Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Anyone who has ridden in one of the long wheelbase cars or in one of the hearses or ambos would not be in any hurry to include torsion level. They ride just fantastic as is. The point of T-L was to give the effect of suspending the car at its center of gravity. The longer the wheelbase, the less the real advantage. 2CV Citroens had the same system in principle and it was BIG help for them.

BUT, if someone wanted to build a limo with Torsion for fun, I would suggest making bar extenders, sort of like a socket wrench extension. Then add light helpers front and rear to compensate for the extra weight. Would not have a clue how to affordably make longer bars.

Regarding the limo and professional car chassis. I agree that it would have been ok to continue the 54 chassis with conventional suspension if it would have been too much work and expense to design a Torsion Level.

But what about coil front springs and torsion bar rear? This could have used the 54 chassis with changes to the rear only, incorporating heavy torsion bars and electric self leveling. It would have been cheaper to do this, and give most of the advantages of self leveling and superior ride.

Why not swap the nose and dashboard for a 55, French the rear quarters, and drop in a V-8, with a little cutting torch work thrown in.

That's about all Packard did.

Instead of trying to get a long wheel base torsion-level to work, what about just the compensator motor, short bars and the rear load bars. Technically it would still be torsion-level but instead of an automatic system, it would be controlled manually with a dash switch where if the load were several people and their luggage, the chauffer could "level" out the car. Then the regular springs and leaf spring system could be used for road travel. Would that make things easier without trying to remove and replace (as well as create) a lot of suspension parts?