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

you could push start torqueflites untill 1966. 1965 was the last year for the rear oil pump, which as turbopacman stated, is the reason you can push start them.

There is nothing really wrong with the 58 Chevies. My reply was in view of the original requirements found in the first post of this thread.

58 chevy was a kind of a bastard year. A single year body style, somekind of major frame change i can't recall right now and they were bad about breaking windshields due a fixturing problem in production that set the windshield too tite.

The 55-57, then 59-64's shared alot of parts and parts are ez to obtain. Even 50-54 chevies are easy to get parts for but nothing like the 55-57 chevies. In 65thru about 1969 chevy used a strut ROD front suspension (NO NOT STRUTs)much like MoPar and some fords used at the time. Basically a weak,cheap poor design. In about 72 chevy went back to full control arms.

STRICTLY in terms of ease of service, cost and parts avialability the 55-57 chevy can't be beat by ANY car past,present or i doubt even future except maybe model A ford. But a model A will NOT compete in modern road demands.

My personal preference??? 63-64 Chev if we're picking from chevies.

I do like Tri-5 Chevies, and if a '55 210 4-door found its way into my garage, I wouldn't be crying in my beer, but I already own a '68 Camaro and kind of want something different. Up 'til now, I've been thinking in terms of a '61-'63 Ford Falcon, but the more I read about Packard, the better I like the idea of owning one.

I think I'm going to give the seller a call soon - that is, if the wife likes the "high pockets" styling.

BTW, my research tenatively shows that this car is probably a 1951 or 1952 200 Deluxe. It has "teeth" in the grille and the vertical tail lamps. The side trim is off the car due to some bodywork having been started. Whether the trim is included will probably make or break the purchase in my mind.

Thanks again for all the input. Oh, and one last question. This car is painted a kind of medium blue, any idea what that color was called?

-Dave

from your 1st post:
"I've always appreciated these cars, but never really encountered one for sale in my price range. This one is marked $2500, but I was quoted $1800 when I asked, and was told it runs and drives,..."

Sounds like a good deal to me. Buy it. I would. But again, don't expect parts, prices and repair service availability to be as easy as your 68 Camaro. Also note that the Packard is most likely 6ix volt + ground which makes electrical parts availability more challenging unless someone has done a 12v conversion.

How many miles are on the car???

On the blue question, hard to say without year and seeing. There were at least 5 blues in 51-3. Darkest is Packard blue (code B) & very dark, then Yosemite blue (H) then Astral blue (Y) and Turquoise blue light (S) and the lightest is Polaris blue in 53 (C). My guess would be the Astral or maybe Turquoise since you say 51-2 and medium. There's also the slight possibility it could have been re-painted.

"Sounds like a good deal to me. Buy it. I would. But again, don't expect parts, prices and repair service availability to be as easy as your 68 Camaro."

I certainly don't. In fact, I hestitated to even mention my Camaro, as I realize that parts availability is unrealistically good for first-generation Camaros as compared to virtually any other car aside from perhaps 1932 Fords. I just wanted to know if there was some unknown (to me) "dark side" of post-war Packards that was keeping them from popularity, or whether it was just that Joe Six-pack wasn't interested in the brand of car his father's doctor drove.

"Also note that the Packard is most likely 6ix volt + ground which makes electrical parts availability more challenging unless someone has done a 12v conversion."

I was aware that would probably be the case. I love old cars, so I knew I'd end up doing a 12V conversion eventually.

"How many miles are on the car???"

That I don't know yet, but one thing that gave me some discomfort was that at one time the car had a sign in the window that read "needs transmission work." So it might be that an aged Ultramatic is what's holding this one back. I'd forgotten about the sign until this morning.

Maybe I just missed the clutch pedal and it's really a 3-speed. That'd be swell.

-Dave

The sign in window is discouraging. I think it's a given that most Packards were parked when the Ultra started to act up. No dealers meant proper or competent repair sometimes hard to come by or plain nonexistent. Just the basic operation meant they were abused by some drivers trying to make them act like competitive models that actually did a shift. Either factor tended to shorten their life. You can always look on the positive-- maybe the last owner didn't know the car was designed with leisurely acceleration and assumed something was wrong.

Seller is apparently a Packard collector who is "thinning the herd." I'm sure he'll know the story on what the trans woes are.

I'm certainly not shelling out $3000 to rebuild what is effectively a single-speed transmission. I do have a line on a parts car in Wisconsin that's got all the stick-shift bits.

I did the Powerglide-to-Muncie thing on my Camaro and it wasn't too bad, I just hope I don't have to buy the entire car in Wisconsin to get the manual transmission parts. I haven't got any way to get it home.

-Dave

Do a search in this web site for the modern 5 spd conversion that TurboPacman did or at least described. The 5 spd will get u an overdrive which u will need for sustaining interstate speeds with the streight 8. There are many parts from rather modern cars that Eric found that will retro fit to the streight 8's. IIRC trans,bellhousings, flywheels, front dampers and so-forth.

Yup, "Turbopackman" your Packard Straight Eight Hot Rod Headquarters!