1942 Engine number help

Does anyone have any knowledge of Packard WWII military production engine numbers? We are working on a 1942 Packard Civil Defense Ambulance with an engine stamped N132663 ONT. My theory is that the original engine was replaced with a military production engine either during the war or shortly after? As far as we can determine Packard never used an N prefix in regular production. The 132663 is in the sequence for a 1937 120 but this seems unlikely. How can we visually determine if the engine is a 1942 as opposed to a 1937 ? We have a '37 in the shop but it's a Super and thus of no help. No idea what the ONT means. We checked a list of military acronyms and ONT does not appear.

It would be interesting to know where that car might have been most of its life.

There have been several ordinary cars found with the N and a CAL suffix. No one has been able to offer any concrete information or documentation as to why. Speculation has been the N was either a factory stamped service engine since Packard never used the letter in regular production or was something designated by DMV possibly standing for "new". The numbers have been thought to be an arbitrary number or perhaps a document or region reference number since other numbers found have been in the 3xxxx range and not related to engine size as Packards 3xxxxx series were. One poster just recently found his odd number had been a 6 number originally but the 6 had been overstamped with a 3. IIRC, that was on a 1953 car.

CAL has been thought to mean the number was directed by the California DMV or the change was done in California as it was one of the states that registered by motor number and new paperwork would have had to be submitted after a change. The ONT is the first different suffix from CAL I remember hearing of. I can't think of a state that would have used the designation but if it stood for ONTARIO did Canada use the same registration and who would have determined the number. If letters are not a region or state then that throws the speculation out the window.

Isn't there an Ontario, California? Not sure why a city would number a vehicle though. This was a Civil Defense vehicle so possibly it was assigned to a specific city that numbered it?.

Is there a casting date? I'm assuming it's not a 356 engine.

Found a cast in date tag 11-11-46. The chassis is supposed a 120. Any way to visually distinguish a '46 engine from an earlier version?

So....the casting date indicates that the engine is a 1946. Interestingly the number sequence for 1942 120 engines and 1946 Clipper engines is the same 300001=-309000. Still doesn't explain the strange numbers actually on the engine now.

Does anyone have any knowledge of Packard WWII military production engine numbers? We are working on a 1942 Packard Civil Defense Ambulance with an engine stamped N132663 ONT. My theory is that the original engine was replaced with a military production engine either during the war or shortly after? As far as we can determine Packard never used an N prefix in regular production. The 132663 is in the sequence for a 1937 120 but this seems unlikely. How can we visually determine if the engine is a 1942 as opposed to a 1937 ? We have a '37 in the shop but it's a Super and thus of no help. No idea what the ONT means. We checked a list of military acronyms and ONT does not appear.

The military aspect is an interesting idea. Military high dollar purchases have ID and asset tags which trace back to originating paperwork. I wonder if that could have been the case then. If it was a direct military purchase could the cars have actually left the factory with some sort of ID referencing the ordering dept and paperwork or cars eventual motorpool number. If that is a possible scenario it could also tie in with the 53 I mentioned earlier. That is a 53 car with an engine cast in 53 but has the N and CAL -- but your car being a 42 with a 46 engine kind of messes that up unless it was a stocked body or chassis. I suppose it would be too simple if N stood for Navy dept and the CAL or ONT was the regional purchasing authority. Would be interesting if there are any known A or AF xxxx CAL or the like. Anyone know of any documented former military cars around with strange numbers or could be checked?

I saved an engine from a '51 Pat that a guy was going to street rod with a chebby 350. It had a CALxxxxxxx number stamped on the pad but I noticed a late 1954 casting date on the block. Turns out it was a dealer installed 359 long block service engine and at that time the California DMV issued new numbers which were also the VIN for the car.

May not shed any light on your car, other than oddball numbers do pop up now & then. I assume you have confirmed it is a 282? Must have been one of the late ones, possibly installed as a replacement sourced from a military spares depot.:confused:

The vehicle in question is a Civil Defense ambulance built by Henney in 1942, 1 of only 12 build apparently. The Henney tag lists the engine as Packard would have E317661. I'm thinking the original 1942 engine was replaced for some reason with a 1946, possibly war surplus.