Re: Engine Bay detailing on a '56 dual carb car

Posted by BH On 2010/11/1 9:18:49

I have a full set of prints of that car - made from the original color slides, which were taken on delivery day, back in '56.

However, in this part of the country, which typically gets snowfall for 5-6 months out of each year and where salt is used heavily on the roads, it's impossible to tell from such a photo whether the wheel wells on that car were painted black from the factory or were undercoated locally. Until recent years, undercoating/rustproofing was a popular up-sell for new car dealers around these parts.

Regardless, I think the information provided by Ross provides a sufficient answer to the question of paint color.

WRT to the treatment for the parking light area on front fenders of the 55-56 Caribbeans, I don't believe that the lower body color belongs there. If you inspect the fender of an unrestored '56 Four Hundred or Patrician with two-tone paint and the side trim removed, you'll see why. I found this out when I acquired a pair of '56 front fenders from a western car - bare, but still wearing the original paint.

In masking the fender for two-tone paint, the line between the colors, logically, runs underneath the heavy die-cast side molding - that is, until it reaches the end of the top of the wheel opening. From that point, it runs down at angle to the the rear of the center line of the lower side molding. Of course, that angle is covered by the ribbed stainless insert, and the lower body color, naturally then, appears on the parking light area of the two-tone cars. However, they couldn't do that on a tri-tone Carib, where no ribbed trim is used. Now, I've never inspected a set of '55 front fenders in same condition, but only suspect they would have used same approach.

IMHO, although the line of the lower rear molding makes it tempting to extend the lower body color forward, that area of the front fender below the parking light on the 55-56 Caribbeans should be the middle color.