Packard Forum Index » General

you didn't read my post carefully. Of course it is common knowledge that there were plenty of RIGHT hand drive Packards coming straight from the factory on East Grand Ave., and from the assembly facilities in Canada and England.

But they were all EIGHT cyl. cars. Converting an EIGHT cyl. Packard from left to right hand drive (one of my good friends in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles recently sold his beloved '34 Super Eight Formal Sedan to a guy in Australia, who was able to find all the authentic parts to convert it over) is no problem.

What I was asking, is whether there are any Packard V-12's in Australia or New Zealand, and if so, what did they do about the regulations down there. The reason I am curious, is the parts books do NOT show anything about right hand drive parts (called in the parts books "EXPORT" for the Twelve.

Here's the technical problem that makes me wonder about this. Again, my question has to do with Packard V-12's - NOT the much smaller engined eights and Super Eights, which, again, we KNOW were produced in both right and left hand drive versions.

The V-12, at approx. 480 cu. inches, was a MUCH larger engine than the biggest eight (the Packard Super Eight earlier called the Delux Eight) of 384 cu. in.

Thus there was much less room under the hood. To make matters even more difficult in the case of the V-12, the huge exhaust pipe comes down off the right rear side of the engine, right where the GEMMER steering gear column and box would have to go, to make the car right hand drive.

With the much larger exhaust pipe of the V-12 on the right side of the car, no room for all the "stuff" related to brake and clutch.

G'day all, There is a 39 twelve amongst Andrew's cars. To my knowledge ( following Packards since 1966) there would have to be about a dozen V12's in Australia. I have never seen a RHD conversion attempted on one although I believe that it could be done, using a transfer chain to a steering gear on the LH side of the car. The clutch and brake should be able to be converted using Super Eight RHD equipment, as the Super Eights still operate via shafts to the LH side of the chassis. But I don't believe that anyone would bother. All of the Australian States now allow LHD collector cars to be operated, some on an annual "Permit to Move", others on a registration system. My 56 Patrician was converted to RHD and I have not heard of any others. Since 1 Jan 2006, it has been made a lot tougher in Australia to register non collector( under 30 years old) RHD and LHD vehicles from other countries. Best Regards. Peter Toet

Have noted the 2 previous posts and the specific reference to V-12 RHD conversions. Irrespective of that, I have taken some pic's of Wades 34 chassis, pic below, see link for all the pic's.

picasaweb.google.com/ozstatman/Wades34

Attach file:

---

  (25.46 KB)

why do you "believe" it would be possible to convert a Packard V-12 over to right hand drive ?

(well...ANYTHING is "possible".....!). May I respectfully suggest you crawl under a Packard V-12, and take a good look at how the exhaust system is set up, and then tell us what you think about "possibilities" ?

G'day all, especially Packard 12 fan. I believe that it would be possible to convert a 12 to RHD because there are many similarities already covered in the Super Eight conversion. If you have a look at the pic posted by Ozstatman of Wade's 34 Standard Eight you will see the clutch and brake actuation shafts running under the front of the tailshaft. There should be sufficient room for the RHD pedals on the Twelve as the twelve exhaust exits at the front of the clutch bell housing. There are possible problems with the Twelve in terms of leaving enough room to get the starter out from the RH side with pedals and a steering column. You also need a RH drive steering crank ( which I have for a Super Eight and it should fit). It should be possible to "massage" a kink into the exhaust pipe after it leaves the manifold , if you wanted to use a RH drive steering column ( which I have). Drilling and bracing the steering column into the chassis rail would be similar to the Super Eight. If you look at Page 413 or thereabouts of the Beverley Kimes Packard book (2002 Edition), you will see how the LH drive steering column goes under the LH head/block. If you took this to the RH side it would not take much to clear the exhaust pipe, with perhaps a bit of a massage, but probably no worse than most RH drive conversions on the 120's where the steering column tube is flattened to clear the exhaust manifold.
I am not intending to say that it would be an easy task and I should add that I am not aware of ANY 37-39 Packard Twelves sold new into Australia. 30 years ago I published a 1936 letter from one of two Australian Packard agents on the number of Packards in their area. In the lower part of Australia there were 8 Super Eights and Twelves, and around 250 Standard Eights. The Super eights were converted to RH drive because they were very similar to the Standard Eight conversion. But there was no demand to convert any Twelves. I inspected a 1607 a few years ago and had a good look at the prospects. My main fear would be locking in the starter motor with pedals and the steering column. I also have a 1938 Sales brochure annotated on 30 April 1938 with the new prices of the Packards. All of the models are priced except for the Twelve. very interesting. Best regards Peter Toet

Ahh...Australian humor...he sees "possible problems".....

Got to admire those Aussies - give em a big enough hammer, hack saw, and some welding rod...bet they could start civilization over from scratch !

Quote:

Along with a plentiful supply of Fosters lager I think that they could too!

Hi Dave

We send the Fosters out of Australia to slow the rest of the world down - we don't drink that stuff.

The best of the beer stays here!

You better come over to try a few...

Cheers

What with all the great Canadian beers I don't usually drink Fosters either. Years ago when I considered myself a beer connesseur of fine brews and hearing such god things about Coors I drove my motorcycle 800 miles to Colorado to find some Coors since it wasn't sold east of the Mississippi River at the time. In a bar in Loveland I asked a barmaid about Coors and she answered "All the serious beer drinkers around here drink Budwieser." Oz is in my "bucket list". Don't know when I'll get down under but someday.

hmmm....all this talk about beer drinking...may I assume the idea of a RIGHT hand drive Packard Twelve, came from, and is limited to the end result of a night of too much of the stuff, and that in fact, my suspicion that there is NO SUCH THING in the real world, is correct ?

Seriously, thanks for the info. about Aussie vehicle laws. I did not know that it is possible to legally drive LEFT hand drive vehicles in Australia (apparently under limited circumstances).

That is why I was puzzled at seeing the photo of what appears to be a '39 Twelve in an Australian collection. I was aware, as I noted above, that EIGHT cyl. Packards delivered to (or later shipped to) Australia have RIGHT hand drive kits installed.

So - thanks, guys, for straightening me out on this -