Re: What about the 25K 105mph V8 Patrician?

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2011/4/9 16:53:37

Quote:

Brian,

With all due respect to your writing skills and insight, even a full sentence (or two) quoted out of context is easily misleading, What I think PV8 might have been missing in my reply to him was that his repeated capitalization of the word SUSTAINED sent the message that others, including myself, had failed to recognize the different characteristics of engine wear that would be expected under conditions of everyday driving as opposed to track driving. In both cases, you have to read most of both posts to understand my intended irony (although it's true we don't get much of that around here).

Sniping aside,

It's good to remember the average speed during the run, including stops, was over 104 MPH, which means that the car was started, stopped, and brought up to speed many times (how many would be nice to know) and had to have had a very high average track speed, It also had to be accelerated from a stop at a punishing rate--probably full throttle every time. All this makes the run even more impressive. I wish the stops had been timed so average track speed could be established, but if it looks like that information just isn't out there.

I do believe that Packard was being very smart in making this particular demonstration at that particular time in automotive history. Turnpikes were coming into the picture, and road speeds everywhere were climbing. The 25,000 mile run made the point that if you bought a Packard, it could endure these increasing speeds through the years, which as PV8 pointed out, it has done up to the present day!

Not that there weren't other cars of that era that could claim to be "turnpike cruisers" (as Mercury tagged one of their late 50's models) but they didn't have the numbers that Packard did to back it up. It's too bad that Packard never had the kind of advertising budget to plug this feat effectively. The PR department obviously had to do most of the legwork. Free ink is nice, but ads can reach a lot more consumers, and present a lot more drama.

The 25,000 mile Patrician did go on tour, and I remember reading (wish I was able to remember where) a personal anecdote from a current Packard buff who said that as about a youngster saw the Patrician on display and decided that he would have a Packard some day, and no other car.