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

Is the front engine mount on these cars painted black, or the same color as the engine? Also wondering about the lower radiator pipe.

Any help appreciated.

Steve in Indiana

Lower radiator pipe should be semigloss black.

Here's an excellent 22nd series factory assembly line photo which is quite conclusive that the front mount is engine color (gray).

Same photo also answers the occasionally asked question about the style and attachment point of the battery ground cable.

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I've always believed that all 288/327s were always grey as delivered from the factory and only the 356s maintained the green color. I've never seen a factory photo that ever showed a green 327/288 contrary to some owners claiming their cars were delivered with green 327/288s. Perhaps those were repainted prior to their ownership or mispainted service/rebuilt engines. Sure anything could have happened, but that picture sure re-confirms my belief.

Kev, from my many observations over decades, most but perhaps not all early 22nd series 356 engines were gray. Every so often but rarely an early 22nd series 356 shows up which is green and doesn't show any apparent signs of being repainted. My Custom Eight 2252-2124 delivered December 1947 was green when I bought it and with very careful examination appeared to have not been repainted. And I've seen many 22nd series 356s which are gray and show no evidence of being repainted.

The fact that early 22nd series 356s were being produced concurrently with the last of the 21st series (whose engines were green) might explain the inconsistency.

I cant speak to the 356s. I've just never seen a factory photo of a 288/327 that was not grey.

Thanks, guys. The picture is a big help. I saved and printed it for future reference.

Steve

What color is the distributor housing supposed to be on a 49 288? I have a green engine.

I've never seen one that wasnt black and I am sure that is how they were delivered from Delco or Autolight.

I'd say the dist.housing is normally unpainted. They need to make electrical contact.
This is my '49 w/ Delco and number is correct/low miles.
It's pushed up against the wall now, so pictures are not great.

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I'd say the dist.housing is normally unpainted. They need to make electrical contact.

From photos in the ign systems training manual and service manuals I seriously doubt the dist bodies were left unpainted to rust. The bodies were probably in a fixture of some sort while being painted so the portion of the body where the clamp is positioned and below remained clean for grounding needs. On the distributors which rotated the whole body for the vacuum advance, there was also an added ground wire between the body and clamp or block so those would not have been affected by painting.

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