Re: post war ebay Patrician out of storage and up for sale.

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2013/2/18 15:05:25

dont know anything about the 359 though > ??? aluminum head??

Nothing particularly unique about the 359 which was a bored (1/16th) and stroked 9-main bearing 327 using an aluminum head with a compression of 8.7 for 212 hp to just nudge out Cadillac in the hp race. It was a 1-year only engine, the 1954 Packard-branded cars (except the Cavalier) including the Panther Daytonas. The engine was as sound as any other Packard L-8 of the era and gave a pretty spirited performance but the head became a liability as the cars got older - stripped spark plug holes (in and of itself easily enough fixed) and cracks often thru the spark plug holes into the water jacket became somewhat common. Probably the majority of 359s are running 327 cast iron heads which presents some problems as it gives an even higher compression ratio which today's puke high test gasoline isn't quite up to the task for.

I drove a 54 Patrician as a nearly every day car back in the 70s and 80s, a really fine machine and easily most luxurious of the 51-54 Patricians.