Re: Help identify a straight 8

Posted by David Baird On 2007/12/27 10:05:06

I have two of the 22nd series convertibles. All convertibles for this series were either Customs or Super eights. The custom had the 356 engine and the Super had the 327 engines. Packard suggested the use of the 288 head on the 327 to increase the compression ratio. So the head is not adequate for ID. The 22nd and 23rd series engines had the serial numbers on the drivers side of the block just below the head. the pad is located almost in the center of the block from back to front. The numbers listed by BigKev are correct.

The serial number tells you if the car was sold as a 48 or 49. is the number is suffixed by a -9, the car was sold as a 49. They did the same trick for the 23rd series cars and used a -5 for the 1950 cars.

Let me know if I can help in any way. I love these cars.