Re: New-to-me Packard V-8 trivia!

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2009/12/13 10:51:05

There was a comparable situation a few years later at the Buick plant. They brought out an all new, aluminum V8 in 1961.In 1962 they introduced a cast iron V6 based on the aluminum V8.

Then they decided they needed a bigger engine which was a brand new design for 1965.

At this point they sold the aluminum V8 to Rover and the V6 to Jeep.

Rover continued to make the aluminum V8 for years, so far as I know they are still making them.

Jeep made the V6 for 10 years then Buick went and bought it back. They took the tooling back to the Buick plant and reinstalled it in the same place they had it 10 years before.

What I am driving at is this. The Packard was a new engine with a lot of expensive new machine tools to make it. I believe they spent $5,000,000 in total. The engine and tooling had a life of at least 20 years ahead of it.

Was Studebaker Packard so flush with money at that time that they could throw that all away without a thought? Hardly likely. So what did they do with it?