Only 2580 1954 Cavaliers were built and this was a very early car, being the 514th. As such, it was completed in late 1953 and carried the old style Ultramatic which started in high gear torque converter mode when in drive. The Ultramatic was basically a two-speed automatic and, until mid 1954, was set up to start in drive in 1:1 gear ratio with torque converter. With sufficient speed the torque converter would be bypassed by a direct drive clutch and drive would be direct. Low gear was available only by manually shifting to it. One could start in low by putting the shift lever to that position and then manually shifting up to drive when desired. After mid 1954 the Ultramatic was changed to what they called "gear start." In this type the transmission there were two drive positions. In the first, the car would start and operate as before. In the second, it would start in low automatically and the upshift would occur automatically. The final upshift to direct occurred as before. Our car was equipped with most of the available options when it left the factory. In spite of being a senior Packard, few accessories were standard equipment. It had power brakes, Ultramatic, power steering, tilt inside mirror, white walls, signal seeking radio, rear speaker, two tone paint (Meridian Blue over Polaris Blue), Solex glass, windshield washer and under-seat heater for rear passengers. It did not have air conditioning (a $647 option at the time) but we added that feature, along with dual outside mirrors (a $30 option), after we got the car. 

Auto prices of the time are interesting. The base price of the Cavalier was $3344. The accessories it came with added $789.45 giving a total of $4133.45. Had the air conditioning and outside mirrors been original they would have added another $677.00 and brought the total price to $4810.45. A handsome price indeed, for the day. We have fairly good records of the car's history back to the second owner. His title to the car indicates it was originally titled to Marvin Honodel of Waynesboro, PA on 9/17/54. If that is correct, the car must have sat on a dealer floor for almost a year before being first sold. The second owner, Frederick O. Brubaker, evidently purchased it about 1970. 

The odometer is believed to have read 64,550 when he purchased it and had probably been inoperative for some time by then as, from service records, it is known to have read 50,192 on 3/4/68. The car was thus about 15 years old when 64,550 miles was reached. When taking into consideration the fact that during its first 15 years of operation it was used as transportation for its original owner and its indicated mileage of 64,550, it is reasonable to believe its mileage was actually 164,550 at that time, having turned over once in 15 years, giving an average annual mileage of some 16,500. Besides, it would be quite unusual for a speedometer to cease functioning at 64,550 miles. 164,550 miles would be far more likely. Brubaker sold the car to Philip J. McCarthy in June of 1979. In August of 1979, McCarthy had the engine rebuilt. With the exception of the main bearings, he replaced all bearings, all pistons, rings, ground the valves, rebuilt the carburetor, etc. The odometer read 64,550. In September of 1980, he had most outside chrome redone and repainted the car in original colors. In 1981, he replaced the speedometer head and mileage restarted at 00000. At this point, the actual mileage on the car was probably about 175,000. Nick Essinger purchased the car from McCarthy on 5/4/98 with a mileage of 13,864. Bob and Donna Neal purchased the car in Dayton, Ohio from Essinger on 6/28/00 with 16,956 miles registering. Bob drove the car 2,500 miles to the Neals' home in Kent. The Neals had the car reupholstered and various mechanical work done to get it into the totally mechanically reliable category. It has since been driven on many local tours as well as to Arizona, California and back east to mid-state New York in the summer of 2001 (see article "Born to be Driven" in The Packard Cormorant - Winter 2002). The current speedometer reading is 39,000. Total mileage is thus about 214,000 and it purrs down the freeways at 70 MPH like a kitten.