Re: DESIGN IMITATION?

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2010/11/9 9:07:07

Agree on the V12 comments. One thing Packard might have been able to do in the late 30s/early 40s was use the tooling and some parts from the 282 to make a V12 of about 423 CID. Ot they could have based it on the 245 I-6 to give 490 although that might have been over the top. A 423 V12 would have cranked out about 190 HP. Perfect. Put it in the new Clipper with styling along the lines previously discussed and call it a One Ninety. There's your Sixty Special fighter.

Packard's V12 packages nicely under the shorter '38 Senior's hood and seems to belong there. But beyond a few instances like that, is a V12 really necessary? Was it ever? Ford beat Ferrari's V12 with a pushrod V8. Jaguar and Aston did the same at various times with a Six. Pierce's Six was more powerful that the original Twin Six (someone please correct me if wrong). And Packard's own Super Eight had plenty of power and made for a loooong hood that added 50 HP just looking at it. The '55 V8 was also plenty big and powerful. So looking at this rationally...

Problem is, can't look at this rationally! The world would be lesser without the sound and charisma of a Ferrari V12 or the smoothness of any V12. And although that Pan American I showed would have done fine with Packard's new V8, had they put an OHC V12 under the hood it might have become the American equivalent of a Ferrari. A V12, in the right car, at the right time can create an air of mystery and specialness that can rocket a manufacturer into rarified air. My conclusion is that Packard could have gone V12 at select times to their advantage. A cost-effective and weight efficient 423 in the late 30s in a hot new torpedo sedan could have kept Cadillac at bay. And in the mid-50s perhaps an optional V12 with hints of race car technology, in a hot car with a sexy low body, could have reestablished the grand old company's exceptionalism.