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ebay.com/itm/Packard-Touring-Sedan-1400- ... item=161488647306&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

I'm sure everyone has seen this 1936 Packard 1400 Sedan on ebay. One thing I noticed in the description I was not aware of is that the front grill was actually functional louvers. Was this to regulate air-flow?

take care
Garrett Meadows

My 1939 110 coupe (I no longer own) which had 17,000 miles of original when I bought it in 1978, had the thermostat operated louvers in the front grill.

There was a bellows type thermostat up in the top of the radiator which worked some linkage that regulated the louvers depending on the coolant temperature.

After I sold the car the new owner, Idiot had the radiator boiled out just because he thought it was a good idea and destroyed the thermostat.

From that day forward they were always opned.

Jim

Junior and Senior Packards all had thermostatically controlled shutters, up until 1940. The only exception that I'm aware of is the Series 900 of 1932. I'm pretty sure that block thermostats were not used, but I could be wrong about that. (Not knowing a lot about the 900, it's possible that there were shutters behind the grille that opened and shut.???)

Starting in 1940, the junior cars were not equipped with the opening/closing shutters, but the Senior cars retained the feature through 1942 (except for the Senior Clippers, which did not).

West, The 1935-37 junior Packards (120s and 115C) did not have thermostatically controlled grille louvers, but rather a conventional thermostat in the outlet of the cylinder head. Then, the 1938-39 juniors had the thermostat controlled louvers with the option to install a second thermostat in the cylinder head outlet housing for severe cold weather driving. The Clippers, as you say, had the conventional thermostat in the cylinder head outlet. Not sure about the 1940-42 conventional bodied Packards.

(o{}o)

JW,

I believe the 1937 120CD was equipped with thermostatically controlled grill shutters.