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Friend of mine is looking at a 1941 Packard 160 off of Craigslist. He's there now and said the car started easily, went into reverse, backed down the driveway and sent back into first and drove up the driveway. Now it's stuck in first and won't go into another gear. Any suggestion? The car was driven two days ago.

The linkage on the column shift worn out?

Depress the clutch pedal, have someone open the hood and lift the 1st/Rev. shift finger at the base of the steering column back to horizontal so it aligns with the 2nd/3rd finger. It's very typical problem of these cars as the shift linkage gets worn and/or abused or mis-adjusted. Without correction it will continue to happen.

Thank you Owen, worked perfect.

It's a near-classic image: a long string of Packards on tour come to an unexpected stop while entering a parking area. As we look forward for the reason we see the 1st car in line is a '41 and the driver's side hood is open and someone is reaching down.

I have found the easiest way to avoid the locked fingers is to NOT try and "slide" from 1st to 2nd. You need to go up into neutral WITHOUT pushing toward 2nd at an angle. Once in neutral, make that 90 degree turn, then another 90 degree turn into second. This sounds slow, but it doesn't have to be slow. Just AVOID trying to slide it into 2nd.

You should be happy it happened in the daylight the first time. Now you can do it in the dark. My first experience with this issue was 11pm 10 miles outside of town.
It was a long ride home.

Hello Packard0:

Do yourself a favor and read this 4 page thread:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6106&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0 It will tell you all you need to know about this issue and how to fix it.

Replacement NOS parts 360425 and 360426 are still available and the pair go for about $125 per pair. A fresh set of levers does wonders for the car.

Even if you change the levers remember that the shift pattern is in an H shape and be sure to follow that pattern as you shift through neutral. Use a reverse N shape and you will get a lock-up.

Hope this helps.