Re: DESIGN IMITATION?

Posted by fred kanter On 2010/11/9 12:53:07

All the coulda, woulda , shoulda's in the world would not have made a V-12 practical. A near 500 cu in V-12 in the 40's, with current flathead technology that Packard had it would have been an expensive boat anchor. The engine would have been too heavy and wide for the Clipper body/frame, so you might say, OK they should have made a bigger frame with an engine bay for the V12.

If it was such a GREAT IDEA, then why did Lincoln build only the puny approx 300 cu in Zephyr/Continental? Whe not a 500 cu in, besides do you realize what a sales flop the Lincolns were? In 1948 about 8,000 Lincolns were built all with V-12, almost 100,000 Packards were built. Nobody in the world was building high speed/high power large cars.

The speculation of what Packard should have done seems not to take into account the marketplace of the era, the technology available, the cost of producing such a car and most of all the demand at a profitable price.

Lincoln was a money losing operation from the moment Henry Leland started it in 1922(??) until 1961 when the new body style came out. Rich and powerful Ford carried it as a prestige leader, Packard could not have afforded to do so.

I don;t have quote from Thomas Paine or even Thomas the Tank, but I do recall this:

"Yes, and if my grandmother had wheels she could heve been a truck."

Face it, all the independents have gone away, even the two largest car companies in the US have gone bankrupt. Packard had run its course yet it does not make it any less a very sad passing

Fred Kanter