56 Packard in a junk yard

C Body Bob

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This Packard I think is a 56 Caribbean is rotting away in this old junk yard. The owner tells me it’s got the hydraulic suspension leveling on it. I think that’s kinda rare. Hope you enjoy the video
 
Caribbean was the high-line convertible. Patrician were the high-line "closed cars". The self-leveling was done with electric jack motors, not hydraulics, from the factory. I found a '55 Packard full-line brochure online which illustrated the suspension systems and told how they worked. There was also the self-parking feature (which required what appeared to be a continental kit rear bumper). Still a quite wide-spread National Packarad club, too.

Thanks,
CBODY67
 
Didn't Packard merge with Studebaker? Like 57 or 58?

Not quite true. Packard bought Studebaker as part of an agreement. Nash and Hudson came together with the idea being the two new companies would also come together to form American Motors, which could offer a full lineup of automobiles to compete better with the "Big Three".
A couple things happened. Studebaker Corp misrepresented their financial position and Packard, Which then represented the highest and lowest of the car lines, almost went bankrupt to save them. Then George Romney became president of Nash/Hudson decided to put the shaft to Studebaker/Packard and formed American Mortors without them. Essentially throwing them under the bus. Lots more to that story.
 
The Patrician suspension is pretty neat. I got the opportunity to check it out on a lift when a buddy of mine brought the car over my dad's shop for an oil change. The ride is smooth and the car actually leans into corners. the car will also lean uphill to level the car out.

My advice if you're going to restore one: replace the drivetrain with something more common. The engines are getting harder and harder to find parts for, and the automatic transmission has a strange torque converter that uses a clutch. Everyone that knew how to rebuild one of these transmissions are dying off, and the transmissions die quick once they start slipping. Put a 440 with a 727 in it and it'll drive similarly to stock.
 
Veery loong torsion bars on that one. I wonder if Firm Feel would be able to make replacements.
 
Not quite true. Packard bought Studebaker as part of an agreement. Nash and Hudson came together with the idea being the two new companies would also come together to form American Motors, which could offer a full lineup of automobiles to compete better with the "Big Three".
A couple things happened. Studebaker Corp misrepresented their financial position and Packard, Which then represented the highest and lowest of the car lines, almost went bankrupt to save them. Then George Romney became president of Nash/Hudson decided to put the shaft to Studebaker/Packard and formed American Mortors without them. Essentially throwing them under the bus. Lots more to that story.
It’s too bad that 4 way merger never came to be. While Ford and GM were busy beating each other’s brains out, the independents built some great cars. They had the chops from an engineering standpoint and they all knew how to do more with less. Some very interesting “what ifs?”, I think.
 
The main purpose of the torsion bars in the 55/56 Packards was to keep the car level under all load conditions. When loaded a lever on the bar made contact with a relay which activated a electric motor, similar to a starter motor, which in turn would twist the torsion bar and bring the car back level.
 
The Patrician suspension is pretty neat. I got the opportunity to check it out on a lift when a buddy of mine brought the car over my dad's shop for an oil change. The ride is smooth and the car actually leans into corners. the car will also lean uphill to level the car out.

My advice if you're going to restore one: replace the drivetrain with something more common. The engines are getting harder and harder to find parts for, and the automatic transmission has a strange torque converter that uses a clutch. Everyone that knew how to rebuild one of these transmissions are dying off, and the transmissions die quick once they start slipping. Put a 440 with a 727 in it and it'll drive similarly to stock.
I wonder if there’s a market for parts from this thing.
 

Another interesting video by Jay Leno. He also demonstrates the self leveling system
 
I wonder if there’s a market for parts from this thing.

You may be contacted by someone from the Packard Club when they see your video. The car on your vid still has some nice trim, good rear bumper, at least one good door, instrument panel...etc and looks like it's fairly complete under the (missing) hood.
 
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*Rapidly starts putting together a "Patricians Only" forum.*
Na just love to find a couple of Packard fanatics that would pay reasonable prices for me to pull apart this rusty beast. Drag my tools down the muddy path to where she’s at. I just hate to see it rot away.
 
I've never removed them from such an old car but they must be held in place by clips
I’m planning to go back soon. I have to pull some parts from a Valiant he has. If I get time I’ll walk over to the Packard & see if I can pull them.
 
You may be contacted by someone from the Packard Club when they see your video. The car on your vid still has some nice trim, good rear bumper, at least one good door, instrument panel...etc and looks like it's fairly complete under the (missing) hood.
The video is getting a lot of hits so I’m sure some Packard guy has seen it.
 
image.jpeg
I have this 56 available for parts. Tailights and radiator are gone
 
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