Packard Twin-Six inspired Enzo to V12?

Packards set the pace for so many years. We tend to forget that there was an explosion in technology at the turn of the century. One of the first cars I judged at a concours was a 1914 Locomobile. What absolutely amazed me was that it had an air suspension.

My buddy has a 12 cylinder 36 Lincoln he like to ask the Ferrari guys if they want to see a real v-12.
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Karl Ludvigson's book on the V12 is a comprehensive look at the history of the configuration.

 

Surely there were aluminum pistons prior to 1915. Certainly they were used on Mercer race cars prior to that.

I enjoy reading "Dikes Automotive Encyclopedia" from 1915 or so. It is stunning the amount of innovation packed into the first two decades of the automobile. Almost every system on today's automobile was conceived during that period, and merely refined/perfected over the ensuing century as materials-science and manufacturability caught up to the ideas...