104.7 mph V8's

[Guest]

Documented performance from the early V8 is an average of 104.7 mph for 25K miles at the Utica Proving Grounds. Thats mighty fast even by todays standards. I'd like to see the oil pump and valve guides after that run.

We also need to look into the idea of ADJUSTABLE pushrods for the V8's.

WHERE are all of the 1954 and older packard owners?????? Nearly all of the posts are from V8 owners.

[Guest AlK]

While it may seem that way, there are some posts from pre-55 owners occasionally. Maybe it's jus a case of 55-56 owners wanting to talk about their cars and having people to talk to. When pre-55 folks tak about thir cars and want advice, I can offer nothng specific other than maybe the names of people to talk to. Other than that I would a duck out of water.

[WCraigH]

Randy Berger was kind enough to email me a scanned copy of a 1957 Hot Rod Mag article about the hop up of a Packard 352 V-8 in a 1956 Golden Hawk.

It reached 141MPH at Bonneville with a misfiring magneto.

C-T Automotive in CA punched and stroked that 352 to 414CID. They used an Isky E2 solid lifter cam with adjustable pushrods.

They also ran rather large bearing clearances and the only mentioned oil pump mod was a 0.050" washer shimming the pressure relief spring.

This was a street driven car with no problems mentioned. It would be/have been interesting to talk to the owner after he put 50K miles on it!

[Guest JT]

Most of the long road test I have read about that took place at Utica seemed to result in little or no wear on engine components. I guess this was mainly due to a continuous run vs cold start / short trips.

I for one am an old Packard owner, 1940 120. Hopefully one day I will be joining the post war group when I can talk my wife into a 51-54 daily driver. There are a couple for sale right now in my area that I'm going to take a look at. One of them is out of my price range but you never know.

[WCraigH]

For all to enjoy:

Here's a pair of scans (too big for my scanner) of an advertisement tear sheet from LIFE magazine May 23, 1955 issue for Champion spark plugs. I have this framed and display it with my 1955 Patrician at car shows. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Far and Fast (top)

Far and Fast (bottom)

[Guest Randy Berger]

After I had my engine rebuilt in June 1999 and drove to Warren, Ohio for the Centennial two days in a row, I had a litttle over 500 miles on it and considered it broken in. My speedometer cable was broken so I just went along with traffic. In September going down state rte 119 heading for Mt. Pleasant, Pa. for a car cruise, I opened it up going uphill (figured no cops waiting at top of hill) and my buddy, driving a 64 Pontiac Catalina/Ventura 389 4-speed, stayed right on my tail. As we crested top of hill and ran on the flat it felt like 85-90. I noticed the Pontiac dropping back and I slowed also and we just cruised into town and parked. He asked me if I knew how fast we were doing up on the flat and then told me when we hit 105 he backed off. That V8 is strong at those speeds - I run a 3.54 twintraction rearend. I have never run it up that fast again - speedometer fixed now. I have no problem believing the 104.+ claim. Thanks for the picture Craig.

YFAM, Randy Berger <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[WCraigH]

Here's another high speed road trip story:

In August 1999 I took my 1955 Pat and 1972 Cad Eldo to "Hot August Nights" in Reno from my home in Las Vegas. It was 420 miles of mostly straight 2-lane on the west side of the Nevada Test Site (Area 51, et al).

At one point we were going about 85+ with my Eldo leading (friends driving) and me following driving my Pat. We encountered a pretty significant long dip and rough spot in the road. The Eldo bounced thru it like a "fish out of water", gyrating on all 3 axis. Seeing that, there was no time for me to slow down, so we hit that bump at the same speed.

The Torsion-Level sucked up that bump like it wasn't there. I looked over at my driving companion in the shotgun seat and he looked at me and we both said at the same time, "What bump?"

Shortly thereafter, my friends driving my Eldo called me on the cell phone and said they were slowing down because the road was "too dangerous". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />