1st generation Packard Eight 357, 385, 320

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]I personally hate fake. The year is 1924. Packard would make an all-new cylinder configuration to them in line 8, which would replace the first generation V12. Less cylinders, cheaper to produce, made more power, and weighed around 350 lbs less than Packard's original twin 6. Packard's first generation 8 was produced from 1924 all the way out till 1940. It was offered in three different engine displacements.

[00:00:31]357, 384, oftentimes referred to as the 385, and the 319, which was often referred to as the 320. It's important to note that Packard wasn't the first company to offer a straight eight in this country.

[00:00:46]Trivia for bonus points. To have your name pinned and comment pinned to the top of the comment section, you have to get both of these right. Does anybody know what the first straight eight that was on sale for the world to the public as well as what was the first straight eight produced in this country? You have to have both to have your comment pinned to the top of the comment section.

[00:01:10]Another interesting point to note is this is the second wave of 8-cylinder engine in this country. The first wave happened in 1915 and it was led by Cadillac with eight cylinders but in a V formation. There was way more V8s than many people realize. Cole Pharaoh Pharaoh was the first monolock overhead valve V8 built in this country. Believe it or not, that's all one piece. The blocks and valley cover. It's crazy.

[00:01:40]King, Cunningham, Aperson, as well as many others. I'm just pointing it out because it's super interesting when you think that the V8 lost out to the straight 8 and then the straight 8 was replaced by the second coming of the V8.

[00:01:54]I don't think any company made a straight eight after 1955. It's just interesting when you think about it.

[00:02:00]Back to the Packard 8. Packard was an engineering company. All of their engines were designed and produced in-house. These engines have a clean profile. All the accessories are driven off of a silent chain. Cylinders are hard gray iron castings. This engine is an L head design where the valves are inside the block. One intake, one exhaust. Head is detachable and can either be cast iron or aluminum. The aluminum heads are oftent times higher compression. Crankase is detachable from the cylinders and is cast in two parts of aluminum alloy. The upper part of the crank case has inspection openings over the flywheel to check timing. The bottom part of the crank case serves as the oil pan and or oil reservoir which it can hold two gallons of oil which lubricated the engine as well as chassis components with a push of a button on the dash.

[00:02:54]Crankshaft is drop forge steel supported by nine main bearings to make the crankshaft more rigid to negate whipping which was a problem for larger engines.

[00:03:04]Packard 8 is described as being a four cylinder in the center with two cylinders added to each end. They did it this way for balance. The main bearings are bronze shell babbit lined variety.

[00:03:16]Connecting rods are drop forged I-beam variety. Cast iron pistons with three piston rings. The lower ring was for oil control. Valves are made of a special alloy steel. Intake valves were 1 and 5/8 in diameter. Exhaust valves were 1 and 1/2 in in diameter. Valves would open and close from rocker arms interposed between the cam and valve tapets. Anti-friction rollers were also used fitted to the rocker arms. This engine uses pressurized oiling lubrication system which was supplied by a gear pump which was submerged in the bottom of the lower crank case. Oil is sent to all of the nine main bearings through holes drilled in the crankshaft.

[00:03:58]Introduced the 1924 357 cubic inch displacement flathead in line 8. 5.9 LERS. It was good for anywhere between 80 to 85 horsepower at 3,000 RPM.

[00:04:11]Estimate, this is just an estimate, 150 lb feet or 203 new meters at 1,800 RPM with a bore of 3 and 38 of an inch and a stroke of 5 in. Compression was 451 to1.

[00:04:24]years this engine was used and this is a bit conflicting information. 1924 through 1925 most definitely 1926 is the year of question. According to the standard catalog from 1805 through 1942 it was the Packard engine but according to the advertisement piece from 1926 Packard should know its own product says the next engine was the engine that was available for 1926. This engine ran a fuelizer which was a Packard exclusive thing. It was essentially a chamber surrounding the intake manifold where a small amount of gasoline was exploded and then it was drawn into the intake manifold which raised the temperature of the gasoline. Gasoline was drawn into the fuelizer chamber by a small pipe leading from a butterfly valve circulates at high velocity in the chamber after being ignited by a spark plug inside that chamber. Then it goes through an opening in the manifold. The benefits from the fuelizer were complete combustion. It also aided in cold weather starting. It was an automatic unit. The fuelizer also promoted quick, smooth operation as well as reduced carbon formation. The 357 used an updraft carburetor. In either 1926 or 1927, bore would increase to 5 1/2 in, bringing overall displacement to 384.8, oftentimes just referred to as simply the 385 cubic inch displacement flathead in line 8. 6.3 L. This engine has quite the spread on horsepower. 105 to 150 horsepower at 4,000 RPM. This is just an estimate. 250 lb feet or 338 new meters at 2400 RPM with a bore of 3 1/2 in a stroke of 5 in. Nine main bearings on the crankshaft. Years this was used 1926/1927 all the way out to 1936.

[00:06:26]We have to stop that. We're going to come right back to this engine because this engine was in a very important car that's oftentimes overlooked. But before talking about all of that, we have to talk about 1929. 1929 was a huge year for Packard. Packard would discontinue the six after 1928, offering two flavors of inline 8. They also offered more distinctive models. For example, the previous year or the fourth series I should say, eight-cylinder cars were custom and standard. They were grouped as one model. The six was a different series. It was It's weird. It's the series 5 with two models, 526 and 533.

