1951 Packard Mayfair Two Door Hardtop
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- Steve examines Packard’s first Post-WWII hardtop offering, showing how it was at once advanced - and archaic. And what’s that little rubber “propeller” doing on the dashboard? Watch and learn in this video…
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Steve knows his cars and can manage to make the most obscure subject interesting.
The garage I work at was a Packard dealership back in 50's some stuff still upstairs in the dust
You should document that!
@@QuanticChaos1000 he has history on the whole town pretty much. Was a Buick dealer across street now a parking lot. Gas station on corner now a parts store and he just keeps telling me about different things in that town . He only left long enough to be in service and college.
Pester the heck outta that old boy.
Ask him as many questions as you can, not in vein. Make note! Sounds like he's a plethora of wonderfully interesting history.
Should be on ebay ;)
@@Iowa599 he hoards everything.
I had a 1951 Packard when I lived in Auckland NZ. The trans is really smooth and the engine so quiet you never heard or felt the gear change. The Wires on the carby are actually the starter solenoid power feed. To start the car I had to push the pedal to the floor which engaged the starter. If it stalled and the car was in gear,the carb had a vacuum device to restart it . One other thing,the later cars with torsion bar suspension also had electric leveling. you worked a switch on the dash which activated a big electric motor,not unlike a giant starter motor which powered a set of cams on the ends of the torsion bars to adjust the height of the cars rear. In case you had a load in the back....now ,because Packard and Daimler Benz were in business together then ,the mid fifties Mercedes 300 B 'Adenauer' had the same system .I have one on the shop right which requires a bit of work on the self leveling.
Thanks for that cool trivia! Wild tech back then!
Interesting. How many Packerds made it to New Zealand?!
i think Steve needs to go on a road trip
in my hometown in Germany (Schweinfurt) they made the Fichtel & Sachs Niveaulift systems. They autoleveled the car in quite an ingenious way. Buy one for your car.
Torquey 150 HP would be plenty competitive in '51, but high price and 2 speed tranny prolly killed it...
The front end of that car looks AMAZING! It's like a real-life cartoon version of a car. Absolutely amazing.
The Einstein of old cars, my kudos to Mr Magnante.
Still lookin' to find me a Packard Mayflower... A magnificent ride!
The wires on the carburetor are for the automatic starting system, not the transmission. The Packard ignition switch turns on the ignition circuit, but pressing the accelerator engages the starting switch on the carb that then cranks the starter motor. Once the engine starts, vacuum from the carb retracts a ball bearing inside the carburetor switch, shutting off the starter motor automatically. All 51 Packards, automatic and manual shift had this system. My 52 200 3 speed uses it. Buick also used this system, I had it on my 1951 and 1960 Buicks. It prevents the driver from accidentally engaging the starter when the motor is running---and it can be hard to hear a Packard straight 8. I love your channel, keep up the great shows!
Not only were the Packard straight 8s smooth & whisper quiet, they were bulletproof in terms of reliability.
I personally am a huge fan of the 'bathtub' Packards ('46-'50) especially the coupe, but to each his own.
Thanks again Steve, your expertise is an asset to gearheads everywhere...
"Percy Faith...Bing Crosby." It appears our favorite historian has wider interests than automobiliana! Keep 'em coming, Steve!
Good morning Steve , I might have said it before but if I haven't let me say it today , this junk yard slash class room is a wonderful place that your doing a great job with , teaching with the help of your props and vast knowledge of these vehicles to all of us interested viewers . Thanks again , Mark Battista
Hi Mark Battista, THANKS for the kind words. I like to say "cars don't speak so we have to speak for them" and do my best to reveal what's cool or unusual about these junkyard relics within a 12 minute format. Believe me, a 2-hour feature length video could be done on any single car....but that's quite an undertaking for a one-man-band like me. Thanks again for watching and writing, Steve Magnante
Agreed, this is one of the few channels I have Bell notifications on for
My father had a 54 2door with 3 on the tree. Always remember how quiet the engine was. Went cross country in ‘58 with a 55 2 door v8 automatic. I think I remember the 55 had a self leveling feature that compensated for the luggage weight. Huge heavy cars with roomy back seats and boat
Ike ride.
