Re: Did Chevy consider Packard V8 BB Design?

Posted by Craig Hendrickson On 2008/10/4 21:04:18

On the subject of gas mileage, there's no particular reason that the 55-56 Packard V-8 should get better or worse mileage than any comparable design of the era. Although the big Packard will run on the freeway and NV roads all day at 85+MPH and still get decent mileage.

In one long PI tour that I drove in through NV and AZ based out of Laughlin, my Pat got 16.1MPG. The best Packard got about 18MPG, IIRC. The rules were to fill up at the same gas station before the tour (a couple of hundred miles of both freeway and stop-go intown driving) and after the tour. The official mileage was then provided by somebody "official" and the the mileage calculated. I thought 16MPG was pretty good.

I have somewhere some engine VE curves and also aerodynamic drag and tire friction curves (power required at speed) if anyone is interested in some info that is more hardcore than anecdotal.

Craig