Re: The Second Packard "Twin Six"

Posted by PackardV12fan On 2008/9/21 9:50:29

FOR "55 Packard"

You raise an interesting question about timing of the introduction, then termination of multi-cyl. motors for Packard's automotive line.

Fact is, the V-12's and V-16's were obsolete even before they hit the show-rooms! There were essentially TWO reasons for this.

FUEL OCTANE IMPROVEMENT
As gasoline fuel octane improved, you didn't need monster engines with long strokes to get good power. With the improved slower burning fuels, compression ratios could be raised, resulting in more efficient and smoother running motors. Motors that put more of the energy from the burning of the fuel into foward motion, with less wasted as heat. Just look at how much smaller the radiators have become, for any given engine size, as compression ratios went up, and stroke length went down.

MOTOR MOUNT IMPROVEMENT
Up until the early thirties, motors were bolted rigidly to the frame, and were actually part of chassis stiffness. Once the rubber "isolater" ( I believe Chrysler started that) came into use, smaller engines with fewer cylinders could be made much smoother-appearing to the car's occupants.

Packard's product research showed most of the motoring public had no idea about cylinders - they just wanted a quiet, smooth car that could give sprightly performance in high gear without a lot of shifting. They gave the public what it wanted, in a reliable quality product, that in each price class, was worth the money. So long as they did that, they were successful. When they stopped doing that, they failed.