[00:07:10]1929 was the sixth series, which was the standard 8, the speedster 8. More about that in a minute. and the custom eight.

[00:07:20]The standard eight got the smaller displacement 8 which was 319.2 cubic inch displacement oftent times just referred to as simply the 320 cubic inch displacement engine flathead in line 8 5.23 L. It was good for anywhere between 90 to 130 horsepower at 3200 RPM. estimated 220 lb feet or 300 new m around 1,800 RPM with a bore of 3 and 316 of an inch and a stroke of 5 in.

[00:07:51]Compression was anywhere between 5 to 7 to1 nine main bearings solid valve lifters. Years this engine was used 1929 through 1939.

[00:08:02]It used an updraft carburetor from 1929 through 1932 and then it was switched to downdraft carburetor from 1933 through 1939. In 1929, Packard would also release an allnew car, the Speedster.

[00:08:16]The Speedster could be had in two different body configurations for 1929.

[00:08:22]Speedster Fatin and Speedster Roadster.

[00:08:25]These were super rare, very limited production. Only 70 were made. They are considered holy grail by Packard enthusiasts and people outside the Packard world don't even know that this car really even existed. There's conflicting information on how many were produced. It's believed that only 70 were produced for 1929. It was powered by the 384.8 cubic inch displacement engine, but it had some trickery going on. There's a lot of lore about all of the different things associated with the engine. So, I'm trying to tread a little bit lightly here. It made 130 horsepower via high lift cam shaft, high compression cylinder head, and different intake manifolding. The Speedster would last two model years or two series. They would bring it back for the 7th series, 734, and this time it was offered with more bodies. Offered in five body styles for 1930 speedster runabout four-door faton Victoria and fourperson sedan. Jesse G.

[00:09:32]Vincent was able to work his magic on this engine and get 15 more horsepower out of it, bringing the overall horsepower count to 145 horsepower, while the custom 8 for that year only made 106. It was the big engine and the small chassis. It's written that this was Packard's answer to the Cadillac V16, but in my opinion, this was Packard's answer to the Duesenberg Straight 8, aka the Duesenberg Model A.

[00:09:58]The Duesenberg Model A, which was a straight eight engine with overhead valve, overhead valve, overhead cam, only produced between 88 and 100 horsepower. This produced 45 horsepower more, and it didn't sacrifice anything.

[00:10:12]They still drove amazingly. With Packard, you got the package deal. But with Duesenberg, it just kind of got an engine. There is a reason why a lot of people say that it's the most expensive truck in the world. The Packard Speedster 7348 was super limited production because this was the height of the Great Depression and these cars were wicked expensive. The cheapest ones were priced at $5,200. The most expensive ones were $6,000, which would be equivalent to $119,647.90 in the year 2026. Jesse Vincent would continue to make improvements to the Packard 385. In 1931, power was up to 120 horsepower. 1932 saw 135 horsepower at 3200 RPM. In 1933, Packard would switch from updraft carburetor to downdraft carburetor. Power increased again to 145 horsepower at 3200 RPM. And that power figure would be seen for 1933 through 1934, 1935. Power would increase to 150 horsepower, which would be the maximum power output for this engine being used for 1935 through 1936. The 319.2 2, often times referred to just as the 320, would replace it and it would become the new Super 8 engine. It's important to note that Packard did eventually break into the lower price field in 1935 with the Packard 120. The 120 would get its own engine, five main bearing crankshaft, 256, 282, which would be covered in a different episode.

[00:11:54]So, just for clarification, the 320 would be the Packard Super 8 engine in 1937. In 1938, Packard did not offer a Super 8. They offered an 8, which was the 282 from the 120 series. It It's confusing. The Super 8 would come back in 1939.

[00:12:15]It was the last year for this engine, making 130 horsepower at 3200 RPM. The 319 or the 320 would be replaced in 1940 by the 356, which is hailed as one of the best straight eights ever. It's it's regarded as one of Packard's greatest engines. Nine main bearing crankshaft with hydraulic valve lifters. But as they say, that is another engine episode for another day. All right, now it's time for would you rather. This is not going to be fair, especially if you're a Packard enthusiast. But which one of these would you rather have? Also, money, no object. 1932 Packard Dietrich or 1930 Packard Speedster 734 or 1933 Packard 8. I'm going to leave this here for a minute. If you need more time, feel free pause the video.

[00:13:11]On to the second scenario. 1925 Packard 8 or 1929 Packard Custom 8 or 1935 Packard Super 8. I'm going to leave this here for a minute. If you need more time, feel free pause the video.

[00:13:28]On to the final scenario because we love Packards here. They get three. 1937 Packard Super Eight. Fun fact, 1937 was the last year for the Packard oil chassis lubricator or 1934 Packard 8 or 1939 Packard Super 8. Once again, going to leave this here for a minute. If you need more time, feel free pause the video. Real quick, wanted to give a shout out to packardinformation.com.

[00:13:58]If you have a Packard and you're looking for information, I will link it in description. Also, Jay Leno's Garage did a piece on the Packard Speedster. It was a great episode. If you're interested in watching that one, it will also be linked in the description. Also, if you're watching this on Memorial Day, thank you to everybody who served to protect us and to keep us safe. Thanks for watching this episode. Until next time, to If you're looking for more episodes to watch, you're in luck because that's what I do for this channel. And there's over 830 episodes for you to binge.