Love ya, Steve! My uncle collected and restored Packards. He had a 51 Mayfair with the straight 8 two-door just like your junkyard queen. He loved'em.
Nice Packard Beautiful car’s in the day
I drive a Packard impressed a lot of people. Keep on crawling!
I cannot believe how big that Grill is an nobody has gone there and pulled it off. I would go right now but your 3000 miles away Steve greetings from San Diego CA. 👍Great Videos Steve
My uncle used to have a junkyard, there were 2 Packards that sat almost next to each other. A Clipper and a Clipper Deluxe with the ships wheel emblem on the dash. One was a straight eight and the other, newer one, was a V eight. It was neat to grow up around fossils like that, and there was tons more odd stuff.
Man I could listen to you giving us a history lesson all day long! I love this stuff and learning at the same time! Sad to see that beauty rotting away! Thanks for sharing this video Steve!👌😎👍
Steve, I love this shit. If these things were taught in high school I think I would have been a doctor. You are a treasure Steve
That straight 8 might not be a powerhouse, but it has a lot of character, it's own personality and likely a smoothness that lets you know you're in a Packard.
In the clown world we're in, it's hard to even imagine an America that built dreams for cars out of passion, blood and sweat, instead of bland, computerized appliances on wheels like modern automated plants pop out like beer cans today.
Not familiar at all with this transmission, but they look interesting. It's pretty cool to see all of the different approaches automakers took to creating their version of automatic transmissions. The cooler looks to be on the intake hose of the engine as water pumps (to my knowledge) by nature draw from the low side. Many of the early automatics didn't make a lot of heat though. The early Hydramatics didn't even use a cooler. Hydramatics didn't have a torque converter, but rather a fluid coupling, which worked more like a fluid clutch that tightened it's grip with engine speed. Point being slippage (fluid friction) is heat, so if the Packard converter spent most of it's time with the converter locked, it probably didn't make much heat either.
Some of the last straight 8s were rated at 212 hp. Packard did understand modern engine design as they had built the Merlin aircraft engines
@@timothykeith1367 Thats correct, And dont forget the over 13.000 PT boat engines. Some time back someone new to the Packard Club wanted to replace a stuck 288 with a small block Chevy. One of the members said the following. Get your 288 free or replace it. The Chevy wont do the job. A 288 puts out 135 horse power while that is not lots of HP . It has enough torque to put Pennsylvania wherever you want it. I almost fell off my chair when I read that
A friend in high school had a '51 Packard four door that he was going to drive when he got his license but never did,it had the Ultramatic transmission also, that rubber bladed fan brings back memories too as we had a '50 Ford pickup that had one like that, think they were used mostly to defog the windshield and a little low buck cooling like you said.
Great job.Thank you
This was a really good lesson listening to this one. I enjoyed it.
Great video on one of the best independent auto manufacturers.
Keep up the good work Steve!
Hopefully you can find a 55/56 Packard in a salvage yard so that we can see and learn about there V8 engines and redesigned bodies.
love that grille
Amazing to compare this to the 1941 Buick Century you showed back on April 5. The 1941 Buick Century has an overhead valve, dual carbureted straight 8, 10 years before the Packard!
I had a 56 with the torsion bar front suspension. It handled pretty well for its size and age. It had a motor, about the size of a starter motor that would twist the rear torsion bars to level the rear end. Originally it would have been automatic, but I couldn't find a "brain" for it so I just did it with a switch.
I drove a few 49's and a 50 with the Ultramatic and they didn't start out in low unless you manually selected low. You would then have to manually upshift to high. They were designed for high gear starts. Later models would start out in low and automatically up shift to high.
