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I gather that the prewar Packard 110, Packard Six and postwar 21st Series Clipper Six and the 22nd Series six cylinder engines were pretty much the same? Can anyone enlighten us as to their characteristics, differences, foibles and weaknesses if any, and, in general, the things one "ought to know" about re-building, running and maintaining one? I'm intrigued by the Packard Six, as they do seem to be, to a degree, relatively unappreciated and/or desired. Always did like underdogs....

IIRC, isn't the Packard Six basically a Packard Eight minus 2 cylinders?

According to Kimes, yes it is. I'd just like to know the nature of the beast. And since the only Packard I've had was a '56 V-8, I don't know anything about any of the Packard inline engines, for that matter.

Can't speak with any real knowledge or authority but just recently I "helped" with the exchange of a rebuilt 6 engine in lieu of the very tired original 6 in a '39 110. Hadn't driven the car prior to the change in engines but had ridden in it with the old engine. And have the opportunity to drive it last week with the re-built engine on board. My observations were there was plenty of power, throttle response very good, able to negotiate corners using top gear only and pulling well uphill from less than 20mph, accelerating all the way. It seems a strong and lively engine for its size. All this on an engine with about 100 miles on it since rebuild so limitations such as load, acceleration and top speed limitations were all considerations when driving it. Not helped by being RHD, in comparison to my '41 120 Coupe, so I managed to "change" the indicator stalk a number of times instead of the gear lever!

I just pulled out my owners manual and the 100 hp six has to carry 32 lbs per horsepower and the small eight has to carry 29.25 lbs (at least for 1940). So not much difference in power anyway.

The 245 Packard six is essentially a 327 missing two cylinders. The bore's the same and the stroke's the same as a 327. The Six has 25 less hp than the 288 of '48 and up, and 20 less hp than the contemporary 282. I'd like to get ahold of one of these little sixes and tinker with it one of these days just to see what can be done with them. The BIGGEST problem with these engines, and straight eights included, is the shared intake ports. Packard should have built their inline engines like the Hudson sixes, that is, with separate intake ports instead of the siamesed ports that they used on the intakes.

From all the cross sections that I've seen of the sixes, it appears that they have the same valve design and block design as the I8's, so I would imagine that most internal parts would interchange, IE, rods, pistons, valves, lifters. So, the same things that can be done to the Packard straight eights can be done to the sixes. Head choice won't be as abundant, though.

I can speak from experience with both a 1937 115C and a 1947 Clipper 6.

The 115C is a nice car to drive with adequate power and easy steering. Top speed is a bit limited by the numerically high rear axle ratio so anything over 50 mph starts sounding a bit busy. The 1939 to 1941 cars with overdrive would be better for highway driving.

The Clipper body style is considerably heavier so tend to be underpowered with the 6. Overdrive also makes these models better on the highway.

As far as service and durability is concerned the 6 is pretty much the same as the 8 used for the 120 models.

As stated above -the 6 ia basicaly the I 8 less 2 cylinders.
Rated at 100 hp. There was a option for an aluminium cyl.head.

I'm very happy with my six ! Smooth, quite, very powerful(loads of torque) and very dependable !

As for maintenance- basic service -oil changes, valve adjustments and tune ups. All parts are available .

Had mine rebuilt 2 years ago for $4300.00 including all machine work and parts. It has always had 45 psi oil pressure,cold or hot.(broken ring land was the reason for the rebuild)

I also have Studebaker Champ 6's .You can sure tell the difference when drive one then the other !

RT

Would like to make some comments on 6 cylinder engines generally.

A straight 6 has the smallest number of cylinders giving perfect primary and secondary balance. It is also the smallest number of cylinders to have overlapping power impulses.

Therefore, a 6 is inherently smooth. It is an "optimum" design with advantages over any 4 cylinder in this regard.

Eights and twelves may be even smoother and more powerful but these are "diminishing returns" designs with less advantage over a 6, than a 6 has over a 4.

This is why such highly regarded makes as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Mercedes, and BMW stuck with the 6 cylinder engine for so long.

So the Packard six should be a very satisfactory car. Not up to the standards of the heavier models but not a weakling either.

Most Packard people I know, consider the Packard six (115C and 110s)to be less than Packards.They are considered undesirable mistakes of a once great company.I have driven a 1939 110 and found it to be quite adequate up to about 55 MPH.At that point, it was screaming. Maybe it is better with OD.One should note that the Packard six put out 100 HP at a time that the ford V8 put out 85.So my question to the panel-Is a 110-115C really a Packard?