Re: How did the factory paint Carribeans in 1956

Posted by Leeedy On 2018/9/21 0:09:36
Quote:

ssb15 wrote:
The paint on my 56 Carribean convertible trunk is starting to chip away. I was told that the paint is all original on the car. However, the body shop thinks that someone may have re-sprayed the trunk in the past. The body shop is in the process of sanding down my trunk lid to repaint it due to the paint flaking off. I've attached A photo of what the trunk looks like. It appears that Packard used the old red primer, painted the car blue, and then painted the Dover White over the blue paint. Is this normal for how Packards were painted at the factory?

Thanks

Scott


If this is the same car that was pictured in another post with flaking paint, it was already apparent this car or the component shown was repainted and suffering from a case of lacquer crackle. Part of the reason for the lacquer crackle was two layers of paint repeatedly expanding and contracting at different rates.

As for the Conner Plant painting the deck lids blue, this was certainly not a normal procedure for 1956 Caribbeans. Normally these cars were painted all Dover White (somewhere I have an image one one under construction prior to tri-toning) unless special-ordered with an unusual color scheme.

Then stripe colors were added. And as I have said in a previous post long ago, Masking tape and paper were all one piece... and masking a Caribbean was a piece of cake for the pre-paint guys. Nothing at all to stress over. All the masking guy had to do was run the tape edge roughly down the middle of the trim attachment holes on the side of the body. There was still leeway even then. Remember, the stainless strips of trim that separated the colors were fairly wide.

And here is where another myth can be exploded (though I'm certain it will continue anyway). ALL painting of 1955-56 bodies and components was done on the SECOND floor of the Conner Plant. Second floor... that's right. That same second floor that the myths tell you didn't exist.

Normally bodies were painted red oxide primer. They were usually assembled with doors and deck lid in place and all this in primer. The primer was baked to harden it. The front fenders and hood were painted separately (usually in black primer, then Dover White top coat).

There were other stages in these paint applications, but painting a deck lid blue on a Caribbean just wasn't normal procedure. By the way, paint colors were applied based on information that was telegraphed to the plant. So... this said, it was a possibility for a mistake to be made... a TWX to be mis-read.

And folks need to understand something here. With a total of 276 Caribbean convertibles and 263 hardtops for 1956... please. We're not looking at a tough goal here. When I worked on the first Mustangs we sometimes turned out 800 cars on a single shift!

Anyway... for what it's worth...

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