Greg -
I'm certainly no expert on ANY prewar vehicle, but having spent a good number of years in the industry in more recent decades, I may be able to point you in the right direction.
Have you explored this site's Literature and Manuals archive? While paint and trim references are usually found in the front matter of Packard parts books of later years, the
1935-1941 Master Parts List contains that information in the first of two Body sections. It may not be enough to fully answer your questions, but should help move you further along in your journey to discovery.
Body 1182 was built on the 1600 (Six) chassis. A
Paint and Trim Data Chart in the Body section of the parts book lists 14 available Paint Schemes for the 16th Series (1938). Assuming Scheme "X" is black, that chart shows a
Paint number of "L 105", a
Stripe number of "L 501S" and a range of
Trim Set numbers of "3-5" for that car. On the following page, a Paint
and Trim Data Reference Chart shows:
L 105 = Black
L 501S = Ivory White
5 = Tan Bedford Cord Cloth.
It appears that we don't yet have supplier paint chips sets, here, for 1938, but I know of a couple of online references that we can check.
Auto Color Library has a Ditzler (PPG) set for 1938, but it doesn't show a Black chip, product number, or formula.
The only other reference I found to Black (Code X) for prewar Packards was at
PaintRef.com. While there was nothing shown for Code X in 1838, they showed it for 1940 and 1941 as Ditzler 9000. However, that may not necessarily be the same for Code X in all years. For example, this site shows that, in 1941, Code X is Ditzler 9001, but in 1949 it changes, again, to Ditzler 9100.
Perhaps others with more experience can enlighten us further.
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