Re: Henry's 55 Constellation

Posted by packdaddy On 2012/2/23 0:34:29

Hi Hank, have to add my comments on the engine paint from Hirsch. I also have a 55 Custom Constellation and purschased the same engine enamel from Bill Hirsch. When I rec'd my order I thought maybe they had shipped me the wrong batch. It wasn't close at all to my motor's original color (mine had quite a bit of original paint left under the layers of oil and grease) . I contacted Bill personally and he agreed to send me another quart. Same thing, not even close again. I went over to a friend who had a 56 Executive and honestly the Hirsch turquoise paint was much closer to the green that was on his 1956 than the much more blue turquoise on mine. Called Bill again and he was very helpful and super nice about my questioning the color. He said his paint was matched from an NOS piece. I couldn't disagree since there could have been numerous shades of turquoise used by Packard back then. I followed up by sending Bill some pictures of painted parts next to the originals and even an actual part with an excellent sample of original paint still on. The difference was night and day when you laid the parts next to each other. Bill finally suggested that I try a turquoise paint that he made for late 50's Pontiacs and have it tinted with a commercial blue to achieve my desired color. That is what I did and it turned out much closer to my original engine colors. Not perfect, but much closer. Bill was very patient and could not have been nicer and everything worked out in the end. Just another saga when restoring low production Packards. Besides, who but a few of use will ever know the difference anyway. As long as we're happy with our own vehicles is all that matters. Sometimes I'm way to picky and that can be a problem. Keep up the good work. One of these days I'll figure out how to get some pictures on here.