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56 trim anomoly
#1
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Ross
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Am taking apart a 56 400 for painting and find it does not have the typical "Reynolds Wrap" side trim. In every other senior V8 I've messed with the stuff is actually stainless steel and has black paint in between the ridges. This car did not have a molecule of black on any of the trim, and the pieces are a rather bright annodized aluminum.

I'm sure this was a cost saving over all of that stainless and it does seem to have weathered quite well. I'm delighted that I will not have to repaint all those black lines! Plus it will be quite an eye popper when applied to a solid red car as in one of the Saturday Evening Post ads. From data somewhere on this site it seems there was never a solid red 400 produced--there was only the artist's rendering for the ad.

Anyone else with a car with aluminum side trim with no black lines? My edition of the parts book only lists the stainless type. I am looking for one piece of the aluminum, the driver's side front fender piece. Here is the pass. side.

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Posted on: 2020/5/1 20:45
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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Leeedy
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Quote:

Ross wrote:
Am taking apart a 56 400 for painting and find it does not have the typical "Reynolds Wrap" side trim. In every other senior V8 I've messed with the stuff is actually stainless steel and has black paint in between the ridges. This car did not have a molecule of black on any of the trim, and the pieces are a rather bright annodized aluminum.

I'm sure this was a cost saving over all of that stainless and it does seem to have weathered quite well. I'm delighted that I will not have to repaint all those black lines! Plus it will be quite an eye popper when applied to a solid red car as in one of the Saturday Evening Post ads. From data somewhere on this site it seems there was never a solid red 400 produced--there was only the artist's rendering for the ad.

Anyone else with a car with aluminum side trim with no black lines? My edition of the parts book only lists the stainless type. I am looking for one piece of the aluminum, the driver's side front fender piece. Here is the pass. side.


Hello... Why do you say the aluminum is annodized?

Yes, I have seen several pieces of 1956 Patrician and Four Hundred annodized aluminum trim. I saved a couple of pieces from long, long ago. But these for sure were not silver and originally were on a solid black (V) car, not red.

Posted on: 2020/5/1 23:22
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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Ross
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Well, if the finish was natural aluminum it would age to grey rather quickly like a cheap screen door. The cool thing about annodized aluminum is that oxide coating formed in the process can be dyed any color your like. Thus the gold dash mesh on 55-56 Seniors and the gold side trim on 58s. Could easily be done purple if one wished.

Posted on: 2020/5/2 6:34
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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Leeedy
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Quote:

Ross wrote:
Well, if the finish was natural aluminum it would age to grey rather quickly like a cheap screen door. The cool thing about annodized aluminum is that oxide coating formed in the process can be dyed any color your like. Thus the gold dash mesh on 55-56 Seniors and the gold side trim on 58s. Could easily be done purple if one wished.


Yes, I am very, very familiar with anodized aluminum. I have had numerous parts in the automotive industry made of anodized aluminum.

Yes, I know about the gold screen in the 1956 Packard grille and how it was done (SOME ZIL-111 Russian car grilles also copied this had a gold anodized screen-they even showed it that way in a color brochure I have).

And since you mention it, I do in fact have a bicycle head casting from 1946 that was anodized purple by the factory that made it.

Anyway, I knew of two 1956 Packards that were made with gold anodized ribbed aluminum trim instead of stainless... and as I said, I saved pieces from them. But these cars were black, not red.

Posted on: 2020/5/2 8:09
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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bkazmer
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Leeedy, the rest of the story please. Gold anodized side trim and grille mesh I assume on a black car - sounds really cool.

Posted on: 2020/5/2 8:59
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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Leeedy
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bkazmer wrote:
Leeedy, the rest of the story please. Gold anodized side trim and grille mesh I assume on a black car - sounds really cool.


As I said in the post, I knew of two 1956 Packards originally done in gold anodized aluminum instead of stainless ribbed trim. These cars were built this way and with special roof treatments. One was a specially-built Patrician... the other was a specially-built Four Hundred. Both were black cars. I know a bit about them and they were indeed real. Eventually I'll put what I know in an article.

I posted something about these cars and their special trim many years ago, but no one has ever come forward with more info. I've been waiting. Pieces (I presume spares) of these cars have turned up from time to time. I have also been hoping to find one of the cars still alive, somewhere, somehow. But a lot of years have passed...

Posted on: 2020/5/2 9:39
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Re: 56 trim anomoly
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Leeedy
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packardssouthwest wrote:
Here is what the gold trim looks like


SOME of the gold trim. Yessss, I remember when these turned up for sale a while back. I thought about getting them. I have other pieces.

I once had a fantasy about (in the case I could never find either of the two original cars) putting another car together like the original two.

There were once several extra pieces in Detroit...in the 1960s and 1970s. But all have disappeared over the years... scattered to the winds. One fellow told me he tossed the pieces he had! EEEEeeeeeeeeek!!!!

Posted on: 2020/5/2 18:14
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