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

Was the original color of a 1948 standard eight station sedan engine gray ?

Yes, gray.

Thanks, just had my engine rebuilt and wanted to confirm gray was correct, I've seen many photos that people painted the engines green and wanted to paint mine the original color.
Dave

Owen,

My 23rd series 1949, 288 was painted gray but underneath it was green. It seemed to me that the original color was green.

So my question is, was there a period of time from the factory where some of the engines in some of the series were green? It sure looks that way in my case.

After I had the engine rebuilt, I had it painted Packard gray since the judges suggested it.

A green 22nd series engine has been an on-and-off hot topic for decades, with no absolute resolution.

Every so often a 22nd Series car comes along with a green engine that appears original. In those cases it was perhaps a factory error but more likely the engine was stripped and repainted sometime during it's life. That said, it's possible that a very few early Custom 8s (356 engines) were green. Packard's intention starting with the 22nd Series introduction in April 1947 was that all 3 engines were to be painted gray, and that remained so thru 1954 with the exception of the 1954 359 engine. So, if correctness without controversy is important to you, you really don't have any choice - gray it is.

good summary. I think I've seen a bigfoot too - a 22nd series junior with what appeared to be original green, but certainly the factory norm is gray. If I bought a bathtub with a green engine it wouldn't be my first priority, but if I were painting a worn one I'd use gray

It may have been gray but I couldn't find a speck of gray and I looked in every nook and cranny and all I found seemed to match this green I purchased from Bill Hirsch http://www.hirschauto.com/ENGINE-ENAMEL/productinfo/EE-QUART/PAC%20GREEN/.
It brushed on flat and easy and still looks great today. Highly recommended!
- Sam

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Hi Owen,
I know I'm replying to an old thread, but I'm hoping you're still checking your messages.
You seem to know what youre talking about so I've got a question. I have a 1949 2252-9 Custom Touring Sedan. It was build in 1948 but sold in 49.
It has a 356 engine. While I was undernath working on the engine I notice that the engine block was red. I always thought packard engines were green or gray, but I double checked and it was clearly red. While researching this I found something from packard that said replacement engines that were installed by the dealers were painted red. But I lost the link to the document and have never found anything that mentions red engine color again.
Have you heard of this? Do you know of any historians that I maight be able to confirm with? If it is true, and as I clean up the engine compartment, I might repaint mine the red color just to be true to its history. What do you think?

I’ve seen red under transmission paint too which I always thought was used as a primer. You can see some on this 1948 transmission under the grey.




As for green vs grey, I’ve always thought of the green as prewar which includes postwar Clippers (they started life in 1941) but all later as being grey. That does not mean that there were not possibly some early 1948s that were green but it’s uncommon! Bill Hirsch still supplies all the original colors except for the 1956 Clipper turquoise.