The Packard boxes were tough, their only weak link was their cases which would split caused by the main gears pushing away from the cluster gear under big loads, resulting in a lot of guys wrapping and welding steel straps around them--very tedious welding task as the cast iron on trannys is like a block, needs nickle rods to go with preheating/ welding short beads/then peening 'til cool, then start all over again. Using the early floor shift box with an overdrive makes for a fun transmission. Supposedly the Packards had a sychronized low gear 'way ahead of their time (maybe it was the B/W overdrive?). The Cad Lasalles were the "rock crushers" of their day, even used in the early rails-usually using second/high only. When they ran out-they ran out--they didn't make very many Lasalles compared to Fords or Chevys.
