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

Posted by R Anderson On 2009/12/13 14:25:30

The 110/Six wasn't meant to be a true luxury car competitor anyway, by any stretch of the imagination, but to go head to head with Pontiac and the smaller Olds/Buick and their ilk. This it accomplished, by any definition, in so far as being the class of that class, and along with the 120, gave Packard another 20 years it otherwise wouldn't have had. In many respects it was functionally superior to the Packards of 5 years before, at a fifth or less of their price. Most Packard experts acknowledge them as excellent durable cars all 'round. The six engine, by all accounts, seemed to have played it's supporting role very well.

Now to ask: is anyone aware of functional/mechanical upgrades or parts substitutions that are desirable to undertake for the
Six that is to be in regular use? Such as improved bearings, valve seats, oil pumps/filters, and other such?

And a related query: Are replacement parts starting to be increasingly sourced in China by vendors, as they are in Mopars these days? Suspension parts in particular have been in question there. A most deplorable trend. What is happening with folks like Merritt, Kanter, Hirsch et al?