultramatic in Drive range is very flexible and responsive to what you do with the gas pedal. Yes, of course it is a two speed with lockup, but as I come out of an uphill corner and goose the throttle the trans drops into convertor as the secondaries open. With that high stall convertor it sure feels and sounds like it is in another gear. And if I want to get crossed up in the corner I can always kick it full down to low convertor but I'd better be paying attention to the road and not the scenery.

I personally don't give a rat's patootie about overdrive as the engine is happy running its 2900 rpm at a real 70mph (3.54 axle). I'm not planning on running interstate freight delivery with the thing, and it will be lucky to see 20k miles before I kick off. The car is as aerodynamic as a barn door so I don't hope for any big mileage improvements that would pay for a transmission change.

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I believe the single coupling, 4-speed Hydramatics have a very "tight" torque converter that acts almost like a mechanical clutch.

Not really, the Hydramatic operates in an unusual way compared to nearly every other automatic, using a fluid coupling instead of a converter. And the engine drives not the fluid coupling pump, but the ring gear of the front planetary assembly, so the front planetary splits the power transmission path between the coupling and the geartrain. As the gears change, there is less power going through the coupling which makes driving more economical as you go faster. (Note also that a fluid coupling is less complicated, resulting in a higher efficiency at cruising speed.) There was a band and clutch pack for each of the two planetaries, to change the gears.

The four speeds of the transmission are a direct result of the choice to not use a torque converter (to be fair, the converter itself was invented only some years earlier in Germany, so they probably didn't know about it as they were developing the design). Using two speeds would have been too sluggish. At some point they did give you the option of skipping 1st gear.

As an aside, the Buick Dynaflow was quite the foil of the Hydramatic, both made by GM, but with Buick's going in the complete opposite approach of using the converter for absolutely everything, and a fixed gear train (like Packard's original Ultramatic, but Buick developed many more torque converter innovations through the 50's). The Twin-Ultra, as well as Borg's transmissions (Stude and Fordomatic), and the Torqueflite, got a good balance with 2 or 3 speeds.

hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1955/1955HudsonAutomaticTransManual.pdf

After some digging a 2.9 ratio is the standard type for 56, but the 56 Hardtop converter is apparently a 3.25 ratio. In case anyone is curious, the "AMC" redesign they mention is because Packard supplied engines and transmissions for AMC in 55-56, but AMC did not use the same driveshaft (I think they used a torque tube). So the AMC tailshaft is this goofy looking thing, casting 6470255.

The older Dynaflows were too smooth! The single coupling Hydramatic worked great in a heavy car. You could pull or push the car to start it, too. I had a 1963 Cadillac with the twin coupling four speed Hydramatic. It was tough, and worked well, but the single coupling was much better. The twin coupling was "soft" from 1st to 2nd, and more abrupt 2nd to 3rd under acceleration, then soft from 3rd to 4th. The single coupling had 4 actual gears. I'm not sure about the twin coupling. I think the single coupling Hydramatic was offered on a very limited basis as early as l939.