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I see from a factory assembly line photo that the top color of a two-toned 1941-42 model (non-Clipper) is painted on the outside only. Based on a friend's car that was original and two-toned before he restored it, the inside of the doors and under the hood were body color.

Nice to have those factory assembly line photos, as I'm sure if I had to guess, I would have painted the top color under the hood, as well as the upper portion of the inside of the doors.

My friend was curious when he found the underside of his hood and inside of the doors the lower body color, and wondered why they did it that way.

I've been collecting photos of two-toned '41 Packards for several years now trying to make up my mind as to which color combination to use. I did notice that the door surrounds use body color all the way around. I was not aware that the under hood also used body color. Nice to know.

Here's an example of an original two-tone paint job showing the door surround.

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Those colors look to me like Chicory Green metallic over Grove Green metallic, same colors as my old 41 "120" sedan -a color combination I thought was outstanding. These colors were those chosen by the late Bob Turnquist for his last restoration, a 1941 "180", photo below by this writer taken at the 2009 CCCA Grand Classic in Mt. Olive, NJ.

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Thanks JD and Dave,
It looks as though the second color basically follows the door edge, absolutely no wraparound whatsoever.
I see that on the Turnquist car, the under hood is the lower body color, just as my friend's car was.

I want to two tone my '42 "160" in a two tone brown. Do you have any photos in this color? Lee from WA state.
auto.nut@charter.net

Yes that is very good information. I am presently in the process of having my '42 Business Sedan 160 painted, and want to paint it a two tone brown. Good to know about the underside of the hood. Sure would like to get some photos of some brown two tone pictures. I have to choose some colors and that is always a tough decision. Any help I can get would be appreciated.
Lee

For a starter, go to The Packard Club website, click on Showroom, and select 1941 to view images of dozens and dozens of cars. Pretty pictures and nice-looking cars, but here's the problem:

1. Many of these were taken with photographic film and the processing may alter the color presentation.

2. Those were then scanned and digitized which can alter the color presentation.

3. You're viewing them on a monitor which can alter the color presentation.

4. And lastly, you don't know if the repaints were accurate replicas of original factory colors.

Even looking at old paint chips is problematic as they were not necessarily that accurate to begin with, and they fade and change color with age.

Best bet in my mind, make contact with someone who is a true expert on the 1941 models like Roger Detroit who appears regularly on this forum. He may be able to steer you to owners who have repainted in two-tone browns, and they in turn may have information on the exact paint mix they used and how it compared to the OEM paint colors.

I agree with most everything Dave (O_D) says above, but here's an example to give you some idea... take it with a grain of salt.

P.S. I decided on Silver French Gray/Puritan Gray.

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JD, nice choice and I look forward to some good photos when the repaint is finished. Packard (and other high-end cars as well) sure loved their grays; in the 2nd/3rd series I think they had as many as 5 or 6 different grays. And as late as 1934 paint scheme Y used 3 different grays, Storm Cloud, Silver Fox, and Sea Shell.

Hello

Yes, one of my 1941s is two-tone - French Silver Metallic over Laguna Maroon Metallic. Sorry, but I don't know anyone that has done the two-tone browns or grays.

I tried to scan the chips that I have to show here, but I was NOT satisfied with the results.

Do yourself a favor and scour eBay looking for 1941 paint chip samples. Buy several from different paint suppliers because they all vary a little from one supplier to the next. Once you get a couple of chips then it will help you determine what is closest to what Packard selected.

I would then look through a number of existing auto manufacturers color samples. You may get lucky and find current paint samples that are readily available and mixed to a known standard. This is why Kevin has in the Main Menu "Packard Paint X-Reference" because some colors that went around, come back around.

Finally, use metallic base paint with the very finest of metallic particles - this is NOT "metalflake." Your painter can adjust his technique to keep from looking too metallic.

Final note. That DeLuxe shown above - the Andes Tan looks WAY too golden and the Wilshire Brown is too orange for me. If you get a hold of good color chips you will see the colors are much "richer."

Good Luck, Roger