1937 Packard V12 Engine Number location.

[Tom Laferriere]

Hello all, according to my reference, the number is located on the left side of block below distributor. I cannot find any number there. Can anyone shed a little more light on this?

Thanks,

Tom Laferriere

401.651.2295

[Dave Mitchell]

Left front of the block, just below the head, and above the water jacket, there is a face that is about 5/8" tall, the number runs lenghtwise there. The location you describe is for a 38/39. It should be a 6 digit number.

[Tom Laferriere]

That was it. Thanks Dave!

[Tom Laferriere]

Curious what the AA is after 6 digits. This engine has 2 Aluminum heads.

[Dave Mitchell]

Glad I could help Tom. As far as I know all 37s had aluminum heads, as a general rule the steel heads were 34 and earlier. I have a couple of engines with High Compression heads and they don't have these letters, and I have seen two other cars with them which didn't have special numbers either. Are your heads marked "HC" and what size is the carb? The stars are typical, but I can't say that I have seen any letters after the number. The 38s have a single "A" before the serial number, 39s a "B", but not after, and the "A" looks just like the ones after your engine number. On 6s and 8s they sometimes used letters after to designate cam and lifter series, especially if an engine had been rebuilt and they had been changed, but there again, as far as I know there was only one cam used in the later series 12 engines. It could be possible that this was to denote that the engine had been changed and the same serial number kept, or rebuilt, maybe even at the factory. Packard did use letters, including double letters to indicate piston size, but those are usually on the deck of the block near each cylinder. There is also usually what I assume is an assembly number on the manifold deck face on the right rear, and is a 3 or 4 digit number. Packard doesn't mention this number in manuals and I have never met anyone who can tell me what it is, so I assume it was only used at the factory. Hopefully someone here can tell us. I work with a man who has been rebuilding 12s for over 40 years - I will ask him if he knows. Sometimes when there was a recall, the replaced part would be marked with a letter to confirm that the job had been done - 1935 12 oil filter/coolers were recalled and the new ones were marked with a "C" on top of the housing, so this probably meant something to them.

[Salvo]

Is there any history on the Packard 12 with engine number 1235-2107 delivered from Packard Chicago,.....(Chicago 8439)?