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

Just kind of wondering- on my 115C with a three speed transmission, the speedometer shows a top speed of 100 mph. I know there is no way that this car would reach or sustain that speed, and I seldom have taken it above 45mph, so my question is more or less hypothetical: What should I expect a normal driving/cruising speed for this car to be?

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I can't say on your 115 but on my 1940 110, It used to drive at 70 easily on my many trips on the freeway between upper north-east Bellevue and Sumner Washington to visit my grandmother, and that was without overdrive. If it had it, it would have done so even more easily. I've never babied or pampered my cars and they've never complained.

Cartrich, I just forget what year your car is, 36 or 37, right? I am presuming you have the same motor as my '39 Six (the '39's were not called 110's or 115's) which is the Packard 245 CID flathead. High revs are definitely the enemy of those motors and you can hear them when they rev too high. I find my six can highway-cruise comfortably at about 55. I sometimes hit 60 when going down a hill or passing (which takes a pretty slow vehicle!!) but I believe you would be doing the internals of the engine long term harm to push it any harder than that. It's worthy of mention that the car must be in good mechanical shape to GO on the highway in the first place, with good brakes, a safe front end and decent rubber, etc. The other option, of course, is to install an overdrive transmission, which is quite a project and expense, but the O/D is supposed to slow the RPM's down by about 27%, according to Packard literature. The same car in overdrive can probably cruise at 65/70, maybe even touching 75/80 once in a while, without harming the engine. Those experienced with overdrive will probably weigh in with some input, but, FWIW, that's my take on the question. Chris.

PDon, no overdrive here either. I won't be doing any long distance treks.

PNewbie, yes a 37 with a six.

When the car was up in rural Connecticut, my father didn't go much more than 40 mph much to the chagrin of my much younger self. Most of the roads around where we lived were winding country roads with the "road to town" being a two lane, speed limited at around 45 at best. During his stewardship it never saw a highway just secondary roads. Now that it is here in urban Florida, it is kept on the inner fringe of the city and also will never see a highway while I own it (not due to the road but due to the drivers). However, some of our major in town thoroughfares are 4 lane race courses where going at an overly cautious speed is often as risky as speeding.

1937 originally would have had a 237 six cylinder. Same as the later 245, the only difference was a 1/16th inch larger bore over the 237.

Better question here is:

HOW FAST WILL IT STOP

The standard axle ratio was 4.56:1. This low (high numerically) ratio limits the speed at which these cars can be driven at a reasonable engine speed. You can do some things to make them more compatible in today's traffic.

One would be to get a higher ratio differential center section. These are rare, but fit without modifications. One of these would be the best solution and reasonably priced too. I purchased one of these for my 115C, but the car was sold before I installed it.

Some have fit larger rear tires. This will give some slight improvement, but hardly noticeable.

A Packard overdrive unit will require some major alterations to the frame for the unit to fit. Plus there is the driveshaft and other items to make fit. The transmissions that had the ODs were the column shifted ones. Your cane shift top may not fit in one of these. It would be an expensive and complicated change.

There is an aftermarket supplier of overdrives. I know of a couple of senior Packards that have them fitted. They work well, but again an expensive proposition.

My 115C was a joy to drive on lightly traveled and rural type roads. The conditions that existed when these cars were new. However, driving in modern congested and fast traffic was avoided whenever possible. I got caught in some heavy freeway traffic in Austin when returning from a nearby car show. I likened it to trying to land a Piper Cub at LAX. Not fun.

I would just stick with what you've got.

P.S. Check with David Flack (The Flackmaster). He is well versed with the '37s and my have a differential for you.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully I didn't mislead with my inquiry. Everything is going to stay exactly the same as it is. No swapping gears. No adding overdrive. Just asking out of curiosity because I don't want to beat on her any more than I have to. I've read about other member's cars that will do XXX mph all day, and was just wondering what might be expected from mine just in case I need to brag to someone, although I will never do any long distance trips with it.