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Now it's time for me to start my own project blog for my 1955 Packard 400. The car had came to Finland from California in summer 2012. The car was painted all white at that point. She had two owners in Finland before I bought it in spring 2013. Neither of the previous owners had the time to put the car on the road.

When I saw the car it was love at first sight. I had dreamt about my own 50's american car for a long time and this was my chance to make my big dream come true. We went to see the Packard with my father and it turned out that it's quite a solid and original car. The previous owners had taken some of the white paint off and they had found the original Ultramarine Blue paint underneath. They had taken some of that paint off too, so some parts of the car had no paint at all while some had the original paint and some had the newer white. The brakes were stuck and the engine needed some maintenance. The chrome was good and the car didn't have any big rust issues, so no welding needed. All the electrics worked including the torsion ride. What the car needed was new paint and interior and some loving care.

So I bought the car. We got new master cylinder and new brake cylinders with the car and we got the car on the road in no time. I drove the car all summer as it was and it worked great. Everytime I drove it I fell more in love with it.

Now this is my project blog about my dream come true: "Pauline", an Ultramarine Blue and Moonstone White 1955 Packard 400. There will be many questions and I have already made some topics about some of them. I hope there are people who can help me on my way restoring her and I want to thank everyone who has helped me so far.

The first look.

Me, Pauline and the girls at Ruissalo island.

I know about the love or lust at first sight. I think mine started when Dad brought a V8 home "on approval" (Mom didn't approve).
Hope you find a spot of original unfaded paint so you get a decent match and glad you're enjoying the car. We will follow along with your progress.

At the moment the Packard is in progress of getting painted. The car has been stripped almost completely from the outside. The windows won't be taken off. Packard should have primer on next week. The seats will also be redone soon. More about that later.

Some photos ahead!

This is what she looked when the stripping started:


Reminds me of a duck. :D

Worst rust spot in the car

The original paint under the newer white.

This is how she looks at this point:

It appears that you have taped the stainless above the rear window. May I respectfully suggest that you remove the stainless? It is not as bad as it looks and you will get a better paint job. I did this on my 56 400.

Quote:
Yes you may and thanks for your advice. We have to think about it once more. I'm just afraid it gets bent or broken.

Concur with Randy. If possible remove the trim. My experience too was that once you fall in love with your new paint job, you will want to professionally polish all your stainless. My opinion here, poorly polished stainless detracts from new paint jobs.


Nice car........

The side emblems on the roof were already on bad shape and they are now broken. Does someone know where I can get new ones?

KevinAZ is selling a pair. Look on the For Sale Wanted section of this site.

(o{}o)

Quote:
emblemagic.com/packard.htm

Look for Item C55PK42

Thanks for the 'referral' JW!