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I plan on doing some cosmetic work on the wife's '55 Caribbean. One of these areas is repainting the wheel wells. Currently they are the White Jade (one of the colors on the body). Reviewing Packard promotional literature it seems that they should be semi-gloss black like the frame. It this correct?

Not sure about Caribeans, but I know on the regular production cars, the fender inner fenders are painted black both wheel well and engine bay side. I belive that marches the description in the PI Judging Guide.

It is good to recall that these were production line vehicles. The bare fenders were dipped in black primer and baked. They were then mounted in pairs on a fixture and as they passed by workers they were sprayed body color. The inner fenders were not masked on any original car I have seen. The painfully correct finish is overspray on black. But for show, that does not look so nice. Better semigloss black.

From own observation in this area when new cars were factory undercoated underside of rear wheel wells were and lot of front also done which may have been dealer undercoated for protection and sound absorbing. My grandfather would not take a new car dealer undercoated until the bolts were tighten prior to undercoating he was a old time guy with strict standards who bought a lot of new cars from the semi rural area he was from

Semi-Gloss black pretty well matches what I came up with when I looked at our copy of "Two Great Lines - Packard Magazine/Brochure" that we have here at the house. I'll present the facts to the wife and let her make the decision. Black would be easier for me as I don't need to mask off the frame and road dirt and grime won't show up as bad. However, the white looks real nice.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Black/white is entirely up to you. Here are a few pictures of the wheel wells of my 55 Caribbean. They are dirty but look like they are jade white.

You be the judge.

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The decision has been made. Rather than going with Packard's scheme of black wheel wells, we are going with White Jade. I'll get a quart of single phase enamel from TCP Global in the next month or.

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Please don't do your wheel wells in black. Packard did not do the finish coating in black. This is a mistaken belief/phenomenon recommendation that has appeared in recent years. Why, I have no idea. Black primer, yes. Not gloss or semi-gloss finish coat!

I have not seen the "judging guides" mentioned, but if they say black wheel wells and inner fenders are right, they are horribly mistaken.

On a 1955 Caribbean with a standard factory paint job, the wheel well housings would have been painted Jade White both on the outside behind the front wheel and on the engine compartment side. This is how they were done at the factory.

You can see this color in many of the factory photos from 1955 and 1956. Not artwork, but actual photos.

The passenger side of the engine compartment sometimes had Jade White fogged over the side of the fresh air ducting (the underside of the duct may show a little black primer). But the intent was the passenger side of the engine compartment should be white.

The only time black would have been visible on the outside of the wheel well housing would have been if the vehicle had been treated with undercoating at the dealer.

When these fenders for a Caribbean went through the paint shop at Conner Avenue the top coat of lacquer was always white. The color stripes (as in a factory standard color scheme) were added afterward.

Dare I say these fenders were painted on the second floor of the mythical "single story plant" that people keep talking about?

Lee - Thanks for your knowledgeable input. There is no doubt that it looks MUCH better with White Jade.