Re: your experience with 6 cyl Packard engines: 110/Six/Clipper Six

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2009/12/11 19:52:38

Would like to make some comments on 6 cylinder engines generally.

A straight 6 has the smallest number of cylinders giving perfect primary and secondary balance. It is also the smallest number of cylinders to have overlapping power impulses.

Therefore, a 6 is inherently smooth. It is an "optimum" design with advantages over any 4 cylinder in this regard.

Eights and twelves may be even smoother and more powerful but these are "diminishing returns" designs with less advantage over a 6, than a 6 has over a 4.

This is why such highly regarded makes as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Mercedes, and BMW stuck with the 6 cylinder engine for so long.

So the Packard six should be a very satisfactory car. Not up to the standards of the heavier models but not a weakling either.