56 Victoria

Where did you get the stuff to convert to electric? Is it all up under the dash? Have a '56 Customline Victoria.

I had a '56 Golden Hawk back in '57. It came with a 352 Cu.In. engine. The big packards 400's, etc came with a 374. The 352 was in a Clipper. As far as the "Ultramatic" it was junk! Mine was torn up all of the time and nobody could work on it. A friend of mine had one with a 3 speed overdrive and I assume back in those days it was probably a warner T-85 a very tough transmission. The horsepower on the 352 was 275. The next year 1957 Studebaker used a supercharged Studebaker motor with 275 hp. I loved the car but that Ultramatic was junk. The only tough automatic transmission back in those days was a Hydramatic especially if it had been gone over by B&M.

I could be interested in those 292 exhaust manifolds if they will fit a 272. ejstith@bellsouth.net

Roger, if you can find one, and they are out there, have you thought of putting a 312 in it? I built a 312 back in the 60's and it was a hell of a motor (until I slung a rod through the side of the motor). Would crank 8 grand and ran like a top. Cut 060 off the heads, bored it .125 (324CI) and had a Crane cam and dual point distributor in it. It ran like a bat out of hell. Had it in a 57 Ford Customline 4 dr. .. Was so cool to whip up on some bowties ...