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Packard made the Twin Six in the teens and 20's, correct?

Was the Twin Six manufactured THROUGHOUT the 20's?

And when was the Packard Twelve introduced?


I was just at the AACA Forum page where the gentleman was talking about restoring the Packard museum's 1932 Twelve (or is this one still a Twin Six?).

I came here after that to look at the model info, because I thought no Twelves were manufactured until later in the 1930s...

EDIT: Okay, I went back THROUGH the model info and I see that the Twin Six ended in 1923.

Therefore, the 1932 Packard on the AACA forum (sorry, I don't have the link) is NOT a Twin Six (even though it's referred to as one), but is a Twelve, correct?

It is a twin six. In 32 when packard reintroduced the v12 the car was called the Twin Six. However going forward the name was changed to Twelve.

The did the same with the big 8. In 32 it was called a Deluxe 8. Next few years it was called a Super 8. If I call by 8 and Deluxe 8, a lot of people don't know what I'm referring to so most of the time I just call it a Super 8. Of course in 37, they did away the bigger 8 and renamed the car with the smaller 8, a Super 8.

Quote:

Thanks, tbird!

So even though the 1932 was CALLED a Twin Six, it is the same design that was used until 1939 but later called the Twelve, right?

Correct.

Thanks!

Up until yesterday, I had NO idea that Packard manufactured a 12-cylinder engine in the 1930s until 1934-5-6.

Are the early 30's Twelves considerably rarer than those from later in the decade due to the Depression, etc?

Packard introduced their twin six engine in 1916. This was the first mass produced twelve cylinder car on the market. From 1916 to 1923 it was Packard's flagship car. In 1920 they added a smaller Single Six model.The Single Six lasted until 1928.

For certain technical reasons the straight eight was impractical at the time and the V8 had problems with vibration and smooth running.

The leading luxury cars of the time were mainly six cylinder cars.

Packard contended the V12 gave extra power, smoothness and silence compared to the six or V8.

Then in 1923 Packard dropped the twin six in favor of a new straight eight. This was the first mass produced straight eight of the type that dominated the luxury car field for the next 25 years. Once the straight eight was proven, the six and the V8 fell behind.

Issotta Fraschini and Duesenberg both had straight eights a year or 2 before Packard but these were smaller engines and not made in mass produced quantities. They deserve the credit for starting a trend but Packard was the first to really put the straight eight over with the public.

Then in 1932 they brought out an all new V12 model. It was called the Twin Six at first in honor of the original 12 cylinder Packard.

There were several 12 and 16 cylinder luxury cars in the 30s. They were fine cars but represented an engineering dead end. Improvements in engine design, rubber mounts, and automatic transmissions made the straight eight or V8 car practically as good at a lower price. Similar to the way the V6 front drive luxury car replaced the big V8 rear drive cars in the 80s.

The first generation Packard V12 was introduced in May 1915. In Indianapolis Indiana in May 1915 another V12 engine was introduced for mass production. The car company was National which introduced the Highway 12.

As I have stated in the past Packard may not have been the first to do so.

In 1932 when Packard introduced the second generation V12
Packard only referred to it as the Twin Six for one year. In 1933 they changed the designation to Packard Twelve.

John F. Shireman

Quote:Rusty,

To continue my Packard education your post prompted me to look at the Packard Model Info pages, but I'm confused. OK, OK I know that's more or less my normal state but in this instance my confusion grew worse! According to that reference:
1920 - All Twin-Sixes
1921 - Single Six and Twin-Sixes
1922 - Only Single Sixes
1923 - Single Six and Twin-Sixes
1924 - Sixes and Eights

Looking for help to understand this all. From Rusty and John's posts it appears that new engines were unveiled in 1915(Twin-Six) and 1923(Eight) but Packards using those engines weren't released until the following model year. My greatest concern is that the Twin-Six appears to have been dropped for a year, 1922, only to re-appear again for one year only in 1923, is that correct?

Mal, According to the kimes book (pages 780/81) the Twin Six 3-35. Model Years 1920 - 1923. Series - Third. Introduced August 1919 Current to June 1923. Motor Serial Numbers 21000 To Approximately 22300.
Body Numbers 160130 To Approximately 165662.

Possibly Packard were focusing on their 6 cylinder and more fuel efficient (if that mattered then) engine, the Twelve being 7 years old in 1922.

The new 6 cylinder engine was introduced September 1st 1920 to April 20th 1923.

Shame we don't have more information. Then again, we're not the only one with such difficulties: Read this week that Cerberus sacked the Chrysler Engineering Library Librarian and told anyone who wished to they could carry away whatever they wanted.

Shame if that's true.

One source of confusion is Packard's model system. They did not use annual year models like we are used to today. They brought out new models more or less at random times and made them for anywhere from a few months to 3 years.

Then you can try to reconcile this with they typical year model system where next year's model is introduced the previous September or possibly earlier or later.