Packard Powerhouse

Packard was rather late to the overhead-valve V-8 launch party with the debut of its 352- and 320-cu.in. engines for the 1955 model year. Though its history was steeped in prior engineering achievements, including the famed V-12 Twin Six four decades earlier and others since, Cadillac and Oldsmobile had already released their versions of the OHV V-8 for 1949. Then Chrysler, Studebaker, Lincoln, De Soto, Dodge, Buick, Ford, and Mercury all came to market with their designs before Packard did.

If that wasn’t enough, the introduction would also have to share the press limelight with newly arriving OHV V-8s from Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Plymouth. And let’s not forget that Packard’s purchase of Studebaker in October of 1954, which formed the Studebaker-Packard Corporation, would also bring significant