Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

2nd question in regards to the possible purchase of a 1939 model 1700 six. It has an 8 volt battery. My knowledge of someone changing to 8 volts and jacking up the generator output is a band-aid for an electrical issue. Is it common for people to do this to Packards? Are they generally hard starting? My last car had a six volt red top optima battery and it cranked over like a 12 volt.

No, it is common to use 8 volt batteries on cars that are worn out, have poor compression, poor connections, or at the very least need to have their starter rebuilt. Packards start just fine.

I kept a log once for a few days on my '53 Clipper shop truck/errand-mobile. I started it 21 times in the space of 3 days as it did its rounds to the bank-store-machine shop-towing dead cars into the service bay etc. Starting is a non issue.

Is this something that would make you walk away from a potential purchase ? My concern is other devices other than light bulbs that might be affected by the increased voltage for example the radio I'm not sure if anything else in the dash like gauges are electrical but it could cause problems if so. If I purchased the car I think I would try to get it back to 6 volts using a optima battery maybe upgrade some battery cables Etc

8 volt batteries are a crutch for tired, old cars that have not been kept up. Look at the battery cables, make sure they haven't been replaced with auto parts store 12V cables.

I had an 8 volt battery in my 38 Richards Six for a few years and it was great on starting but caused other issues. One is that the voltage regulator for 1938 (probably the same for 1939) was non temperature compensating and really poured the amps into the battery until the regulator warmed up. The high amps was very hard on the wiring loom/Ammeter as well and the generator was probably lucky to survive without throwing commutator solder. I went back to 6 volt and still have a brand new ( dry charged) 8 V battery if anyone in OZ wants one. Probably OK for a VW. I would not do it again on a Packard. Peter Toet.