Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Here's a quick one regarding two-tone paint for '55 Clippers. The codes are designated "Upper" and "Lower". So which part of the car is considered the "upper" part... you have to admit, the uppermost part is the top, but that color is also used on the bottom side panel sweep, and the upper fenders and trunk. So, too, is the other color used both on the upper part of the front of the car, hood and fenders, but also on the lower rear fenders. Seems like it's split about 50/50!

I'm guessing the obvious answer it that the hood color is considered the "upper" color, but....

I have a 55 Constellation as a parts car. It appears to have never been re-painted..The paint code is MR. White jade and Sardonyx. The top of the car is white, the hood is Sardonyx. The fire wall is also sardonyx.

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"M" is the White Jade, so the "Upper" color must be considered the color of the roof, because I believe the first letter code correlates with what they call the "Upper" color. Seems to make sense. I saw a code "VP" and wondered how to visualize where the "Onyx" and "Citrine" colors would be located. According to your information, the roof, trunk, upper rear fenders and curved side piece would be black in this case, and the hood, front fenders, doors (excluding the curved section) and lower rear fenders would be the contrasting color, citrine--as would be the engine compartment.

It's a little confusing to me because there is probably a little more paint coverage for the designated "Lower" color on the '55 Clippers.

And I wonder if the Senior paint codes show the roof color as the first letter, or "Upper" color, since the hood and trunk and all the upper fenders are actually the contrasting color to the roof... and the roof color is found only on the LOWER part of the rest of the car!

The only thing that seems consistent is that the engine compartment is the same color as the hood.

Maybe there is a shortcut way to describe a two-tone '55 Clipper's paint scheme without needing a paragraph of explanation for what goes where... at least that Packard folks could readily understand.

Don't the dealer color and upholstery books show all the color schemes with illustrated samples? I remember seeing that somewhere for the 55/56 cars.

I was right, it's in the 56 Dealer Book here:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1956PaintSection.pdf

Interesting how the paint schemes could be ordered in "Reverse". See * note at the top.

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And to confuse things even further, the 55 dealer album calls it roof and body instead of upper and lower.

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Thanks, so no easy answers then I guess. I can see the "Roof" and Body" designations working for the two-tone seniors, since most of the body is one color, and the roof and bottom edge paint always match. Works fine for me.

But the 55 Clippers are a wondrous mess. I agree that the only way to really explain them is to actually show the models with various paint combinations.

The 3-tone Caribbeans are really easier, they're just 1,2,3 or top, middle, bottom. But it's still a mouthful to to say. "Well, it's a '56 Caribbean, with an Onyx top, White Jade middle, and Citrine on the bottom. Oh, and the upholstery is white leather, except that when you turn over the front seat cushions, it's red cloth.

Maybe the '50s were really the "age of excess." Not that a lot of the cars didn't turn out nicely in their multiple hues. The B&W Clippers always reminded me, not unpleasantly, of saddle shoes!

In general I do not like the 55 and 56 Patrician's two tone scheme where they repeat the upper color below the chrome strip. It looks all right on the 400s, but looks too busy on the Patrician. Could you special order a Patrician with only the roof painted a second color? I had a 56 Patrician that was Danube Blue on the roof and Adriatic Blue everywhere else, and it looked great, but I'm not sure it came from the factory that way.

You could order any Packard/Clipper color and how you wanted it painted. As long as your check didn't bounce, you could even customize the interior. They might have refused a green top with a red bottom. I seem to remember some official saying "We won't paint a car like that again". That means that at some point in time they would/did paint a car like that.