Bought a steering column at the Autorama swap meet, complete from pitman arm to horn ring. Only identifiers are the crest/logo on the horn ring button, a casting mark on the steering box, and the part number diamond logo on the inside of a cover plate. The splines fit a known Packard wheel that I have and the shift indicator tells me automatic, maybe an early hydromatic? No park, drive 3 and 4, Lo, and R at the far end. The wheel itself is in pitiful shape, but the box is tight and I'm thinking what I might use it in. It had a SignalStat 800 on the column, but there is an integral turn signal switch as well. I haven't torn it down completely, just trying to get an idea what it might have been in. Thanks in advance for any info. from the HAMB collective. Best resource on the planet.
Hydromatic is my guess. Only auto that I ever saw with reverse to the far right & down. Depending on the make it was in, may have been called something else. JMO Jim
Lincoln for sure, need a further away pic of the steering wheel but could be '52-'53. They used Hydramatics behind the giant flathead engines.
@Squablow , you hit the nail on the head. My wheel is not in any kind of shape like that, but it matches perfectly. Thanks for the info, at least I know where to start searching. Kinda looks like they might have used a couple of different center pieces for the horn ring, it just snaps on and off. Now I know where to look for turn signal parts inside, if they are saveable.
And it kinda fits "thematically" with the 1952 Mercury dash that I bought recently. Maybe I can spruce up my '38 Dodge I'm going to get to eventually. I've already got a 365 Caddy motor set aside for it.
Squablow: that's a '53(the 50 years of Ford medallion after "Lincoln" on the dash) in your picture, but the column is '52-'53, & yes the car did have the Hydra-matic, & NO IT WAS NOT A FLATHEAD: It was the 317 Y-Block, the first OHV V-8 in a Fomoco passenger car('52)
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