Quote:
Originally Posted by benman94
Brian,
What trans is in your Packard? 1949 was the first year for Ultramatic and I know a lot, if not the majority, of '49s came equipped with the automatic.
I'm not sure when Ultramatic drive became standard with the manual becoming "delete for credit".
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Mine has the 3 speed with overdrive; this is the first experience I've had with an early OD arrangement and it works fairly well. It makes for a very slow take-off if it doesn't drop out when you slow down! That torquey 8 seems perfectly content staying in high gear except for complete stops. One trick I had to learn is the OD is also free-wheeling. If you park with the OD engaged it will roll away in first and don't set the brake (I proved that to myself in a mall parking lot Saturday
)
The next step up was Electromatic clutch. With those you shifted manually but the clutch worked automatically powered by engine vacuum. Initially I thought the car had it but it seems they installed a dummy switch including the "clutch" label on cars without the option.
The Ultramatic seems to be well regarded among owners. I'm pretty sure my wife would prefer it had one! I'm not sure when it became more or less standard.