Let's look at a few contingencies for the benefit of lucky Packard 12 owners.
First is the radiator. It has to come out for service. That's a big job. Next, the water jackets have to come off and the system flushed out to prevent clogging the radiator. I knew an old timer who drove on the Pennsylvania turnpike when it first opened. He told me the side of the road was crowded with cars that were boiling over because they had never been driven at high speeds before.
Next is the oil filter. It has to be replaced. Take the price of a typical Wal-Mart filter and multiply it by 100.
After that, the pan needs to come off (easy as pie) and the oil pump sent out to be be rebushed. When the bushing is worn the pumps sucks air and the motor blows up.
Next is compression. The Packard 12 needs a minimum of 100psi otherwise it will have problems with the burn rate and run hot. Once I had a newly rebuilt twelve in a stall that I used to run to heat up the building. It sounded (or didn't rather) like a million bucks but the motor puts out a lot of heat because of the burn rate. They had problems in the 30's and started the aluminum heads and raising the compression to mitigate that.
Another big issue is oil. If the motor is full of sludge then detergent oil will stir everything up and destroy it. So if the only option is mineral oil, the car is not suitable for extended or high speed use. Thus, the wiser men in the old days who would use it very sparingly.
The Packard 12 is great to watch when it is running properly. When they were new I think the Eights were better all around performers, but machinery gets old and today the V-12 is the best all around senior motor.
I'm not trying to be a spoiler, but I can run up a list of people I have known who took original V-12s out on the highway and promptly blew them up. So you gotta take care of that motor.
Started to think about the car again today, but my lift told me no. My 32 with a 142" wheel base just barely fits on the lift. The V12 with a 144" wheel base would not be a fit. But I still think it would be a fun car at that price.
