Hot Rod Lincoln at SEMA 

As a teenager in the nineteen seventies the author loved Commander Cody’s version of the song “Hot Rod Lincoln” but when my father heard the song he would say that in his youth he had owned a 1941 V-12 Lincoln Zephyr which was a “dog” when it came to performance. The truth was the 292-cubic inch Lincoln V-12 flathead engines only developed a little over 110 horsepower and were notoriously unreliable.

Pat Reisinger of Reisinger Custom Rebuilding LLC of Evansville Indiana loved the idea of a “Hot Rod Lincoln” but he decided to send his 1947 306-cubic inch V-12 flathead engine to H& H Flatheads to add power. H&H in La Cresenta California added Ken Austin aluminum cylinder heads and a supercharger topped by four Stromberg 97 carburetors that brought the engine to life with 295 horsepower.

 

Now with the engine making good power, Pat built the car as he started with a Brookville Roadsters 1931 Model A 5-window body mounted on 1932 Ford rails with a Winters quick-change rear end and dropped I-beam front end. The period look is finished off with steel wheels with Lincoln V-12 hubcaps.

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Reisinger’s creation which he calls “V Doce” (Doce is Spanish for twelve) was on display in the NSRA (National Street Rod Association) booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show.

All photos by the author

A collection of Packards

at the Automobile Driving Museum

 

The Automotive Driving Museum (ADM) located at 610 Lairport Street in El Segundo California near the LAX airport featured a number of Packard collector cars, making this museum a great place to visit.

 

 

 

One of the earliest Packards on display is this 1916 Packard “Twin Six” 12-cylinder 4-passenger convertible. In response to Cadillac’s introduction of a V-8 engine, Packard’s new chief engineer Jesse Vincent designed and developed the “Twin Six” which was introduced to the buying public in 1916. This first production V-12 engine which in its first year did not have detachable cylinder heads produced 88 horsepower from 424 cubic inches.

Next in the chronological history of the ADM’s Packards is this 1929 Packard 633 4-passenger convertible one of four Packard models (629, 633, 640 and 645) offered that year. This particular car sold in Australia this it is equipped with right-hand drive, is also equipped with the extra-cost sold Disteel wheels.

 

 

 

We will close this article with another Packard twelve cylinder, this 1937 V-12 Convertible Sedan. The V-12 powerplant produces 174 horsepower from 473 cubic inches connected to a three-speed manual transmission in a chassis with a 144 inch (12-foot) wheelbase.

 

 

 

All photographs by the  author