[xj-s] Can you recognise this car and engine description?

[Vaughan Bromfield <v.bromfield@uts.edu.au>]

Folks

This has definate Jaguar and V-12 content, so it belongs here rather than
the PUB list!

I found this in the April 1998 edition of British magazine Classic and
Sports Car. See if you can identify the car and engine they are talking
about. My only hint is that it is obviously not a Jaguar. It makes an
interesting read! (The answer is right at the bottom...)


"The official figure for peak torque says it all: 322lb ft at 1400 rpm.
That statistic needs to sink in. Even a recent 6-litre Jaguar XJ12, with
353lb ft, doesn't better the output by much, but it's delivered at a rather
higher 2850rpm. The XXXXXXX's low-down pulling power -- that 1400rpm peak
is just unreal by modern standards -- is unequalled by any modern car, even
if maximum power, 150bhp at 3600rpm, seems rather more in keeping with its
time."

The article later describes driving the car, especially the technique
required for maximum acceleration:

 "Driving on the torque and changing gear early is the secret. First gear
in the three-speed 'box is just a get-you-rolling ratio. Without touching
the throttle, you release the deliciously light clutch and the car moves
seamlessly and inaudibly forward, gathering into a brief surge of
acceleration as you press the throttle. <I'll skip the bit about
double-declutching into second gear> Then there's a more sustained urge --
and a mellow grumble -- before you pull the lever sweetly back to take top
gear, at all of 15mph. And then you stay in top gear more or less all day,
letting the gargantuan engine dig deep for torque up hills or in traffic.
Twelve big cylinders are so forgiving that there was no protest when,
having forgotten I wasn't driving an automatic, I crawled into a roundabout
at a mere 5pmh."

Well, a few more hints... the open two seater car in question was built in
1937, engine is V12 7.3 litre. (From the pctures in the magazine it looks
like a side valve.) The car covered the flying quarter mile in a contempory
test at Brooklands doing 92.78mph, but was reputed to have been clocked at
nearly 115mph in a test to determine "whether their new car might be faster
than a driven golf ball. Possibly the most bizzare speed test ever devised
was staged at XXXXXXX's proving ground."



-----
answer below
















It's the 1937 Packard Twelve 1507 Coupe Roadster -- a two seater plus
dickey seat. Yep, it's an American. According to the article, only a
handful crossed the Atlantic. It has a wheelbase almost twice as long as a
Mini -- and this is the medium-sized of three chassis lengths that were
available!



Vaughan

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