Production of the lwb cars in 1953 was 100 Executive Sedans (w/o the divider window) and 50 limousines, according to a variety of sources.

As I said, none of the body panels interchange, so the door skins are not the same. The door sizes, shapes, window openings are not the same. Also the 1 cm longer is relevant because it changes the spacing of the head studs. The cars were designed from scratch and not made from surplus, do you think Joe Stalin would want a state car made from left-overs? Not likely. I forgot to mention earlier than the front and rear bumpers are Cadillac-inspired, as is the rear end body styling.

I've now had a chance to examine the ZIS-110 limousine being restored by Johan Berg in Stockholm, Sweden. His estimate is that about 5070 were built from the close of World War II until the mid-50s, and perhaps 180 remain, one still in government service in North Korea, and one interestingly owned by Vladimir Putin. There were at least 4 body styles; limousine, armored limousine, 4 door open parade car, and ambulance. Some dimensions are metric, others English system. Probably the most accurate description is that the car is ?inspired? by the 42 Packard, close in some details, not in others, and exactly the same in extremely few (for example, some internal speedometer parts are identical). No parts were supplied by Packard. None of the body panels interchange, for example the rear doors are about 5 inches thick at the bottom, perhaps so the same door can be used for the armored version with almost 3 inch thick glass and weighing 5.1 tons (the standard limo weighs about 2.5 tons). The engine block is about 1 cm longer than the 356 Packard so the heads, manifolds, crankshaft, etc. will not interchange though the water and fuel pumps and carburetor interchange. The carburetor is a knock-off of the Carter 531S, though different in details and apparently one with a governor was also used on occasion. Apparently there were three different variants of the engine, perhaps a higher hp version for the armored version and supposedly an even higher performance variant as well. The transmission and driveshaft/universal joints are quite different. I was also able to confirm that the round item on the manifold side in the prior picture posted that was in proximity to the oil pump is indeed an oil filter.

The ZIS convertible parade car shown at the Packard Centennial was owned at the time by Sonny Abagnale of New Jersey, I'm not sure of it's current whereabout. Some years back a gentleman named Duggin (?) from South Jersey also had a limousine.

There is a small cadre of owners and restorers with some difficult availability of original parts, and some Packard mechanical parts can be substituted, some with modification (like transmissions) and others without.

The ID-327 was based on the 3-1/2 x 4-1/4 327 engine with 5 main bearings. Horsepower is given as 78@1800 rpm, 88@2000, and 96@2200. The engines were equipped with a governor which limited rpm to 2400. There were four variants available, "A" was simply a basic engine for the purchaser to adapt to whatever his end use was. "B" included a heat exchanger cooling system, control panel and engine supports. "C" came with a radiator, fan, mounting rails and instrument panel, and "D" came supplied with a full external metal housing enclosure and optionally a gas tank. Some problems were encountered with the cast iron clutch ring when operators disabled the governor to run at much higher rpms and at least one fatality was recorded as the clutch and flywheel shattered. There are pictures of all 4 variants in Neal's book, but no particular information on what applications purchasers used these engines for.

The headlights (Solar 3 filament 3003 bulbs) in my 1934 Eight are more than adequately bright for nighttime driving. If you haven't done it, first resilver plate the reflectors. Then you might consider adding a relay so the resistance of the old headlight switch is eliminated by just using that switch to activate the relay (just as a horn relay works). By the way, the problem isn't that it's a 6 volt system, it's that the bulbs are 32 candlepower.

According to Robert Neal's "Master Motor Builders", Packard produced 252 of the ID-327, all in 1950. Some of the other ID engines were based on the 245 cubic inch L-6, some V-4 configurations in 1953-54 of 155 cubic inches, and 310, 320 and 352 cubic inch V8s.

We must remember when comparing gas mileage data from yesteryear with that we obtain today that ethanol containing gasoline will give about 10% lesser mileage than the good old stuff. I'm fairly light-footed on the accelerator; my 56 Caribbean with dual 4 bbls gets about 14.5 to 15 in highway driving at about 55-65 mph (3.54 rear axle). My 1934 Eight (4.69 rear axle) gets about 10 mpg, pretty much regardless of whether it's local or highway driving.

Nice to hear I was missed. Yes, I've been away on a cruise round trip Harwich England to Copenhagen Denmark, Stockholm Sweden, Tallin Estonia, St. Petersburg Russia, Gdansk Poland, Warnemune Germany, and a daytime transit of the Kiel canal. Visited some Packard owners in Sweden and got a first hand look at a ZIS 110 undergoing a full restoration and hopefully after a day or two to return to normal, I'll catch up on what I've missed and report on the ZIS.

I hope you don't think we're harping on the conversion of the 34 filter/cooler assembly, it's just out of concern because even the shortest interruption of oil, with a full flow system, would be catastrophic for a lovely 34 engine. Packard advised that normal oil pressures were between 25 and 55 psi, and to me this means they want the oil pressure relief valve set for 55 psi. Wade no doubt has already determined that the hose and clamp arrangement can take this pressure.

One other point for him to take into consideration and that concerns the water flow. There is a temptation to use a block-off plate to keep the water out of the cooler housing, but there is a baffle within the water jacket side plate that directs all the water into cooler and the exit from the cooler is the only way the majority of the water can then progress down the jacket which doubles as the distribution tube. Thus, blocking off the cooler housing will essentially stop the flow of cooling water to the engine (cracked valve seats and block the sure result) unless the internal baffle of the side plate is modified accordingly.

I guess if you buy a car with a frozen heat riser valve, it can be a bit of work to get it free, but fortunately I've not had that problem. On my 34 Eight I just give it a little graphite lube every so often, and most parts can be found or easily made. On my 56 Caribbean I left it off when I redid the exhaust system and have regretted the decision ever since, the cold performance for the first 2 or 3 minutes leaves a bit to be desired. If I had one that was inoperative, at the very least we should make sure its in the open position.