Re: Dash Meshes and Back Pads

Posted by HH56 On 2023/11/25 13:38:50

Ross beat me to it but to agree, the 56 senior dash is definitely gold anodized with finer and smaller sort of rectangular perforations which look like they might have been made by overlapping a couple of small round dots. The 55 has much larger and coarser rectangles. 56 also has a very subtle pattern like an engine turned effect although I don't know what process they did to get the look. The color does not come from anything under the mesh such as a pad. If you go to the link I posted yesterday and look at the low mileage 56 video there are several excellent close up views of the senior dash where you can see the engine turning effect.

While the photos are black and white, if you look at the 55 and 56 Packard and Clipper owners manuals and examine the dash patterns behind the enlarged photos of individual gauges you can get a good feel for how the perforations differ.

I believe the 55s were all silver and know 56 senior was gold but not sure on the 56 Clipper. An issue in determining original color is how much fade the mesh has endured. I was really surprised when I did mine. After removing the small crest emblem toward the passenger side in preparation for refinishing the mesh, the amount of fading the dash had gone thru was extremely obvious. I have mentioned it before but I used a light amber shade of transparent glass stain on mine which is probably the same as a lacquer product and it refinished beautifully with the subtle pattern maintained.