Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "Hagerty" channel.

  1. Jay, read Scotsman Callum Douglas', author of The Secret Horsepower Race. Callum Douglas is an F1 engine designer and WW2 engine historian, who spent 5 years researching his book in the UK, USA and Germany. He learned technical German to research the German archives. He is the world's authority on WW2 aero engines. Calum E Douglas wrote in a Twitter post: Surely everyone just KNOWS that the good old stories about FORD laughing at the Merlin drawings and that Rolls-Royce engines were all hand built must be true! But the British bumpkins in sheds with flat caps and files is far too much fun so it is generally preferred over pesky "archive data" to this very day. Well this document, plus the fact there is a huge parts interchange manual which tells you which Packard part number you need to get to replace a certain Rolls-Royce part in either engine and visa versa. Of course not all parts were interchangeable, Packard did their own supercharger drive gearbox system, and used American sourced accessories like cabin air compressors and magnetos. As I have previously posted, the Americans DID indeed deserve massive credit for the mass production of the Merlin in BOTH the USA and England, but this was in truth due to the fact that the best automatic machine tools in the world at the time were American, all the British mass production depended to a huge degree on American machine tools. But again, nobody cares about machine tools in history, so its not a sexy enough fact to promote on TV. Calum Again.... Claiming that Britain didn't mass produce engines properly because if they had, they would never have needed to ask Packard for help. Despite having made twice the number anyone else did. It took Packard 4 years to exceed RR annual Merlin production by the way, and all the Packard Merlin`s we used had to be modified by RR after they arrived in the UK, because to allow Packard to work as they wished to, they agreed to let Packard make huge runs of exactly the same spec' engines, which were obsolete by the time they were finished and had to be modified by RR in Britain to the latest mod-spec individually after shipping.
    1
  2. Packard only started to produce the Merlin in volume in late 1941, having problems with the first batch, which is normal of course. Just in time for the USAs entry into WW2. Luckily the British set up a shadow Merlin factory in Detroit which the USA military used, alongside: Derby, Glasgow, Crewe and Manchester. Glasgow was mass producing Merlins pre-WW2. Interesting. If there is a Merlin pre 1941 it is clearly a Rolls-Royce British made Merlin. It may have been re-conditioned by Packard, but not sure if they did that sort of thing.
    1
  3. The Alpine was meant for the USA market. The styling, with small wings and Corvette style of grill gives it away. It was not that popular in the UK, as the styling never appealed. It had a woman's car image. The 1,700cc engine could have been made to give more HP. The V8 was to make it manly, away from the woman's image.
    1
  4.  @jacobmoses3712  It was sold in the UK. For the price, other cars were better value.
    1
  5. The 99 was introduced in 1969. SAAB rarely had any money to develop engines. When designing the 99 they were put onto the Triumph engine by British engine consultants Ricardo. The 4 cylinder slant-4 was for the Triumph Dolomite which was a few years away. The slant was to have a lower hood line. SAAB struck a deal and used the engine, being the first to use it. The first 99s had Triumph on the rocker box covers. SAAB had the first three years of Triumph production of the slant-4. Triumph gave SAAB the first three years because they never had a car to use the engine until 1972. In the interim SAAB prepared to build the engine under license once they were satisfied. SAAB later bored the engine out to two litres then put a turbo on it, as they never had the money to develop a new engine with more HP SAAB ended up making the engine under license when UK production was to go to the Dolomite. SAAB improved the water arrangement. The SAAB had the gearbox under the engine. The Dolomite was conventional rear wheel drive. The Dolomite Sprint had a 16-valve cylinder head designed with all of the valves being actuated using a single camshaft. The Dolomite Sprint was the world's first mass-produced car using a multi-valve engine. In the 1970s, SAAB needed more power to some models, but again had no money to develop a larger engine. So they resorted to putting on a turbo to give more torque and power. The slant 4 was joined to make the ill-fated Triumph V-8 fitted in the Stag. It was a strange idea to make the V-8 as the company already had the aluminum Rover V-8. The Triumph V-8 engine was a failure as it was rushed never going through R&D and testing properly. Third party companies make parts to put the engine right. The Triumph/SAAB slant-4 I believe is still made in China.
    1