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this pac patrician has been sitting in a barn, a long while back the owners went to drive it, heard a clunk to go no where! they assumed the tranny went out, and after priceing the fix, parked it for years. someone made an attempt to restore the car, but gave up. my buddy was called in to scrap it. upon loading it on the trailor he found the u-joint busted, hence not going anywhere. for 500$ i saved it from going to the scrap yard. what the hell do i do now? original eng. tranny, havent tried to start it but im betting on it to start and run just fine. id like to restore it but im not sure its worth it??? time and effort vs. money to restore, and availability of parts??? its in dam fine shape you can see what im missing in the pics as far as grille, trim, headlight bezzle, floor so far solid, interior all there, one broken corner glass. key broke off in ignition and trunk locked. im assumeing the paint is rm aegean blue, in a solid scheme, all original paint. where or is it possible to these parts and paint? whats the car worth? any help would be great!!!
thanks
johny

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My guess is if you can get it starting and running, you can easily get 4 or 5 times what you paid as it is if you don't want to be bothered with restoring it. If you want to restore it, I'm sure you could get a small fortune for it, after putting a large fortune into getting it that way.

I'm currently bringing a 1955 Patrician back to life that has sat for 26 years. What I have found is that there is an amazing availability when it comes to parts. I've found that by the mid 50's, Packard used a lot of "outsourced" parts in their cars. Meaning fuel pumps, window motors, tune up parts, carbs and a host of others were also used by the Big Three on other makes. Even the Packard specific parts are fairly easy to track down and aren't all that expensive. I recently picked up a complete grill assembly as a "back-up" for the one on my '55 for under $60 on e-Bay - and it was in very presentable shape! New body panels for the floor, trunk and quarter panels are being made and are reasonable. With the web as it is today and with this group just about anything you may need to buy or know is just a mouse click away.
Finally, these cars are extremely well built and the mechanicals, with the possible exception of the transmission, are pretty much bullet-proof.
If your car was parked because it wouldn't move you should have no problem getting it to run. The rule I use is if the engine will turn, it will run. There is a process to getting a long dormant engine back to life - doing it incorrectly can do damage. However, if you ask, any number of people here are ready and able to help you along on ANY problem you may face.
The most expensive things in restoring a car today are chrome, body work and upholstery. And remember, it doesn't have to be a perfect restoration to be valuable. Cars that are very original and yet presentable are being recognized by many as being more desirable that some over-restored trailer queen. Anybody can make anything if they throw enough money at it. But, it's only original ONCE!
It looks like from the pictures that you have the makings of a very presentable car. Packards aren't that hard to bring back.
You did the right thing in saving it. You'll find the help you need to bring it back right here. And if you want to sell it, you've probably come to the right place too.
Good Luck!!!!

I'd agree with Jim L with the possible addition of the V8 to the not-so-bulletproof parts... the engines in 55/56 were far from bulletproof.

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IMHO, the Packard V8 was no worse than any V8 of the period; all engines have their own set of quirks.

Biggest "problem" was that, by 1954-55, Packard was playing catch-up with engine development, but there simply wasn't enough time left to resolve latent issues.

Biggest "complaint" about the Packard V8 has been lifter noise, which if neglected can lead to catastrophic failure.

Packard was working on this issue, first with a new design lifter (a route which several other manufacturers would travel) and then trying to manipulate oil pressure/feed to the lifters. Later, there was concern over air in the oil, thinking it was coming from the relief valve in the oil pump body. (Behind the scenes, there was some concern that the pressure relief valve itself might be sticking.)

Actually, this was not Packard's first experience with noisy hydraulic lifters. If you dig back through service newsletters, you'll find they were fighting that very issue with straight eights during the 1940s - namely, 1939-47 Super 8s. Filter plumbing was reworked to improve oil delivery to the lifters. Then, there was some problem with the oil pressure regulator valve sticking. In 1948, the factory came up with a higher-volume oil pump, as a retrofit, to offset opening-up of bearing clearances on Super 8s. That same pump would be used on production 1948-50 Custom 8s.

Getting back to the Packard V8, years after Packard had effectively vanished, it was found that the air was entering the oil stream due to excessive wear of the pump body and driving shaft.

Having discussed the V8 oiling issue at-length in the public light of the internet over the course of several years, and as an owner of several of these cars, I now believe that with proper correction of that wear and a few other tweaks to the OE oil pump (and repairs to any collateral damage), the Packard V8 should be fully adequate for the purposes for which it was intended.

I plan on putting it to the test with a '56 Pat that I intend to use as a fair weather daily driver - Twin Ultramatic, pushbutton shift, vacuum pump and wipers, Treadle-Vac brakes, and anything else that's the stuff of urban legend!

Holiday writes:
"for 500$ i saved it from going to the scrap yard. what the hell do i do now? original eng. tranny, havent tried to start it but im betting on it to start and run just fine. id like to restore it but im not sure its worth it??? "

On a whim and a chance encounter I bought a 56 Packard too., It ran just barely good enuf to get it home. When i stepped out the car after getting it home i asked the GF "why the hell did i buy this mongril".

That was 12 years ago and after getting the bugs worked out of it and taking it for drive i fell in love with it.

As others have mentioned, there are many parts available for the car from local discount auto parts stores. SEE THE "Parts X-Ref" link at the left of this screen.

As for the Packard V8 engine it is just fine for any passenger car and lite truck application even for MODERN DEMANDS. I run mine routinely thru rural TN interstate at speeds of 70-80 mph sustained. I've had to 105 mph for about a 3 mile stretch some years ago.

The V8 has a notoriously weak oil pump that can be cured with an Olds oil pump adapter plate for about $250 total cost. Other than that it's a good engine. More later....

The only engine parts that are nearly impossible to find (due to "opinions" of quality issues) are pistons and rod bearings.
The twin ultramic: u either get a good one like i did or u get a bad one like others will confirm.

U'll find that there are several nickel and dime short commings of the car like ignition switch bezel, trunk lock, Push button console contact fingers among other small pieces on the car that are very weak and or poorly designed.

The Bendix Treadle-VAC (aka BTV) has been a controversy of monumnetal proportions for over 12 years that i know of. A controversy that often stems into heated diatribe.
Modern conversions are already installed in several cars.

I noticed your name is Holiday. U own an Oldsmobile Holiday???

Be careful not to slam the doors too hard. It can cause glass breakage. There is a dealer service bulletinn to adress a fix.

Hey PackardV8 -
Does the Olds oil pump have a vacuum side for the wipers like the Packard? I've been meaning to ask but keep forgetting until just now.

I can answer that question and no it does not. The solutions have been 1) electric wiper motor, 2) block off the balance valve and just use the manifold only if you want to keep the vacuum motor.

A double action fuel pump could be used as Hudson or Nash did in their version of the engine or as in older cars. There are several that have been mentioned as possibilities. I don't know if his car has the oil pump conversion but a poster from Australia has installed a vacuum pump which is integral with an alternator. That setup is used on some Japanese cars but I forget which one he picked.