Apparently Jim Stamos ran for Councilman of Quincy, Mass, Ward 6 sometime between July-Dec 1999. So that car has probably not been there as long as you think.
*Full text of "Quincy Sun July - Dec 1999*
"JIM STAMOS, candidate for the Ward 6 city coun-
cil seat, says while campaigning door-to-door, one
thing stands out.
"In talking with residents I find
that each neighborhood in Ward 6 is
unique and, therefore, each has dif-
ferent needs and concerns," he says.
He says he hopes to hear more on
residents concerns and views at a
"Cookout on the River" fundraiser STAMOS "
Hell I have a Ross Perot bumper sticker that I could slap on some car in a junkyard and it would look like it's only been there since 1992.
@@4runner510 - I voted for him. Twice. Worked for EDS (after it became part of GM) for a while back then and had a good deal of respect for the gentleman.
Right... someone was going around in 1999 sticking campaign stickers on junkyard cars... Possible, but pretty unlikely, but keep dreaming.
@@spamanator666 don't be such a troll, they may have just been in the junkyard and had a sticker or found one and stuck it on the window, who drives around with a sticker on their windshield?
@@4runner510 Some hippie that would drive an old ratty Packard would probably drive around with the sticker on the windshield. Up high, behind the mirror really isn't blocking anything. Call me a troll when nobody will ever know the truth anyway? So this is all just fruitless BS banter... lighten up. LOL
Good work, Steve. Thanks.
My dad had one. Self leveling shock absorbers and the back seat was as comfortable as a living room sofa 🛋
Packard actually had a bigger straight eight than the 327,early in the 1940’s, which displaced 356 cubic inches and had nine main bearings. Developing
160 horsepower, it was used in the senior Packards and the Custom Clippers before and after the war and was used into the early fifties. It was replaced
by a 359 cubic inch straight eight for 1954 which was Packards last year for the flathead straight eight engine.
Yes, the 356 was a fabulous engine. It was just expensive to build. That is why it was replaced by the 327 and then the 359 was made from it later
Packard is one of my favourite US car makers
I'm so intrigued with your knowledge,, Steve
Wow what a great old car 51packard Mayfair beautiful
Some people call the 51 thru 54 Packards "The Luxurious Chevy" because the top, rear fenders and dash cluster look about the same as a Chevy! Great find!! Great video!!
By far one of the coolest cars shown so far. I'm already fantasizing about paint schemes and the supple two tone leather interior with wool carpeting. Maybe side pipes that become functional with the pull of an ivory knob for making an entrance. (Checks bank account wow three whole dollars)
Boy o boy cars rust out BAD where you are, I thought it was bad here in Washington state but geez, the northeast is BRUTAL!!!
Man that front nose and grill is so cool. Imagine seeing that in your rear view mirror.
My dad called it a hard top convertible and that's what they called that body style back then
I just realized that the chrome bows in the head liner were there to simulate a convertible top
I like the Mayflower reference
I own a 1954 Packard Patrician straight eight here in the UK 🇬🇧. It has the 359 9 bearing engine which should be allied to an Ultramatic but is mated to a Clipper 3 speed manual overdrive transmission. The carb is a 4 barrel Rochester. The head is aluminium and the pistons are a 1954 item only. 1954 was the first year for a key start. I have a Wilwood disc brake conversion on mine allied to the original Bendix Treadlevac. Car has power windows, power seats, power ariel and power steering. The 1955 V8 was also used in Nash and Hudson Customs and for 1956 only the Studebaker Golden Hawk.. My Packard was imported into the UK in 1962 by an American USAF pilot based at RAF Mildenhall It is rumoured by his wife that he was a U2 spy plane pilot.
The straight eight may not be a "Modern" engine but it was excellent none the less.
