Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Mr. Witzky invented, among others, the Daimler Benz Unimog!
Later he came to the United States under "Operation Paperclip" and work for the US Navy and the Departement of Defense.
Later he joined Packard, where he invented several patents.
Then he worked as a consultant and lived in Texas.

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G'day V8fan,
to PackardInfo, not too many members from Switzerland. And for that information.

If by chance you should have a Packard, or better still Packards, I invite you to include it/them in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!

Dear Ozstatman

here in Switzerland are Packard cars a rarity!

Other cars are a plenty, such as Mopar, Chevy, Olds...

I'm a former Mopar man, I once had a '71 Challenger RT, Schinznach car (means locally here assembled!)

Now I am looking for a good Packard example, maybe a Clipper V8 or one with a 1932/39 V12 engine.

In the meantime I'm very interested in Packard Research & Development, secret projects and prototypes, experiments and the like!

The Packard V8 is a Hemi? Did not know that. If so did it pre-date the Chrysler Hemi? I've read that Peugeot was actually the first to develope hemisphereical combustion chambers.

Dear Phil53

The 1955/56 V8 is not a Hemi.
But maybe J.E. Witzky developed one for Packard.
Maybe as a later replacement!
Outstanding is, it has only one rocker shaft. The Chrysler 1st generation Hemi and the 426 Hemi have two.

J.E. Witzky's construction has only one bent rocker shaft?

It would be nice to know, if ever a prototype engine was made? Maybe somebody know more.

Have a nice day!

I've read that Peugeot was actually the first to develope hemisphereical combustion chambers.

That could be, Phil, I don't really know but hemispherical combustion chamber designs go back to almost the very beginning of the gasoline engine. One of the more noteable designs was the monster twin cam flatheads (so called "T heads") made famous by McFarlan, Pierce-Arrow, and others. Some of these approached 800 cubic inches in displacement.

Here's a photo of a McFarlan T-head with the heads off, note that although it's a flathead the intake and exhaust valves are on opposite sides of the block operated by twin camshafts and thus allowing a cross-flow hemispherical combustion chamber.

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Hmmm...a quick Google search says this:

http://www.moparstyle.com/history/earlyhemimotor.htm
The first hemi engines built were by Chelsea Mfg. Co. in Chelsea, Michigan in 1903. The Chelsea Welch had a two cylinder engine with overhead valves and hemispherical combustion chambers and put out 20hp. Chelsea continued to build Hemis until 1909 when the company was acquired by General Motors.

And then there is this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071127184551AAQn5ct
Hemispherical cylinder heads have been used in some engines since they were first used by the Belgian car maker Pipe in 1905. Most applications have been in higher-priced luxury or sporting vehicles, because the hemi design is more expensive to build. Among first applications with hemispherical heads were also Peugeot Grand prix Car 1912 and Alfa Romeo GP car in 1914.

And Witzky's daughter is still alive and apparently doing OK in ABQ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704278404576038211346583524.html

Very interesting concept. That no manufacturer has ever built exactly to his design indicates there are some inherent problems.

His thinking on valve layout predated the Chevrolet Mystery Motor porcupine head which was such a breakthrough in NASCAR in 1963. It became the big block Chevrolet introduced in 1965.

Both Chevrolet and Ford built similar semi-hemi engines but used ball-and-stud rockers or individual pedestal rockers canted at the appropriate angle, with the angle being in the pushrod approach.

Can't remember anyone trying to swing rockers in an arc off paired canted shafts with pushrods parallel to the bore layout.

Thanks for sharing the link.

jack vines

Dear Mr. Vines

Thank you very much for your comments!

Maybe the Chevrolet 1963 Mark II Mystery Motor and the Chrysler A-279 Ball Stud Hemi were just patent evasion?