G'day Mal, If your front shocks are similar to a 39 120 lever action then I may have some for you at the price of postage. Have a great Xmas, Peter Toet

G'day Eric, I wish you every success, I shall post the Flintstone Flyer stuff when I can scan it. Best Regards and Good luck. Peter Toet

G'day Eric, I appreciate your efforts to progress the potential of the Packard engine , but I am somewhat puzzled that you have settled on the 288 or the 327 engine. If you value the fact that longer rod gives greater torque then the 359 is the winner , however it is not that simple. Let me demonstrate:

1948: 288 engine, 7.00, 130 hp at 3600 rpm
226 lbs at 2000 rpm ( yes I know ft/lbs)
1948: 327 engine, 7.1, 150 hp at 3600
226 at 2000
1953 288 " , 7.7, 150 at 4,000
260 at 2200
327 " , 8.0, 160 at 3600
295 at 2000
1954 288 " , 7.7, 150 at 4,000
260 at 2,100
327 " , 8.0, 185 at 4,000
295 at 2,200
359 " , 8.7, 212 at 4,000
330 at 2,200
In fact Packard was pushing it's engines further than the rest of the industry. Packard also supercharged the 359 to 275 hp in 1954. But if you look at the 1955 V8 figures, the side valves were a performance thing of the past. I wish you luck with your endeavours as I have always been very keen to keep the Packard Standard flying. I would suggest that you start with a 185 hp, 5 main Mayfair 4 bbl Packard, blue-print it, add a big hairdryer( turbo), get it to run 5,500 rpm and you will get your 500hp. ( if you can get some sodium filled valves for it) Best regards Peter Toet P.s. I have dug up the pics of the 49 Packard Sedan "flintstone Flyer" that held the NHRA Association Nationals in 1962 and 63. I shall post them when I can scan them. best regards Peter Toet

G'day Eric, According to the Serviceman's Training book for the 24th Series Packard: The Height from the centerline of the pin to the top of the piston of the 288/327 engine is 2.125 inches ( two and one-eighth inches) Best regards for Xmas, Peter Toet

G'day Eric, I, as probably most people who viewed the thread are not sure of what you mean by compression distance. Could you please define what you mean by compression distance? Best Regards and please excuse my ignorance. Peter Toet

I particularly like the two tone Pastel colours used in the Fifties Packards. Scrolling down the Owners Registry, there are some very attractive combinations. Peter Toet

G'day all, Please be advised that I am in no way offended by anything that anyone has posted on the subject of colours etc. I accept the fact that some people hate bright colours whilst others don't mind it. I personally think that it looks balanced on the car in the brochure, and I tried to make it so on my 533. I didn't paint the bonnet in the copper colour as I felt the silver needed to carry through from the body reveals. Here is a pic which I took in 2001 of a 1930 Cadillac V16, using very much the same copper colour. There are certainly a lot of differing opinions out there about colour schemes, and I certainly would think more than twice about painting it the same colour 30 years after the event. best regards Peter Toet

Attach file:

---

  (79.82 KB)

G'day all, This thread is based on a forum item thread on the aaca site, on exterior colours for Packard. I have been unable to post a few pictures of a 733 Showroom Brochure on that site as they require an HTML. I would like to post the folowing pics to explain that as a 25 year old in 1974, I decided to paint my 533 in colours which unbeknown to me, were actually "artists conceptions", possibly not actual colours available. Best regards Peter Toet

Attach file:

---

  (45.02 KB)


  (38.12 KB)


  (63.32 KB)

You are probably correct is saying that the SIX diluted the Packard reputation , but the smaller Packards were received so enthusiastically and Packard was in such a strong position before WW11. I suspect that the reorganisation after the war was never really a success and Packard depended too much on facilities owned by other parties, such as Briggs. Packard and others suffered badly from labour problems after the war, but smaller non diversified Companies such as Packard felt the problems more acutely. We only have to look at modern computer or car companies to see how competitive it is out there. Peter Toet

Yes Owen, I know that you are correct in the fact that Packard initiated the term "Junior". I just had a bit of a hissy fit about the term and consider that Packard should have come up with a better terminology, to acknowledge the worth of cars competing against Buicks etc, rather than calling them "Junior" Packards. Modern car makers either use a different name or use the European system of e.g. BMW, for example, who have a 1,3,5,7, tag for " alluding to a more affulent fit-out than "Junior". GM did it by creating different marques such as Chev, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, La-Salle, then Cadillac. INMO Packard should have called the smaller Packards "Packards" and the Senior Packards "Senior Packards". Best Regards Peter Toet