I always liked the full classic and bathtub Packards. The latter ones always seemed to have a bulky design, a bit like some of the late 50's Lincolns and some of the 58 GMs. I visited the abandoned Packard plant in Detroit. Very cool to see. At the time I went a developer had an air brushed cover over the Packard walk bridge that connected the two plants on opposite sides of the street. It was painted to look like it did in its heyday with clock and Packard sign. Cool place to see.
More metal in the bumper then there are in a whole car these days.
Great video Steve!!! I love Packards also!!!! They make great hot rods too!!!!
Steve - Bernardston Auto Salvage also has a 52 Desoto 4dr complete with hemi. This was the first year Desoto got a V8.
The suspension on these also had cross-links in an X-pattern. The left front and right rear were paired up to compensate for bumps in the road, and ditto for the right front and left rear. Sort of like stabilizer bars. I don't know if this was standard equipment or just an option. Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated tested one of these, he had mixed feelings about the Packard. The body roll when he leaned into the turns at high speed was frightening.
Packard had coil over shocks in 51!!👍🏻
They were a true time machine ahead of their time!!😁😉
The "Pregnant Elephant" look was actually just 48-50. The 47 clipper was a classy looking car with it extremely long hood.
Pretty cool.
Informative thanks.
Great history lesson. Sad to see the perhaps final resting place of the once beautiful car.
Amazing looking grill on it 😎
The top line if the Packard Grill shape is there in that car and was consistent for years before. From when to when, Steve? Inquiring minds...
My 83 Caprice had the lock up 3 speed it had a temp servo connected so it would not lock up until the engine was warm. Really nice drivetrain in that car I had no issues.
That must have been a really good looking car in the day.
Its a shame the Packard V8 didn't last longer. It would have been interesting to see it power 60s behemouth cars and possibly be hot-rodded. They had siamesed exhaust ports in the middle, much like a flathead ford. A modernized set of heads for performance and a big overbore and it would have been quite the challenger to the Cadillac and Lincoln mills. Ironically the Studebaker V8 was both heavy and limited in bore size to only 304ci. It might have made more sense to keep the Packard V8 and drop the studebaker. But Studebaker wanted to consolidate manufacturing and it was much easier to just shutter the Packard plant than to move production of their V8 to a new building.
There is an often told story in my hometown of Shakopee, MN, about a local businessman who bought a brand new Packard back in the ‘50’s that apparently was nothing but trouble for the owner. He finally got so frustrated with the car that he parked it along the main drag running through town with a huge sign proclaiming, “THIS CAR IS A LEMON!”
This took place long before my time, but I was driving outside of Austin, TX, back in the early 2000’s when I passed a bright red Chevy SSR that had huge yellow lemon decals on each door along with the text, “THIS CAR IS A LEMON!”
Fifty years apart - same emotion…….😂
Nice tour today. And, I could use that grill for my 57 Poncho.
We used to joke about changing the last spark plug on a straight eight by opening the trunk.
Like the way the fuel line is taped to the heater hose! Heat that fuel up!?
I want it , they are rare in Australia straight 8 very cool
That grill would look cool in my man cave!
That glove box Do it would make nice wall art.
Steve..how about a series of why some car companies went bust..e.g. Packard, AMC..etc...shame some great cars/vehicles lost for development and progression..
There is already plenty of information on the internet about the history and demise of many auto manufacturers - - you just have to spend time looking for it.
Packard: Was originally Cadillac to Rolls Royce level. Went down market during Depression to survive, but tarnished the brand exclusivity. Post war designs considered ugly. Late to V8, lost their body plant to Chrysler, their own bodies were rattletraps, Ultramatic transmission should have been called "Problematic" transmission, merged with Studebaker, who hid their liabilities, finally, when production was merged, the South Bend line couldn't handle Packard bodies, so they came out with the rebadged Studebakers Steve mentioned in the video.
Love the "junkyard classroom" Steve. Something I've always wondered about on the old 4 door hardtop cars with no posts is what do the rear door hinges and front door latches attach to? I would really like to see a demonstration of that on one of these junkyard crawls.
