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I'm restoring my '52 custom bodied 8 passenger limousine and right now it's down to the bare frame with only 1 bolt remaining. I want to restore the chassis to EXCAcTLY how it left the factory. If you look at the PROJECTS forum you can follow the progress so far.

I know what finish the chassis takes, a semi-gloss black.
I have NOS air cleaners, generators inner fender panels etc to use as examples of correct finishes. I need help with the front suspension as all NOS parts in stock are unfinished and I could not discern any paint on upper and lower control arms steering linkage etc on the 41,000 mile car.

Underneath the grease and dirt is slightly rusty metal making me think that possibly the parts had been painted.
I will not be finishing anything in "Blinding Black" which I find on many over-restored cars of all years.

Please give me your opinion and let me know what you base it on. Thanks

If you look at the training manual "Know the 24th Series" there are faded out photos where they highlight portions of interest in the car. On page 23 in the chassis run thru is a view of the suspension and A arms. Overall the photo is faded out but while the frame appears to be painted, the arms and other parts of the suspension do not have the same dark shading. IMO, unpainted -- or at the least, maybe plated or coated with some kind of anti rust treatment but not painted a deep black.

EDIT: Another photo in Bob Neal's 51-4 book shows a chassis being worked on at Henney. In that one the arms do appear painted so that brings us back to the question of were they painted or in this case did the bare chassis or commercial cars get special treatment.

Hi Fred:

I have no definitive information for you but I suggest it's possible that NOS parts meant as service parts for later use could have been unpainted yet the same parts used during chassis assembly might have been painted. For the 22nd series it appears that all the front suspension parts were painted, based on this factory photo. Finding a similar photo for the 24th or later series would be helpful.

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I'm pretty sure all the suspension parts were originally painted in semi-gloss. I think the frame was even flatter than semi, but not matte. Almost a semi-semi-gloss (aka cheap black paint). AO Smith painted the frames before they were delivered to Packard, and pretty much just painted them for basic rust protection as opposed to looks. There are pictures of the frames stacked up outside the factory waiting to be used.

Have you consulted the PI Engine Room Judging guide? It's a pretty good source with documented picture evidence that Fred Mauch worked on for a long time.