Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hey guys, I weas reading the 1952 salesman book and noticed there were two "black" paints available for this year (and possibly others). It is called Ebony Gold Metallic- Scheme A. Has anyone ever seen a car with this paint job? I never have unless it is close to the regular Black- Scheme X. Maybe it was for Patricians or long wheelbases? A picture of both of them would be nice.

Apparently Dupont did not make this color - it is not listed in the Dupont color chart. I wonder which company produced it?

I wonder which company produced it?

R-M (Rinshed-Mason) produced much of the OEM paints for the auto industry from the very early days. I believe they are now owned by BASF and still very much in the automotive paint business.

I am tempted to have Hibernia mix up a quart of this just to see what it looks like?

Search it out on autocolorlibrary.com. They might have it.
They have most color chips on line.

Hibernia is no longer selling paint. At least they told me I made their last purchase.

Fish'n Jim
All they had was Ditzler. I believe the paint was Rinshed-Mason.

Another weird piece of the puzzle.

In re-reading number 73 of "The Packard Cormerant", there was a mention of Al Prances' car, which was under personal cars of Packard designers.

"AL PRANCE of Briggs had a Twenty-fourth Series Patrician customized two-door hardtop, which prefigured the 1955-56 "long-boat" Four Hundred hardtops. It was painted a spectacular color, "black gold.""

Now did this mean a Mayfair was taken and upgraded with a Patrician interior and exterior trim or did it literally mean the body was leanthened for the 127" wheelbase as well as painted a listed but apparently unobtainable paint? Either way, pictures or any recall by anyone seeing that car would definitly be interesting. Especially since Packard could have used that car for a '350' series for better showroom traffic and luxurious hardtop, especially if it was a stretched 250.

Quote:Interesting. It sounds like an intriguing color -- maybe gold or brass flakes in black lacquer -- and car but whether Packard would have made a different or second wheelbase hardtop is a good question. Reading Neal's book and all the indecisions on what to build and then cost cutting and rejiggering after they decided, I'm thinking it was a miracle any 51-2 hardtops even came out. Since it was mostly due to one mans insistence or stubbornness to even get a convertible (and the hardtop only because it could be built inexpensively off the same and help pay for that tooling) in production I would doubt they would have spent any more on more tooling for another model.

"Ebony Gold Metallic" continued to return in various incarnations and applications. It was rather stunning for its time.

Yes, it was nitrocellulose lacquer and yes it was supplied by R-M (nice to see R-M finally getting its due in these discussions).

The very last official use of Ebony Gold Metallic by Packard was in two applications:
1.) On a full-sized mock-up of a proposed Detroit-built 1957 Packard.

2.) On a scale model of a 1957 Four Hundred built for Packard, at Packard by a friend of mine who worked for Packard. This model is often seen in internet photos and is sometimes referred to today as a real car. Wrong. It may appear to be real full-sized in some photos but it was purely a scale model. It DID have a working torsion-level suspension and full chassis however.

The color on both of these cars shows up as straight black in photos, but of course it was not.

And of course "Packard would have done it" as this color was planned for 1957-58. Cadillac eventually had a similar color later. And remember where metallic paints originated??