Re: The Packard Esquire

Posted by Packard5687 On 2016/9/14 1:29:10

"... still a Studebaker underneath ..."

Indeed! I have long been of the opinion that one of the big mistakes in the Curtiss-Wright deal was giving up the engine and transmission plant in Utica. It seems to me they should have leased that portion of the plant back and kept building Packard V-8s and Ultramatic Drive transmissions there. Everyone knew that although the Studebaker V-8 was basically a good engine, the bore spacing did not allow for a displacement increase beyond 289 cubic inches. (I know that some of the Avanti engines were bored out to slightly over 300 cubic inches.) The Packard V-8 had been designed with expansion in mind - the planned '57s would have displaced 440 cubic inches. Had they kept the ability to manufacture Packard engines and transmissions a Packard V-8 in that Studebaker body as was the case with the '56 Golden Hawk would have made John Bridges proposed Packard Hawk much more of a Packard, especially if it were also fitted with Ultramatic.