I bought my 1956 Patrician off of E-Bay this May, bringing it home behind a '96 Ford Ranger. Once I got to tearing it apart, I found many surprises, namely, a mouse on the timing gear in the engine. The original 374 was locked up tight, but I had a 320 Hudson engine that ran great, so it went in.
Surprisingly, the 320 has plenty of power to haul it around, thanks to some "minor" modifications that I've made, namely HEI and installing a 600cfm Edelbrock carb. Eventually, I plan to have the 374 rebuilt and installing a Caribbean dual-quad intake on it.
On the electrical side of things, once I hooked up the wires that the rats chewed through, everything but the power antenna worked. This car has the Pushbutton Shifter, which presented some initial difficulties, but now that the understanding is there, no problems so far. I'd HIGHLY recommend if someone has the PB shifter and a T/U, to keep them, the educational experience working on them is worth the price of ownership!
For those who are "not in the know", my Packard was drug out of a field, and ressurected in about 5 months. There are some who refer to it as a "Field Car", and that's just fine by me, as I'm having fun driving it and enjoying all the attention! One thing's for sure, if you own a Packard, attention is something you'd better get used to, as it seems that EVERYONE stares at you!