I was at a new junkyard today and there was a complete ch***is with the torsion bar suspension front and rear with a electric motor to change the ride height and got me thinking,I have seen plenty of 55 Packards but never seen the suspension before so I might have to do some measuring and see if I could use it on another mid 50s car. If I can find a body with a mangled frame this might be a start of another project.
Well, you could do like Art Arfons . His LSR Green Monster had '55 Packard front suspension. (No joke!)
In 55-56 Packard had two frames. The Clipper, the torsion suspension was an option and the Senior cars, it was standard. In 56 all cars had the suspension. A Clipper is close to an Buick Roadmaster in size and the Senior cars are like a large Cadi. I have a 55 Clipper Super Constilation. T Fritz
and the new car makers would have you believe they were coming up with new technology all the time, huh? they had almost everything the new car makers toot their horns about in the '50's... electrically adjustable suspension (that packard, for one) separate climate controls for driver and p***enger (Cadillacs, etc) antilock brakes (Fiat, Mercedes) four speed automatic transmissions electronic fuel injection (well; it wasn't great, but it was there) your Packard frame might be the result of some other guy putting a NEW frame under HIS Packard to get rid of hard-to-replace parts problems..
Your post brought back an ancient memory. Back in the late 50's, I was 13 or 14 at the time, and hung around this garage/body shop after school. One time they had a late model Packard in there and I remember serveral lof the shop guys amusing themselves, standing on the rear bumper, it sank down from the weight, in a few seconds this motor sound can be heard and the raises back to normal height. They step off, the car springs upward..same thing happens, the motor sound can be heard and the car returns to normal height. Ray
I thought it was kind of neat since I never seen it before and it looks like a interesting setup and would like to ride in one to see how it feels going down the road.
I can vouch for the fact that it definitely rides very smoothly. I went for a ride in a 1930 Ford Model A 2 door phaeton originally built by Charlie Mayenschien in the mid 1950's that had Packard torsion bar suspension adapted to the Ford running gear. Charlie also happened to be part of the crew of Art Arfons LSR car. A very innovative car for it's time. There have been a couple of threads about this car on here but in case you can't find them, just Google his name.
Check out this EBAY packard, lots of pics of the frame and stuff: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1956...0605347?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f12ef31a3
what I remember was the front and rear rebounded in opposite directions so the front hit a bump and preloaded the rear before it got hit
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