Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I have just purchased a 1956 Packard Patrician and it has left me asking a lot of questions. This is my first Packard experience and I am enjoying it thoroughly so far. I wanted to list some questions to see if any of you could shed some light.

Was this an air car?
The heater core on the left side is missing (need to find one). There is a fan attached to the firewall on the right side of the engine. The lower pulley has space for 2 belts. The fan has 6 blades. There is and air conditioning knob on the dash. There is no compressor (long gone?).

Shift pattern
From what I can tell the shift patter in 1956 should be PNHDLR and this is what the shift indicator reads. However, the second spot when shifting is reverse. So it seems the pattern is PRND.

First, WELCOME to Packardinfo. This is a very helpful community. Also go to
http://www.packardclub.org/
which is the official Packard website and is also very helpful.

Most 56 Packards had a push-button transmission.
It sounds like you have a shift lever to go between gears.
If "R" is next to "P" then you probably have a transmission from some other car, either Chevy or Chrysler.
How about some pics of the car? We would also like to see the door plate which contains the vehicle model and serial number. Also there is a thief-proof number above the heater stamped into the firewall. All this helps to identify your car and how it may be equipped.
Again - WELCOME, glad to have you here.

Yes, it sounds like you have a car with factory air conditioning...congrats! The parts to restore the system should not be too hard to find.....just recently someone on here posted a compressor for sale..... is the condenser still present? It would look like a finned radiator and should be located in front of the normal car radiator.....

The factory AC would have had a blower on the firewall on the drivers or left side which also connects to the vent opening at the foot level on that side. Heater core is in a box on the passenger side or right side of engine. The AC evaporator is in a large box that covers almost the entire interior side of the firewall. Is that still present?

Don't remember where this engine compt photo came from but here is a 55 with factory AC. 56 is almost the same except they changed to a pair of mufflers connected by short steel tubes and then hoses on the compressor instead of the copper tubes. The second photo shows the dash. You would have had the two outlet vents on top. Do you still have those and are they in good condition?

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Wow, thanks for the warm welcome and quick responses, keep um coming. That transmission comment scares me though. I will have to see if I can get under there and identify it. I am working on some photos to show you.

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Here us an interior photo, no vents. The dash has been recovered. It seems that maybe it was an AC car but it was removed a while back.

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Looks like possibly could have been some other changes. The area shown is not stock. It looks like a cover of some sort and question is what is under -- looks like something electrical. The windshield washer bottle is over under the right fender which is where factory placed it if the car had the push button trans installed. The area in the detail is where the push button relays would have been.

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Congratulations.
If yours is the car that I am thinking of, it is a very handsome automobile.
I hope to join you soon as a Packard owner myself!

Anti-thief # 019078 from firewall
Should these match the door tag? Can you find more info on the car with these numbers? Thanks again for all your help!

G'day jaybird622,
Congratulations on your Packard purchase and to PackardInfo.

And, I invite you to include your '56 Patrician in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!