Tag Archives: Dietrich

Centralised Chassis Lubrication – Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan

With sales plummeting in the wake of the Wall Street Crash Packard offered three top of the range Seventh Series models in 1930.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

The 733 Standard 8 and 740 Super 8 powered models were built on a 140″ wheelbase chassis, and the long wheel base 745 with Super 8 power on a 145″ wheelbase chassis as seen on today’s featured Deluxe Eight Club Sedan.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

New features on the Seventh Series Models included laminated shatter proof window’s, thermostatic radiator shutters for the 106hp straight eight engine, Bijur centralised chassis lubrication, Watson shock absorbers and hypoid rear axle for a smoother and quieter ride.

Packard Model 745 Deluxe Eight Club Sedan, Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California,

Today’s featured 745 is one of 3007 such models Packard built and has a body by Ray Dietrich who’s Dietrich Inc was founded in 1925, Ray likened himself to automobiles as an architect to a building.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs taken at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.

Thanks for joining me on this “Centralised Chassis Lubrication” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for FIAT Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cent Trente Chevaux – Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation

In 1884 Jean de Dietrich founded Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissments de Dietrich and Cie to manufacture railway locomotives.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

Twelve years later Adrien, Baron de Turckheim who was director of the companies factory at Lunéville, Lorraine bought the rights for the company to manufacture a vehicle designed by Amédée Bollée.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

The company went on to manufacture Vivinus voiturettes under licence at it’s factory in Niederbronn-les-Bains, Alsace and a Turcat-Méry designed vehicle under licence at it’s Lunéville factory.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

In 1902 the factory in Alsace ceased making automobiles and the vehicles produced in Lorraine became known as Lorraine de Dietrichs.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

The company began building cars for racing in 1898 but it’s greatest success did not come until 1906 when Arthur Duray won the Circuit des Ardennes beating the 120 hp Darracq driven by René Hanriot.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

Richard Scaldwell who first came to the attention of this blog for his GN JAP GP special, counts the Grand Prix Dietrichs amongst his favourate cars.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

He spent ten years researching and manufacturing the parts he could not find to fit to the bones of a 1909, when there were no Grand Prix races, de Dietrich 60/80 to make the Reincarnation of a Grand Prix car seen here at Chateau Impney last year.

Lorraine Dietrich GP Reincarnation, Richard Scaldwell, Chateau Impney

The car is fitted with a 16.4 litre / 1000 cui four cylinder engine that produces 130 hp which is geared to give the car a 110 mph performance at an almost idling 1500 rpm.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cent Trente Chevaux” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Autosport International. Don’t forget to come back now !

Nathan D. Muir – Porsche 912

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From the outset an entry level Porsche based on the 911 model was planed to be fitted with a four cylinder motor to replace the Porsche 356 when production of the older model ceased in April 1965.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The new model was originally known internally as the 902 but after problems with the 901 model designation with Peugeot the new model was always publicly known as the 912, not to be confused with the Porsche project number 912 which referred to the flat 12 racing motors used to power the Porsche 917 racing cars.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Initial ideas for the 4 cylinder motor to be used in the 912 model included building a four cylinder version of the 6 cylinder 911 motor and an enlarged version of the 4 cylinder motor used in the Porsche 356 but eventually it was decided to lower the compression ratio of the original Porsche 356 motor and fit Solex carburettors of the 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor to produce 90hp.

Porsche 912, Bristol

To keep the costs down some of the standard features of the 911 were deleted from the 912, which outsold the 911 until the 912s production facilities were turned over to the Porsche VW 914-6 for the 1970 model year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Although not as potent as it’s bigger 130 hp sibling the 912s lighter motor meant the smaller engine car had slightly improved handling which proved useful to Polish Porsche privateer Sobiesław Zasada who won the 1967 European Rally championship in his Porsche 912 which included an outright win in the 1967 Polish Rally.

Porsche 912, Bristol

A Porsche 912 was also entered in the 1967 Spa 24 hours for Hans Finke and Jean Sage, it qualified 33rd but failed to finish after an issue with the oil radiator. In 1968 Swiss duo James Bernard Fortmann and Urs-Peter Dietrich could not get with in 10 seconds of the qualifying time set by Finke and Sage at Spa the previous year but still started the ’68 edition of the Spa 24 hours in 51st and managed to bring their 912 home in 25th place.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Fans of Robert Redford may remember him staring in the 2001 thriller Spy Game, in the film Redford’s character Nathan D. Muir drives a Porsche 912, though it appears to be dubbed with a 911 engine sound except in the alternate ending version on DVD. More on how the 912 came to be chosen for filming on this link.

Porsche 912, Bristol

Regular readers may remember that a couple of years ago I featured a Porsche 912 in need of some TLC, I caught up with the car seen above again at the end of last year.

Porsche 912, Bristol

The transformation from junk yard dog to a 912 Carrera looks cool, officially the car is still listed as having it’s original size 1582cc / 96.5 cui motor.

Thanks for joining me on this Nathan D. Muir edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring a couple of 1966 French Porsche advertisements. Don’t forget to come back now !