Chapter 6

I had a construction crew put up bleachers for all the employees at the test track for the running of the test cars. Dale had experience at test driving cars for the company. It was decided that Ashley and Dale would test the cars. The track was a 1¾ mile road course. There was also a drag strip on the straight away by the bleachers.

Exactly two weeks to the day after the meeting with the men, all the Packard employees were invited to the track. The car with the 353 had a 4-speed manual transmission and the 473 had the 4-speed automatic transmission. I gave the plans for the duel 4 barrel intake manifold and the 4 barrel carburetor to Carter to build. When I showed them the blueprints they were glad to build them for me.

The 473 had generated 400 horsepower with the two 4 barrel carburetors. Surprisingly, the 353.231 V-12 generated 375 horsepower with the two 4 barrel carburetors. The weight difference was enough that the 353 proved to be the best performer. It turned the ¼ mile in 13.8 seconds. The 473 turned in a disappointing 14.1 seconds in the ¼ mile. 0-60 was even more promising for the 353. It turned 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. The 473 turned a 7 second 0-60.

The 473 tacked out at 4,500 RPM while the 353 tacked out at 5,000 RPM. We decided to use the 353 in the new sports car. Both Ashley and Dale said the 353.231 was much stronger in the turns. It had power to spare because of the higher RPM.

("Baby, that 353 is as strong as any car I've ever driven. There is no sway nor leaning in the turns. That 4-speed shifts great and has the perfect gear ratio to power out of the turn. When we put the smaller car together, it will be unstoppable.")

("Great! We will use that suspension in the new car. What do you think of calling the new car design the Prowler?")

("That sounds wicked.")

("How did the engines sound?")

("This is the first V-12 for me. Of course, I have driven V8's and also a V-16. This V-12 runs smoother than all the others. It's like the engine is balanced perfectly.")

("I know. I was there when they set the timing for it. It felt like it had a notch when it fell in. It was like the engine itself knew it was in time. You need to physically look at the mark with a timing light to show when the V8 is in time. When the V-12 slips in, you can hear it smooth out perfectly. I am not a mechanic, but by ear, I can tell the difference in the sound of smoothness between the V8 and V-12.")

("I think we should put the 473 in the pickups.")

("That is an excellent idea. That would give it the advantage over the other pickups.")

I set up a team of drivers to put the engines through the strength test. They had speed and break test rollers that were designed to be able to run 100 MPH. We ran the engines 100 MPH 24/7 under power only stopping to change the oil and check it. After 21 days we had 50,000 miles on them. We tore the engines apart and were amazed. They showed very little wear.

"Ted, I am amazed at how little wear is on these engines!" Tim exclaimed.

This gave me a good idea. I called the Aluminum Company of Canada and talked to the owner. "What types and sizes of aluminum do you handle?" I asked him.

"We carry the bulk aluminum you bought and we carry a roll that is 8 feet wide by 1/16 inch thick," he answered.

"Would that be flexible enough to mold into ... say ... a hood?"

"Yes, it would mold quite well in a press."

"How soon could you get us 10 rail cars full?"

"I could send one out today and one a week after that."

"You know what? That is a good idea. Send one a week until I call and tell you to stop. Just let me tell my secretary to call you and send you a check each week."

"That sounds like a plan."

"Okay, we will see how this works out. Goodbye."

("Baby, I just set up with A.C.C. to ship one rail car tomorrow, then one each week until we tell him to stop.")

("That is a lot of aluminum")

("We are going to make the bodies out of aluminum.")

("That will lower the cost and weight.")

("Really?")

("Yes, the aluminum is quite a bit cheaper.")

("Great! You said you were good at all the bookkeeping and business management. Start looking for a tire plant we can buy. We need to make tires that no other car company has seen yet.")

("I am way ahead of you. I found an independent plant here in Detroit for sale.")

("Buy it, baby. And start looking for more car manufacturing plants.")

("Yes sir, I will get right on it. By the way, guess what I found?")

("What?")

("I started to look around for a plant to expand our assembly of cars and pickups. I found that Tucker had leased the Chrysler plant in Chicago but was shut down by the FBI for fraud. I contacted Chrysler and found out I could purchase the whole thing for $12,000,000. It is the largest plant in the world. Chrysler used it to make the B-29 bomber in WW2.")

("Get busy.")

After we purchased the tire plant, we gave it the name Packard Tires. I met with the employees and started them on the tires we would need. I found they also made rims and soon had them set up to make the wider rims and tires. There was a vacant plant next door. I bought it and started to set it up for rims only. Once this was done, we would be able to handle all our rims and tires.

Ashley wasted no time buying the Chrysler plant. Within a week we had the title in our hot little hands. She found that there were 1,600 workers that were laid off two months ago.

Here in Detroit, we had all the molds and dies to make the Prowler. The plans were for 15 inch rims that were made for tires with 10 inch wide tread. The bumper went around the grill making it look like a picture frame. The headlights were hidden by covers that would flip back exposing the double lights on each side. There were two car styles. Both were low to the ground. A man six feet tall could stand, stretch his arms out, and they would be 8 inches above the top of the car. One style was a 4 door; the second was a 2 door. We decided to call the 4 door the Prowess. We used the aluminum to press out all the body parts for the Prowler and the Prowess. It was as wide as the 250 which gave it even more handling ability in the corners.

I did my research and found that they had started experimenting with alternators in 1949. So, I looked up the wiring plans on the computer and had them built. That way I could put in the power seats with 6-way adjust. We also put in power windows.

The plans the computer had provided were for the aluminum roll bars behind the head on both the 2 door Prowler and the 4 door Prowess.

We used the suspension and the width that was used for the one-ton body. The suspension was a little stiff and the axle width was 61.75. It made the handling even more impressive. We used top quality interior materials. We cushioned the seats a little more to make up for the stiffness. We put in a hydraulic pump that Packard had used for airplane engines. It controlled the cutouts. We put headers and outside pipes that ran along the bottom between the wheels. We inserted exhaust cutouts. We used a stainless steel cap that would slide back and forth hydraulically to bypass the muffler and open up the cutouts. This would up the horse power to 350. The car weighed out at 2,675 lbs.

The track test was even more impressive than we expected. They all had the V-12 353 engine. They turned the 0 to 60 in just 4.79 seconds. The ¼ mile was downright scary: 12.80 seconds 101.5 miles per hour through the mufflers. Using the bypass would change it to 12.58 seconds 105.7 and 4.55 seconds in 0-60.

Word got out about the new pay scale. The ones who were laid off came back. Experienced people were even coming from other factories. We had enough to run three lines twenty-four hours a day with experienced personnel. We shipped cars out at only $500 profit. We made sure there was plenty of head and leg room in the back seat of the 4 door. This was destined to sell like hot cakes. The smaller cars made at this time had little room inside the car. We made them a little wider making sure they would adjust for plenty of leg room.

Everyone was excited. The cars looked great. Both the two and four door cars drove like they were on rails. By the end of December we had enough to challenge the big three on price and inventory.