Gotta love an ole straight 8, even if it's a flat head
The wire wheels offered on the old Patricians with the straight eights were emblematic of the quality standard Packard tried to purvey in the day. People liked their power windows, but not sure if many of them came through with a/c.
I just subscribed, not sure if your from CT? Or MA but I did a cable access show out of Naugatuck valley for 2 years, topic ? Cruise night, covered everything from Lamborghini to Deusenbergs so you caught my eye,
You are passionate about your “junk yard crawls” me personally, I wouldn’t do them, too many mice, snakes, bees, horseflies deerflies, mosquitoes, black flies you name it they’re all in a junkyard stay safe my friend!
.....all little girls are scared of bugs and critters......
@David Well said I’m waiting for a family off Racoons to jump out when he opens the hood that’s why I appreciate these Video’s.
HI / WE PLAYED WITH THOSE RADIO KNOBS AND THE FAN AND BOUNCED ON SPRING SEATS IN THE WINTERS WHILE THE BEES AND RATS WERE IN LALA LAND /AND THE BEAT GOES ON 🤐
A face a mum had trouble lovin ! !
Nice to see some of the old gals are still sitting. Where I'm from they'd all be crushed by now, complete or a shell....sad really
Can’t figure out why they couldn’t come out with a V-8 earlier, they produced the Merlin engine and marine engines during WW 2 you would think it would be a easy transition . The funky grill looks menacing !
What makes it even more tragic is they came out with a brand new flathead straight eight in 1948 just one year before GM started the V8 revolution with their Cadillac and Oldsmobile. That engine became a liability to them but they did not replace it until 1955.
🤦 too cool 😎🤷♂️ don’t know why always thought packard went away in the 20’s or30’s, knew merged with studabaker ..probably cemented in my head from an old childhood antique car collection I had featuring cars from the teens twenty’s … … that bernsen place needs to be put on the register for historic places! 😆 🤣🤣 … ✌️🤙
It wasnt a merger. Packard Bought Studebaker. They should have done their home work. It killed them
Steve - If you find someone who just can't bear to have a 'pregnant whale' of a '49 or '50 Packard Straight-Eight with 3-on-the-tree and OD any longer - please let me know: that's my Dream Car! I'll gladly take it off of their hands as they probably will give it to me for nothing just to not have to look at it and be rid of it 😎
Have to agree on the Stude-Packards, though. Shame those cars were. Now Studebakers, on the other hand - that's something a bit different. I could do with an old Hawk 😁
Thanks for the continuously interesting and informative content!
Wonder if Steve will be at Barrett Jackson Las Vegas?
More Mopars please
With your intimate knowledge of these historical gems, you should pick a good example ( the '51 Olds ? ), and restore it. It's being done on other channels, even bringing in viewers. Please, save these cars.
You should find an old cheap suite to wear for these.
The wires on the carb do not go to the transmission. that is for the starter. Packard and others did not have "key" start till 1953 or 1954. The Mayfair would have had the starter in the gas pedal. half way down the starter would engage. When the engine starts, engine vacuum would hold a steel ball from completing the Circuit and turning over the starter. when the engine is turned off the steel ball falls and the starter can again be used to restart the engine. Ultramatic is a totally hydraulic transmission. It is often called a 2-speed automatic. But that is not really accurate. It is 2-speed, but you must shift manually between low and high. (But it's not intended to do so underway.) I did it once with mine. I would never do so again. On take off the transmission is a typical torc converter. At about 40 miles per hour pressures in the trans actuate a hydraulic piston to fully engage the flywheel effectively locking it up like a modern car. (no one did that in the auto industry till the 1970s.) and Bands grab the torc converter. allowing the direct drive to takeover. The shift is very smooth, most of the time you dont even feel it. Kind of like driving a golf cart. The clutch remains engaged while slowing down as well adding quite a bit of braking effect. at some point below 40 mph it goes back into "converter" mode. Dont take my word for it. look up Ultramatic and you can read it for yourself. Outdated engine or not Packard had a very good year in 1951. (100,713 sold) They should have spent the money to develop a v-8 sooner. But other things seemed more important. The Mayfair would have been a pretty peppy car in 1951. (And stylish.) 150 horsepower shorter wheelbase so a lighter car than the Seinor cars. The Mayfair had Seinor trim.
