Re: Since Packard had a V-12 in the 30's....

Posted by John Harley On 2009/7/6 22:07:29

Dan

There was a discussion in an old Packard Cormorant about this, and I'm sure it is in the KImes book. All early eight cylinder engines had a vibration problem due to their single plane crankshaft and resultant firing order. This is the reason that Rolls Royce bought back all their "Legal Limit" V8's in 1906 and went to the 6 Cylinder Silver Ghost.

Vibration was an anathema to Jesse Vincent was and preferred the smoothness of a Twin Six over what he called a "Twin Four". There were also servicing and packaging considerations since and 60 degree engine is narrower than a 90 degree one . These points were covered in a paper presented by him to the Packard board and published by PMCC during the introduction of the Twin Six.

The early Cadillac V8 had a vibration period at about 40 mph. When Packard went to an eight, it chose the hot performance straight eight configuration used by Miller, Dusenberg,and Bugatti. They also figured out that a two plane crankshaft would eliminate the vibration. The difference can be plainly heard if you ever have the pleasure of a Bugatti running. Cadillac, sheepishly one might imagine, adopted the two plane crankshaft about 18 months later.

No doubt the 12 was still a better engine in Jesse Vincent's mind in the early 30's

Regards

John Harley