Re: Deja Vu

Posted by Tim Cole On 2011/11/20 20:12:05

What always bugged me about the V-8 is the extreme variance in service records for this engine. I knew original owners who kept their cars as transportation right into the 70's, while others might as well have bought a tow truck as a second car.

If the oil pump and powerplant was no good then the thing would have blown up on the test track. The fact that it could go 25,000 miles at full throttle with a defective oil pump isn't congruent.

The problems seem to show up in moderate usage at speeds well under severe which indicates something more esoteric as evidenced by the numerous service bulletins. Maybe throwing oil at the problem is one way to muddle through and that's great, but I don't think the engineers were looking at the problem from that perspective.

The car's themselves impress me in one way: The torsion bar suspension is unique and has stood the test of time better than any other suspension system I can think of. That those little torsion bars haven't buckled under all that weight is truly a marvel. It is the most advanced suspension design in the world.

The Citroen system (licensed by Rolls Royce) provided a superb ride (especially in the Shadow), but it was nowhere near as trouble free as the Packard. Today I deal with all sorts of stupid computer ride control gadgets that really don't do very much to improve ride. Compared to the Packard they are just Rube Goldberg nonsense.

So I think the engineers at Packard were dealing with something very obscure as regards the V-8 performance issues.