Re: Wheel Well Paint Color 56 Caribbean
Posted by Leeedy On 2024/3/10 14:42:54
Quote:
Let's clear this up. Regarding this question: ALL Packard front fenders 1951-1956 were originally mounted on a fixture at the factory and painted in black primer. I have shown original factory color photos to evidence this in past issues of The Packard Cormorant magazine going back to the 1970s. So this is not new information. Of course the front fenders were painted both in primer and final body colors prior to attachment to the car body and chassis.
HOWEVER... if a 1956 Caribbean was painted in normal factory-spec colors and not custom-ordered, then the splash wells and engine compartment were white. How did they get to be white? The first paint step upstairs (YES... UPSTAIRS IN THE MYTHICAL SINGLE-STORY PLANT) at Conner Avenue was to spray the entire front fender assembly white. On the engine compartment side, this amounted to white color fogged on about half-way down (look at any V-8 car). But on the outside of a Caribbean fender, this meant a full spray of Dover White, including the rear of the wheel well which was exposed during spray painting. This area was not normally masked. IF in stock colors, two Caribbean paint stripes were then added.
IF the Caribbean was ordered in custom colors, then the splash wells ended up in whatever the main color was.
For non-Caribbeans and special dealer or distributor deliveries, sometimes it appears that splash wells were either masked or re-blackened. THIS was done either at the distributor or during dealer-prep at the dealer. Thus these were at the discretion of the dealer or distributor. SOME were also at customer request.
These areas were also blackened when either factory or dealer undercoating was ordered.
As a final note of clarification there were SOME 1955 and 1956 Packards that were hand-painted for various reasons with much more masking done than took place on the assembly line. Some of information and cars will be further revealed and explained in an upcoming article in The Packard Cormorant magazine. One of these was the 1955 Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean for which I wrote the original history for TPC in the 1970s.
HERE is a factory 8 x 10 press photo (with original negative) of a 1956 Caribbean from my collection. Take a look...
Also got more examples... here is a 1955 Clipper 8 x 10 press photo (which may have been retouched by Packard) but showing a darkened rear splash well panel. And then a very good look at the same panel in a light-colored 1956 Clipper press car. The later 8 x 10 photo was taken by a private news photographer at the Packard Proving Grounds in late 1955.
Kiff Rule wrote:
Hello All - i'm doing some restoration my 56 Caribbean Hard Top, including paint MES code. I've noticed that nearly all of the cars I've looked at have the front wheel wells painted black. However, I've noticed one little advertisement where the front wells appear to be the same dover white as the top color. Could anyone tell me what is actually correct?
Let's clear this up. Regarding this question: ALL Packard front fenders 1951-1956 were originally mounted on a fixture at the factory and painted in black primer. I have shown original factory color photos to evidence this in past issues of The Packard Cormorant magazine going back to the 1970s. So this is not new information. Of course the front fenders were painted both in primer and final body colors prior to attachment to the car body and chassis.
HOWEVER... if a 1956 Caribbean was painted in normal factory-spec colors and not custom-ordered, then the splash wells and engine compartment were white. How did they get to be white? The first paint step upstairs (YES... UPSTAIRS IN THE MYTHICAL SINGLE-STORY PLANT) at Conner Avenue was to spray the entire front fender assembly white. On the engine compartment side, this amounted to white color fogged on about half-way down (look at any V-8 car). But on the outside of a Caribbean fender, this meant a full spray of Dover White, including the rear of the wheel well which was exposed during spray painting. This area was not normally masked. IF in stock colors, two Caribbean paint stripes were then added.
IF the Caribbean was ordered in custom colors, then the splash wells ended up in whatever the main color was.
For non-Caribbeans and special dealer or distributor deliveries, sometimes it appears that splash wells were either masked or re-blackened. THIS was done either at the distributor or during dealer-prep at the dealer. Thus these were at the discretion of the dealer or distributor. SOME were also at customer request.
These areas were also blackened when either factory or dealer undercoating was ordered.
As a final note of clarification there were SOME 1955 and 1956 Packards that were hand-painted for various reasons with much more masking done than took place on the assembly line. Some of information and cars will be further revealed and explained in an upcoming article in The Packard Cormorant magazine. One of these was the 1955 Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean for which I wrote the original history for TPC in the 1970s.
HERE is a factory 8 x 10 press photo (with original negative) of a 1956 Caribbean from my collection. Take a look...
Also got more examples... here is a 1955 Clipper 8 x 10 press photo (which may have been retouched by Packard) but showing a darkened rear splash well panel. And then a very good look at the same panel in a light-colored 1956 Clipper press car. The later 8 x 10 photo was taken by a private news photographer at the Packard Proving Grounds in late 1955.
This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=268678