Re: Most beautiful '56...

Posted by BH On 2009/2/25 13:14:24

One of the things I like about these Packards is the massive body. Man, they make a '57 Chevy look like a mid-sized car.

When it comes to paint schemes, I generally liked the two- and three- tones schemes that the factory offered, but I cam to appreciate monochromatic paint schemes.

My first Patrician (purch'd 1987) was originally painted white over black two-tone, but someone before me had repainted it in a monochromatic dark blue metallic - like the one featured in a color plate in the Kimes book. Coming home, just across the PA border, I began losing high range in the Ultramatic, and I crept the car along the shoulder, in low range, to the next exit. I pulled off part-way down the off ramp and walked down to the gas station to get a couple quarts of ATF. On my way back, I looked up at the car, against the bright blue sky, and she looked magnificent. Normally, I like to restore a car back to the way it left the factory, but I'm really tempted to paint this one all-black.

Personally, I think the Patricians - both '55 and '56 - look better in a dark monochromatic paint scheme. Foro one thing, it make the sedan pillars and rails around the side glass less noticeable. The '55 Four Hundreds, where the ribbed stainless ends at the courtesy lights, really neds a two-tone, but I'm split on the '56 Four Hundred. Two-tones are an interesting alternative on the '55-'56 Caribbeans. A monochromatic paint job seems like a real waste with all that special side trim, but I was disappointed to find a '56 convertible at Fall Hershey one year that had been produced in all-white, but repainted white/heather/gray.