TCP Global had Polaris Blue on their website a while back and I know that at least one car was painted with it. Should be somewhere on this site or the Packard Club forums. Can't remember where I saw it. It was a 53 or 54 Caribbean. Color looked right to me.

I couldn't find the color on the website right now, but I'm sure a call to them would clear it up. At some point I'd like to have my car painted back to the original Polaris Blue, so I'm interested in what you find.

-Kevin

I want these so bad, but there is just no way I can take on another project right now. Someone is going to get a fantastic set of cars to work with.

-Kevin

Excellent Ross, thanks for the tips. I had no idea the steering wheel was made of hard rubber. I just thought it was plastic.

A couple of questions:
1.) Did you paint the car with single stage urethane or did you do a base and clear?

2.) Door panels....did you make them or did you have someone else do them? They look great. For the embossed lines did you actually emboss or are they sewn in?

3.) Clear coat on the ivory bits....was that an actual 2-part clear through a paint gun, or did you use one of the clear lacquers from a spray can?

-Kevin

The buildings on that street look awesome. It's impressive that they are in such good condition.

Love the sign you made for the car. I really need to look at doing something similar.

-Kevin

Happy 4th of July!

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Been enjoying some nice weather finally, and driving the Panama to and from work whenever I can. Patients love it, especially the "more experienced with age" guys who are into classics and remember what a Packard actually was.

A nice relaxing drive home from work:

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Wow, that is quite the job. I didn't realize you were taking it down to bare metal....when I first read the post I assumed that you were just sanding the lacquer to clean and roughen it prior to a sealer coat.

Congrats on getting a major pain dealt with!

-Kevin

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It does indeed look like a nice survivor. I noticed they painted the side trim all black, where I believe it is supposed to be black inside the grooves, and stainless on the faces. I wonder how hard it would be to clean off the paint from the raised areas and polish it?

I've never understood the brown interior with the non-matching exterior. The first time I saw a 400 that way I assumed they had just repainted the outside to whatever they wanted. I didn't realize they could be ordered that way.

-Kevin

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead with new information. I just got off the phone with SMS to get samples in anticipation of giving my door panels a shot on my own, and asked about their door panel orders.

They are currently accepting new orders for door panels. Current wait time is probably a year. Judging by comments on their Facebook page I would give or take a year on top of that. They don't require the original door panels until they are ready to put it all together, and they will need whatever stainless trim pieces are on there.

Seat covers are a different story and they will need the original covers for patterns, then minimum 6 months (give or take a year) for completion. At this point I will likely involve a local for the seat covers, but with the correct materials from SMS.

-Kevin

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The filler neck is slightly off, putting the opening just below center of the fuel door. It's not a deal-breaker by any means.

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