Packard Forum Index » General

I looked at the paint x-ref section and it says that all Packard engines are green, does that hold true for the
55/56 series. also is that just the block. I seem to recall seeing pictures in the literature where the intake manifold was Ivory. Anybody got insight. Since it looks like I am going to have to take the Clipper-rods engine out a transplant and detail the engine bay I may as well do the engine properly as well.

55 had red for the 320, turquoise blue for the 352 in Custom Clipper and Ivory for the Packard 352.

56 was a dk greenish - maybe even Packard green - for the Clippers and bronze for the Packards. Maybe one other color but memory escapes at the moment. Don't know of any color charts off hand showing the actual shades but Hirsch and Kanter have most of the colors.

Just about all was the engine color except a few of the normal accessories which were semi gloss black - oil filter, caps, air cleaner, etc. Believe exhaust manifolds were natural cast iron.

Look at XIII

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/partslist5556/TOC.pdf

Silver for the third 56 color, of course. Where was the break on the Clipper colors.

I can only conclude that whoever added the entry the Paint X-ref that all Packards had green engines is either misinformed or malicious. This is why I think that all user contributed entries should include the User's ID.

The green on 352-cid engines in '56 Clipper and Executive was a much more brilliant (and metallic) shade of green than the traditonal Packard green. The only use I can think of for the silver in '56 would be the valve covers. I'm still waiting to hear if anybody know of a good match for that. Saying it's just "silver" is like saying something is just "gray"; there are many shades.

Never heard of any "break" on Clipper colors - 55 or 56.

By break I mean models. 55 had red and turquoise in the Clippers. The TOC says 56 has green and silver -- remember green on an Exec so that must have been Customs as well -- but which models had the silver. I believe service engines did but don't remember much on which others.

Got sidelined with too much other stuff and forgot to check back on this thread.

OK, a "break" in color makes sense for the 1955 Clippers, since the 5540 chassis used the 320 block and the 5560 chassis used the 352 block.

However, since 5640-5660-5670 chassis all used the same 352 block, I'd always assumed that all Clippers and Execs were painted in that same metallic green for 1956. Although we don't have an example of the '56 Clipper-only folder (brochure) in the site's archive, the engine is illustrated in same green as shown in the Exec folder, but with Clipper valve covers, of course.

I believe you'll find that PI's "Packard Detail and Judging Guide" corroborates this - with silver only for valve covers.

BH,
I have never seen a silver 56 Clipper engine. Another one of those Packard memos yet to be discovered?

I believe you'll find that PI's "Packard Detail and Judging Guide" corroborates this - with silver only for valve covers.

Don't have a PI guide but can't offhand remember any silver engines either (other than a photo of one known service engined car) which is why the question. Seems strange Packard would have mentioned silver as one of three engine colors and then not used it for anything.

Maybe it was only valve covers or maybe another Packard anomaly -- something planned that never made it into production.