Re: 1934 Packard 1101 Coupe 2-4

Posted by su8overdrive On 2019/6/20 15:49:51

Amen. I second JW. Whether Packard always did so or not, painting the grille shell and headlight pods integrates, sleekens, unifies the proceedings, lengthens the car.
Less is more; chrome should be like the seasoning a good cook uses to enhance, not whelm a dish. Packard was then very much an international car, the wide favorite in most of the world's embassies, a paragon of understatement, refinement.
Leave the heavy-handed chrome to Cadillac-ack-ack-ack-ack.

We have to remember that Packard was based in Detroit and often mired in that mentality. It's hardly butchering a car to paint what might've been originally chromed.
Many folks had Derham and others houses further de-chrome their Packards.
Of course, many wealthy folk thought whitewalls gauche, tacky in the day, but that's another discussion. As is foregoing sidemounts, which shorten the car, add weight to already understeering barouches. Like the above pictured '34 coupe, the Car of the Dome and others did just fine sans mounts.

Further afield, some day we'll teach alleged car buffs the difference between discerning and snobbery, and even, drumroll, wait for it .... that cars are better served without bolting on every option simply because it was available from dealers looking for wider margins.

While we're at it, 1935-40 Packards were never two-toned, despite today's virulent yahooism. And you seldom saw fine cars in the day painted bright/look at me/resale red. Magazine ads intended to grab page turners' attention are neither arbiter nor justification.