We mostly build Studebaker and Packard V8s, but there's the occasional Champion; they are sometimes side by side. Yesterday, I noticed the Packard V8 and the Champion 6-cyl blocks are exactly the same 22" deck length. The head from one sits evenly on the other, so total length is pretty much the same. The Packard V8 is a tight fit in the Studebaker engine compartment, but it did go in there in the 1956J.
But once they had to shut down the senior Packard line, what to do to compete? The Studebaker 289" was too small for a late-'50s luxury car. We know the '57-58 Packards were not well received, so that was the wrong answer. Talk about missing an opportunity to bring back the classic era with the CASOs dream car!
Since Packard had many years of V12 history, there was the Twin Six from 1915-25 and the V12 in 1932-39, imagine if Studebaker-Packard had built a 120" wheelbase '57 Land Cruiser with a 370" flathead Twin Champion Six V12. Just a new block and crank, use all the rest of the Champion parts and machining line; naturally that would have saved S-P ;>)
jack vines
But once they had to shut down the senior Packard line, what to do to compete? The Studebaker 289" was too small for a late-'50s luxury car. We know the '57-58 Packards were not well received, so that was the wrong answer. Talk about missing an opportunity to bring back the classic era with the CASOs dream car!
Since Packard had many years of V12 history, there was the Twin Six from 1915-25 and the V12 in 1932-39, imagine if Studebaker-Packard had built a 120" wheelbase '57 Land Cruiser with a 370" flathead Twin Champion Six V12. Just a new block and crank, use all the rest of the Champion parts and machining line; naturally that would have saved S-P ;>)
jack vines
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