Loyd Smith

Rear Universal Joint for 55-56 Senior cars: NAPA #304 will not fit. Too small.

2000 miles since complete engine rebuild, brakes, steering, suspension (including Torsion Level) all rebuilt. Car is complete and have many spare parts. I bought this car for a driver and long-term project and have done much work on it. It is a dependable driver, both in town and on the road and looks good although far from completely restored.

Beautiful car. As an item of interest, probably only to me, what I remember most about '56 through '58 Buicks is that the Sheriff's Department in Ector County, Texas where I lived then used them (not Roadmasters, of course) for patrol cars at a time when most police fleets had already gone to the smaller, lighter Fords, Chevys, etc. Does anyone recall the Ramblers that the Los Angeles PD used in the early 1960s? There was a time when, especially for special uses, all police departments had some Lincolns, Buicks, LaSalles (or some other fast, big marque) in their fleets. Same with Taxis.

Mr Pushbutton, Sounds like some of those guys might be auto industry managers and engineers, today.

Photo?

According to everything that I can find out, the oil companies are operating at within one percentage point of the same profit margin that they did in 1938. The only factors that have changed since then are demand, decreased refining capacity and the rate at which various governments around the world tax product. If one takes actual production costs into consideration, the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump in the United States should be approximately $1.87 today. This is in keeping with the average inflation rate since 1938. One might be led to suspect that the difference betwixt $1.87 per gallon and the actual price that we pay at the pump may be due to the many extra layers of, ?government,? that we?ve burdened ourselves with since 1938. No matter which political party one votes for it is necessary for us to realise that, in a strictly economical sense, governments do not produce anything. When a society reaches a point at which it is paying more people for not producing anything than it is paying for the production of tangible goods, historically speaking, things go RAPIDLY downhill. The really scary part of this scenario is that it appears to be happening in most of the developed nations of the world. That $1.87 per gallon pump price should be constant, within reasonable parameters, all over the world. Some of our European neighbours are paying upwards of $7.00 per gallon presently.

Randall My '55 Packard's (352 engine) runs well on mid-grade (in this area, Florida) fuel which is rated at 89 octane but detonates (pings) badly under hard acceleration using the 87 octane, "regular," with all timing/ignition factors set to factory specifications. This engine's compression ratio is 8.5 to 1. According to the owner's manual, premium fuel was recommended by the manufacturer and this would compute as, according to my research, average premium fuel available in 1955 was rated at 88 research octane. During the period from 1955 through 1960 I drove a '54 Pontiac Chieftan which would run on anything, a '57 Pontiac Starchief which would run on nothing but high test, a '55 Ford which would run on regular if you didn't get on it too hard and a '59 Chrysler Imperial which, like the Pontiac, would, "ping," badly on anything but high-test fuel. I have come to the conclusion that, all things taken into consideration (hardened valves/seats, etc to make up for lack of tetra-ethyl lead anti-knock compound and timing/ignition set to original factory specs) one should use as close to the manufacturer's recommended fuel grade as possible. There are service stations (not really but, I remember them), in this area that only carry, "regular," (87 octane) and, "premium," (93 Octane). When I run across one of these and have to fuel, I use the, "premium," grade. Unburned fuel is less harmful than detonation.

'39 Chevy - first car I ever owned/worked on. That is most definitely a hood for same.

I have run synthetic motor oil in ALL of my vehicles since it first became available for internal combustion engines. It is slick. Was working for a sheriff's department in the early 1980s where we did a comparison test on two units, one with regular motor oil and regular (3,000 mile) service intervals and the other with a FULL synthetic at 18,000 mile intervals. When the engines were torn down at 60,000 miles (three different officers driving them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) the difference was dramatic. The engine that had been running the synthetic oil didn't even have any ring grooves on the cylinder walls. There is much opposition to this practise, both in the normal public and amongst old car hobbyists but, in my experience, the lubricating characteristics of quality FULL synthetic motor oil is self-evident. I've used it in everything from R/T Twin Turbo Dodge (Mitsubishi) Stealths to my '55 Patrician (once the engine was rebuilt and oiling properly) with nothing but excellent result. It is my personal preference to use the applicable weight racing blends in my older cars for the extra additives in them. To me, the extra expense is negligible, all things considered. Everyone has their own ideas and their own preferences, however, and I have heard many opposing viewpoints on this subject. My own experience has been that slicker is better.

Randy - Tried shifting from planetary to, "mush," drive and vibration does go away/becomes almost completely unnoticeable. Haven't been driving the Packard too much this past week or so but, seems markedly improved at speed (55-70 mph) as long as I don't use the planetary drive selection. Do not seem to have any out of round/unblanced tires/wheels.

I, too, watched your clip on You Tube and enjoyed it. Sort of makes me wish I had a '56 with pushbutton shift.

Suspension troubles have already been dealt with. Bent wheel (one) and bent hub (one) have already been dealt with. Drive shaft (with, "goofy," Detroit Ball U-joint) has already been checked out and is in balance. Just put new tires on and checked 'em for roundness (one of the new - less than 2000 miles - wide-whitewall radials from one of our better-known suppliers that I just replaced was three-quarters of an inch out of round) and balance, myself, on computerized balancing machine. They're good. This new symptom has showed up since having done all of the above. When I first got the car all of the suspension/steering/body bushings on it were gone, exhaust (what there was of it) was rattling against the frame, kingpins, inserts, idler arm were all shot, engine had one scored cylinder wall, main and rod bearings were shot, carburetor was wrecked (although, to its credit, the old car would still crank and run). First, started with engine and exhaust, then suspension/steering followed by wheels/hubs, etc, I've been conscientiously eliminating mechanical problems and associated vibrations, noises, etc, one at a time as time money and circumstances permit, replacing parts as indicated (I'm PAINFULLY aware of a lot of the junk that is available from some speciality vendors). I am not a novice at this - although probably more years out of practice than some (obviously not all) of you are old and less mentally quick than I once was - so it is possible that I've overlooked something obvious. Randy - I haven't tried shifting as you suggested as yet but will do so immediately.

After two years of working on the mechanicals/electrics in the ?55 Pat, she?s purring like a kitten, has plenty of power, stops well and have finally gained enough understanding and experience with the, ?teeter-totter,? principle involved in T/L suspension to get it properly adjusted and working without glitches (after having had control unit converted to solid state). After having got the exhaust system, suspension and body properly isolated from the frame with required replacement rubber and being able to isolate what vibrations, noises, etc were coming from where and eliminating them (new front and rear U-joints, for example, and other things) and replacing the wide whitewall, ?classic,? tires with some that were round, albeit narrow whitewalls, and properly balancing them I now have no trouble cruising the roads comfortably at speeds up to 80 mph. Lately however I have begun to notice a marked vibration at between about 50 and 55 mph. It is much worse when using the planetary drive side of the Twin Ultramatic than when using the, ?mush,? drive selection and will not go away when in the first, ?Drive,? selection just upwards of, ?Low,? gear. When using the torque converter to direct clutch hookup (second, ?D,? selection up from, ?L?) this seldom occurs, is less severe and will go away, most times, if I let up on power and then re-apply accelerator gently. Am suspecting that I?ve got a problem with the transmission. It is the one portion of the drivetrain that I?ve had no trouble with since acquiring the car. It shifts, in both, ?D,? selections at the advertised speeds depending upon acceleration, almost imperceptibly, does not leak and I?ve never had any problems with it except for it shifting a little hard before I took the pan off, cleaned filter and changed the fluid in it a couple of times. There does not appear to be any direct drive clutch slippage and acceleration is constant with no shudder or chatter after shifting in either drive ? except for the vibration at the above mentioned highway speeds in direct drive. As stated above, this does not occur often when using the torque converter to direct drive clutch, ?Drive,? selection and will go away. When using the two-speed planetary to direct drive clutch, ?Drive,? selection, it will not go away. When it occurs, the vibration lessens somewhat after reaching approximately 60 mph but can still be felt as a vibration. Any ideas, suggestions or recommendations from any of you more highly experienced ?55, ?56 owners?

A.R. Allen Nash in Odessa, TX prior to Nash-Kelvinator & Hudson merger.

I would REALLY like to think that this guy is kidding but all evidence points to the contrary. I've seen one REALLY nice rod built from a '37 Super Eight that was too far gone to restore AND I understand that. It was done by a fellow who has been restoring Packards for close to 40 years and was very tastefully done with an eye toward retaining the unequalled ambience of the original. Why ANYONE would destroy one of these truly magnificent machines that was all there and in like-new condition is beyond the pale of human comprehension - but it is being done, daily. Mr. Pushbutton is, unfortunately, correct. Part of the heritage of our modern society seems to be reflected in its continuing efforts to take what was once superior and to make it as common and mediocre as possible.