Owen,

THANKS for the picture. What a clever design. If I'm looking at it correctly, it had a "pent roof" piston top and head. Unfortunately the pic doesn't show the piston at TDC, but it seems like one side of the piston provided the "squish" area, and the side nearest the valve fit up close to the valve seat, and the machined "wedge" in the head completed the "wedge." Part of the combustion chamber was thus alongside the cylinder, not directly above it, but as close to the source of the air/fuel mixture could get.

Am I reading that right?


I still wonder if I'm reading this quote right, but I think PackardV12Fan wrote:

Quote:

Well, this is going a little too far. As Kev pointed out, Packard was by then building its own bodies, had the ONLY automatic transmission built by any independent auto manufacturer--even the "big three"--had a brand new Packard designed and built V8, and one thing Kev forgot, introduced a proprietary 4-wheel torsion bar suspension system.

Maybe the build quality wasn't the best, and they had some teething problems, they were no joke, especially to the automotive press, which especially gave credit to the Torsion-Level suspension. That alone, had it survived the corporate stodginess of the "big three" would have made a huge difference in suspensions to this day, I think.

If I might just jump in here, the earlier question I posed brought a wealth of information. I was indeed asking about the "second" Packard V12, which for some marketing reason was sometimes referred to as a "Twin Six" although it was a completely new design. The first Twin Six was enormously popular and put Packard front and center for American automobiles, coming out in the early early days around Springtime 1915 (John, I won't argue with you, neither of us was there.) But as impressive as the first engine was, I really wanted to find out more about the Second Packard V12, which has always been kind of shrouded in mystery for me. Even its engineering team and first production date are sort of hard to determine. It's "That 30's Packard V12."I did find out that the last of the original "Twin Six" are believed to have been produced by June 1923.

I posted here in hopes of confirming or debunking a suggestion I read elsewhere that... aw heck, let's just call it the "2nd Generation" Packard V12... had an early version of what could be called "Ram Air" and/or a "wedge" head. I find the answers here to be mostly positive, especially from packard V12Fan (considering at first you posted that you didn't know exactly what I was asking, you certainly nailed it in your answer later on).

I guess that you could say, rather than a "wedge head" the 2nd gen Packard V12 had a wedge-shaped combustion chamber. And with all surfaces machined, to boot. Talk about polished and ported! You could give Packard quite a bit of credit for realizing how important it is to allow an engine to breathe free to get the additional "free" power out of all those cubic inches. I'm often shocked at the tiny carbs and intakes on those monsters, (and also restricted exhausts). I imagine the engineers aimed more at smoothness and silence, and sacrificed power. The thing I've always liked about Packard is the payed attention to BOTH luxury and performance.

But I wonder how come it took Packard almost a decade--during the "Roaring Twenties" no less--to begin producing a new V12 after they had become famous for their first effort. And then when it came along about 1932, it came with so little fanfare for so much innovation, while the "Light Eight" seems to have been favored. Even Alvin Macauley is said to have referred to the 8 as the more important introduction of the year. Their timing for it wasn't the best, it's true, but then why did they wait so long?

In addition to the fact that I was pretty sure of getting knowledgeable answers here, I made this post because of the site's great collection of literature, pictures, and possibly engineering drawings that could be unearthed or contributed in regard to this engine... the LAST of the Packard V12's.

(I still can't quite visualize the valve setup, and the exact shape of the combustion chamber, was it a continuous wedge or more of a peak design?)

Thanks for all your input.

Hello Everybody,

First-time thread on this board. Some of you may remember me from the Packard forum on AACA. I have been reading PackardInfo with a lot of enjoyment for some time. The amount of original information is incredible.

A question came a while back about Packard's venture into a new V12 around 1932. I say "around" because I believe the intro date was April of '32. The question was, did this engine have a "wedge" head design, and did it incorporate a forced induction system, like passive "ram" air?

I have found some mention of what would now be called a "cold-air intake" system and pre-heated fuel on the "Light Eight" engine to take advantage of some free HP, but nothing on the newer V12 design, which seems to have been introduced with less fanfare, yet was much more advanced than the older, more famous "Twin Six."

Also, I understand that the original Twin Six was produced from (approximately) 1914 to 1923, leaving Packard without a V12 for almost 10 years?