Rusty O\'Toole wrote:
Many makers at that time gave their automatic equipped cars slightly more power. This was to compensate for the power lost to the automatic transmission.

One way to do this was increase the compression ratio.

A 288 head on a 327 would give more compression. This did no harm as the automatic made it impossible to lug the engine, even for the least skilled driver.

So my guess is the same head was used on 288 standard transmission cars, and 327 Ultramatics.

by HH56 on 2011/7/16 13:27:39

There are a couple of counselor articles addressing different heads and compression ratios. They are earlier articles but applicable to all the later S8s--except maybe the 359. Check outhttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/SC/SC-VOL24NO7.pdf andhttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/SC/SC-VOL25NO4.pdf for starters. I believe there is another later one or at least a book article more to your specific question and how heads were marked. Can't think of which or where it is right now. Believe the STD stood for standard trans and the 327 indicated the optional ratio for that engine but don't remember the exact combination.