Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Quote:

That's not true of today's VW's. I've got a 2002 Jetta that I wouldn't give to my worst enemy. Well, maybe to O_D...

And Eric, I'd take it and cherish it, knowing the kind affection with which it was given.

GUWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!

I wish someone would give me a car they don't like. That's the only kind i ever had until i bought my 56 Executive. HA HA HA HA HA !

On second thot, i'm not sure the former owner liked it.

Gufwah hahahahahahah.

'50s cars did indeed have many problems, but the steel used was not one of them as far as gauge, it was still far heavier than that used later on, particularly from the late '70s onward... my father worked for Bethlehem Steel 1946 to 1982 and was Divisional VP for Cold Rolled Sheet Steel, Galvanized Sheet, and Galvalume, among other products, all of the US car makers and large appliance makers were his customers. Packard and others still used good steel at the time. The biggest lightening occurred after the gas crunch, and he told me Chrysler was the last to go to thinner "high strength" steel, around 1979. He also told me that the engineers at American Motors were "a bunch of horses asses" (he himself was a Masters degreed Mechanical Engineer), he never did explain why.

The Chrysler Double Rocker was indeed a fine power plant, but the B Block Wedge 350/361 introduced in '58 was even better! It further evolved through 383,400,440 B and RB iterations that survived in production for decades... the '64 Hemi was an entirely different engine than the DR "hemi" 331/354/392 and the separate Dodge Red Ram and DeSoto FireDome versions. I've had many of all of them, including the 392 dual carb in my old '57 300-C convertible and single carb 392 '58 NYer convert. The '58 and later wedge was a better engine in most respects. As far as I know it had no teething problems whatever, and my '58 DeSoto still has it's original untouched first year only 350... bet a GM guy if Mopar ever made a 350 and you'll likely win that bet!

The biggest problem with the P III Rolls engine (V-12) was that it was designed to run on a flat surface, but when installed in a car the rear was lower than the front, which hampered oil return flow back into the pan. This has been corrected by filling in one or two oil return holes in the back of the heads.

Would've been no problem and no fix needed if the thing was mounted in a chassis with a decent self-leveling suspension, especially one with full length interconnected torsion bars... oh, that's right. Only one car had a suspension like that in the '50s, and ever since then.

Imagine the reputation of the SB chevy if it was only around 2 years. They didn't even have an oil filter the first year!

Chrysler may have made the best V8s in the 50's and 60's but their cars were lacking for quality in many ways.

/\ Amen to that, brother. Chrysler was always known as "the Engineering company" or the "the Engineer's company", due mainly to the talents of Zeder, Breer and Skelton, fantastic engineers in their day. I think Chrysler cared a lot about engine design, that much is apparent by the excellence of their powerplants and the durability of their transmissions. In the days when Briggs built and designed their bodies they managed to make a good car.
After that era ended (with the introduction of the 1957 bodies) they became decidedly sub-par in quality to their two major rivals, and no amount of mechanical excellence in the eninge of a car can make up for slap-dash work everywhere else.
Old Walt knew that thae race was won by the manufacturer who spent the least time in production per unit, and that culture is still very much there.

Agreed, and I'm here to tell you that from direct personal experience that Mopars of 57-58 had mediocre to awful body fit and finish, having owned 4 examples from that time period. The 58s were much improved over the 57s, but still light years from Packards of 55/56, or even Mopars of 55/56. Leaks, rattles, premature (almost instantaneous, in some cases) rusting, poor application of paint and trim etc was the norm, and the hardtop models and conv were the worst. They were also the most elegantly designed of any of the Big Fin cars, in the opinion of most designers and arty types. And as mentioned the engines, hemi, poly and wedge, and transmissions were uniformly superlative.