120/160 & Clipper version & Twelve fuel economy

Posted by su8overdrive On 2013/1/20 16:08:58

A Packard friend owning a car similar to my '47 Super wondering if his gas consumption was on par prompts me to pose this larger discussion. Sure now, we know Packards weren't "economy" cars, but optimum fuel economy is a sign of mechanical health and smart driving.
Packard ads junior and senior extolled thrift of operation for their class, even exceeding lesser machines.
Buick, hardly a paragon of fuel sipping, marketed their rare, no-cost 3.6:1 cog available only in the Century and Roadmaster on the basic wheelbase beginning 1939 as the "economy rear axle."

A 4,375-lb. (curb weight), '51 Lincoln, 121-inch wb. sedan, with the 331-ci flathead V-8 truck engine used in 1949-51 Lincolns, won its class and the Sweepstakes award in the 1950 & '51 Mobilgas Economy Run, running a 3.31 rear axle and overdrive for a final drive ratio of 2.39 overall, with average mileage over nearly 1,000 miles of 25.448 mpg.
Even after Chrysler complained and the above Lincoln was impounded and torn down after the race, it was shown to be 100% stock, unmodified.

So, we'd love to hear of real world gas mileage for various Packards; for me, specifically, the 356, the One-Twenty, both traditional bodies and Clipper variants, and the 473-ci later Twelves. Please tell us your axle ratio, body style, curb weight, and whether you have overdrive, and any deviations from factory stock.

I'll start the ball rolling by recounting 31 years ago after topping off the gastank of my '40 120 sedan, overdrive but with 4.09 non-overdrive axle in lieu of factory 4.36 in OD cars, running Denman bias plies inflated to 32 psi cold pressure, returning 22.5 mpg, much of that at speeds of 60-65 on largely level East Bay Area (corporate 'burbs east of San Fran/Oakland) freeways, driving with a light foot, the usual attention.

My friend with a '47 Custom Clipper, overdrive and factory 4.09 axle, reports not being able to best 15mpg no matter what he does, asked if that was acceptable for our cars. I assured him he was in tall cotton, as my '47 Super, overdrive with the taller non-overdrive 3.92 rear cog, 2.82:1 overall vs. his factory 2.95, well-inflated 7.00 x 15 bias sized Bridgestone radials, can't get out of the low teens downhill with a tail wind, despite tuned on the button, Carter WDO-531S rebuilt according to Hoyle by a master mechanic who worked in Packard and Hudson garages since leaving Pacific theater of War II where he ran motor pools, he knowing all the arcane service bulletins over the decades, every trick.

Friends with late '30s Twelves say they've never gotten better'n single digit mpg, which may simply come with that territory, even as our above cars, and so be it, as they're only driven once in a blue moon for pleasure cruises.

So, it'd be interesting to hear from any of y'all who've checked your fuel mileage at some point in various Packards. But please, p l e a s e , spare us any exaggeration, or chest-thumping real men don't care about the environment/fuel economy, if you can't afford the gas, yadda, yadda; all that faux macho Car & Driver/Fox "News" ecoweenie jazz.

As Sgt. Joe Friday respectfully requested,

"Just the facts, ma'am."