I have been talking with a guy who is selling a 1951 Packard in California, down in the LA area. If I can talk him into a good deal, I will have a car I always wanted.
Packard was the closest thing the us had to mercedes benz. They focused on high quality percision built luxury, not fancy planned obsolessence with wild styling like cadillac. Its too bad because as the germans and japanese showed in the 70s 80s and 90s quality matters more and the big 3 learned the hard way customers that get burned by poor quality dont return.
I had one
I like the pregnant elephant look, though.
👍👍👍
Nice car , it would've been nice to see more of it ,but I'm sure you'd need a flame thrower to clear it out .
Will it run¿?
Mayflower , huh ? Thought that landed in 1620 ?
Video request if you didnt already do it, start at datsun and walk us through how we ended up with the nissan hardbody...
Please tell me that you are kidding……
@@stopmakingsense9915 no, if a 280z is note worthy a 620 Datsun pickup is worth documenting, History is History... I mean i just saw classic ride society do the Chevy Monza and its what he calls an unsubscribe special...
I wonder how the straight eight actually performed when compared to the v-8. I be it was less efficient and made less power. But I wonder how bad it was really. If you compared a Packard I-8 with a manual and Overdrive, how it would it compete against a Chrysler 331 Firepower and an M-6 performance and economy wise?
It was not that much different. Packard was more about facts than about marketing. They even experimented with an OHV head for it, but found it didn't add much power. But they don't understand how people talk and marketing works. Kind of like how European car snobs sneer at American V8s with pushrods. Also, Packard investing so much in transmissions and suspensions was not the right move from a marketing standpoint. Engines sell cars.
My friend's grandfather said that the Packard automatic transmission had 8,000 moving parts. Once it developed problems and needed servicing, it would continuously require additional service. Repair shops were often called in to perform a transmission swap to a manual gearbox. That's how bad these automatics were.
I've owned 4 door sedans that were hard tops
Wires on carb, had to do with starting. Throttle depressed all the way allowed switch to power starter.
I can fix it !
I just bought a 30 piece tool kit at Walmart ...
That's the first time I've seen a two door like that one. All I've seen are four door one's to bad it's not able to be saved.
It's a shame that the Packard didn't hang in there and evolve their craft over the years. Cadillac and Mercedes Benz may not have held the top spot in the luxury car market had Packard stuck around. Those old cars had some serious luxury and comfort designs. Like all the main bearings making them so smooth and quiet abd self levelling, adjustable suspensions. I don't wanna talk outside of my schooling but I've heard tell something about them being able to restart, in the event the engine were to stall whilst rolling. I'm not %100 sure about that but it was my understanding that the auto trans' were designed to lock in and turn the motor over much like push starting a manual transmission. Again, I've never seen it, I just remember my dad and grampa talking about them a lot.
@ Lil Mike The Packard Automatic Transmission probably had a Front and Rear Pump. Hence, it could be Bump Started like a 1956 Chevrolet with Automatic Transmission.
The auto trans could be push started and it was also the first to have a lockup torque converter, a feature GM bragged about in the 1970s and 80s, but Packard had it first. The idea was to eliminate slippage over 20MPH for more efficiency, better mileage and power.
Elephant look was 48 to 50.
When an adult friend let me drive his 1937 Packard Limousine to the Junior Prom in 1961, well, I'll just say it made the rest of my life pretty drab.
No glove box check? Bummer.
pity it can't be restored.