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I believe the three-pointed star on the grille of the truck indicates that a 6-cylinder engine resides under the hood. Whether it's a Merc or a Ford is a question for a more informed man than I.

By the way, thanks for the pictures and story of your auto archeology!

The car is a 1948 to 1950 hearse or ambulance as modified by Henney.

To answer your original question, the engine might be worth a couple of hundred dollars as a core for rebuilding if it is the original 9 main bearing 356 cubic inch type. The fan pictured is for a 356, however the cylinder head is from a 327 cubic inch motor which is most likely a later 5 main bearing type and relatively common. The engine number will be very hard to get since it is on the drivers side so now on the bottom side of the block with the car tipped over.

The front bumper might have some value, also the grille pieces if the chromed pot metal is not pitted too much

One quick way to determine if it is in fact a 356 is to look at the distributor, and see if it's directly under the center freeze plug, if it is, it's a 356. If it isn't, it's a 288/327/359. All external parts save the oil pan and oil pump are bolt on between the four different sizes. May not be correct, but they will bolt on.

Gotcha Turbopackman,
I just noticed your signature lol nice.

Ill take another look around when i go back up and see if i can find the rest of the grille it could be laying right there. As far as the numbers on the drivers side of the motor, my friend who is a mechanic, crawled under the motor and he said he couldnt see any markings at all. They should be on the drivers side at the top of the motor towards the front right? the motor isnt sitting in the dirt its about a foot off the dirt. When i flashed a light into the 4 holes missing plugs, i could see the nice shiny cylinder heads in 3 of them the 4th was a little rusted. I figure if the 3 that dont have plugs are not rusted the ones with plugs in the holes must be fine....



"I believe the three-pointed star on the grille of the truck indicates that a 6-cylinder engine resides under the hood. Whether it's a Merc or a Ford is a question for a more informed man than I"

~ I would love to prove you right but unfortunately theres no
motor left lol

The engine number is towards the top rear of the block, above the starter and right below the head. It might take a little to see it, and it should be a "G", "H", or "J", if it's original to the engine. All you really need is the first two digits, a letter then a number, that'll tell you right away what it is.

The numbers that are in the picture were from the passenger side firewall at the top. are those of any significance?

Not really, those are the "anti-theft" numbers and any correlation to the serial numbers/engine numbers has been long gone since Nance came to work for Packard.

Hi I have ran across this blog trying to find my engine
# M 40 1990
I now have my mothers 1954 packard Cavalier That should have a 327 and dose have a 327 head but not sure on the block, I have never known it to be changed in the 45ys it has been in the family.
I have timing issues with it as my father did in the past; to have the valve open and close to their near stated readings I have to have the cam timing gear 180Deg off of the timing mark of the crank set mark ( I have been up and down with this) and have the near deg reading of 4deg ATDC when the #8 exgaust valve just closes as stated in the service manual and it will start and run but it is off!
I strongly believe I may have the wrong cam in it, I just want to make sure the block is that of the 327. It does have the date of 4-1-54 on the pass side block.

Any help would be great!!!

Yes, it's a 327. Here's the reference:
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/PackardEngineSerials.pdf

Thank you JD I have been looking for this chart for a while now....