Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I think that picture of the Rollston town car is heavily filtered perhaps to serve some purpose. A palet check of the door in the background shows 100% black which can happen only in a retouched photo or a B&W photo.

Kodachrome, aka Technicolor, was know for accentuating colors. In the genuine Kodachrome below note how vivid the traffic light in the background is.

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Once again on this topic I rummaged through the Detroit Public Library Archives pictures. These are Packard company photos. So judging from the captions does that mean that you can put cloisonne hubcaps on a Super 8?, or 1932 fenders on a 1933 model?, or that a standard color scheme was having a blue hood and a green body?

Obviously Packard was considering some of this stuff, but nothing in the captions indicates these are anything other than prototype vehicles. I deal with that sort of thing all the time. Vehicles come through here to have parts changed during production. As well, the radiator and hubcap cars are 1934 models.

I have yet to find a verifiable period picture of a delivered or in a showroom eight cylinder car, nor a car coming out of a barn with anything other than the standard hubcaps and a plated radiator. Everybody knocks Turnquist except for the mistakes they like.

Pictures one and two - Obvious prototype vehicles with wrong parts.

Picture three:

Artist's depiction of dashboard, instrument panel and steering wheel on 1933 Packard Eight car, Tenth Series, Model 1002. Handwritten on back: "1933 Packard Eight, Tenth Series, Model 1002, 8 cy., 120 b.h.p, 136" whb., sedan ~ 5-p. (body-type G13), instrument panel, production, note: factory photo interior dash."

Picture four: Obviously an error

Picture five:

Packard Co. file photograph of a 1934 Packard three-quarter left side view, top raised, light in color, side mounted spare tire with cover. Inscribed on photo back: "Packard 1104 super eight, eleventh series, 8-cylinder, 145-horsepower, 142-inch wheelbase, 4-person sport phaeton (body type #761)."

Picture six:

Packard Co. file photograph of a 1934 Packard close up three-quarter front left view, top raised, blonde female in bathing suit and robe standing at driver's door, side mounted spare tire with fitted cover. Inscribed on photo back: "Packard 1104 eight, eleventh series, 8-cylinder, 145-horsepower, 142-inch wheelbase, 2/4-person coupe roadster (body type #759). (note the shutters are painted)

I have a lot of time today because I became deathly ill after an airplane flight. I feel like I have typhus. Now I know why Howard Hughes was nuts.

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I know of a 1933 Super Eight, un-restored and original in every way... including its painted radiator shell.

I heard that Packard green engine paint changed because of a shortage of chrome, which is what is used to make yellow. The more yellow in the color, the warmer the green. The less yellow in the color means a cooler green. Whether there was a shortage or not, it's easy to manipulate the color depending on just how much yellow is used.

Personally, I love the look of painted radiator shells, and I believe Packard did too, as that's what they transformed to in 1935. It's just a personal opinion, you either like it or you don't, but its not wrong either way. As far as that's not the way most were done in the day... well, one could say the same thing about white sidewall tires.

West, by "chrome" in paint I assume you're referring to the yellow paint tinting pigment lead chromate (CrPbO4). It wasn't particularly color-stable and tended to oxidize and darken over time; it was pretty much replaced by "Cadmium Yellow" as a paint pigment though I don't know when that changeover might have occurred and if it's even relevant to this topic. But as to a shortage of chromium itself as a metal in the 30s, I don't think that's an explanation for any change in paint formulations that might or might not have occurred with automotive paints - just looking a cars and industrial metallurgical production in the '30s, chromium was plentiful.

GREAT PHOTOS !!!!!!!!!
5 & 6 really show the body color on the Hubcap Rings & Legend.

Wood Graining in photo 3 is called BUTT WALNUT. Called out in Parts Book. Only seen it on maybe 1% of the cars. Used to think it was an option until last yr when an 1100 showed up with it along with it Factory Build Sheet which does not mention a thing about it. Another PACKARD mystery.

Here is my beef on this topic (besides the obvious ghetto logic):

A car with a plated shell is sent to the paint shop where they take a grinder to the poor thing. Now it is permanently damaged and can never be put back to original. The only thing left to finish the job is to take a ball peen hammer to it.

I would knock $20,000 off the price of any car with a castrated radiator shell. That's what any vendor does with paintings that have been cleaned with oven cleaner. More for open cars because those shells are impossible to replace.

I don't think the Packard crowd cares much about true authenticity. They just make stuff up.

I talked to 1 of the roster keepers of the packard club and we got to talking about colors. To my astonishment he pretty much told me you can paint a packard any color cause the factory / dealer would paint it any color you wanted

To my astonishment he pretty much told me you can paint a packard any color cause the factory / dealer would paint it any color you wanted

Gosh, I get tired of hearing that statement, it's an incredibly over-simplified answer! Of course a dealer could do anything he wanted to do for a customer; if you offered him enough he'd probably put a new Ford V8 flathead in your Packard - does that make it correct? And factory "special paint" was available in a limited number of years and only then for the senior models and for cars prepared for the national auto shows and the like.

Looking at the 1934 Salesman's Data Book you'll find that there was no charge for special paint on a Twelve; on an Eight or Super Eight it was available for $110 extra. There are other special paint options as well, hood & body only, chassis in color, metal sidemount covers in special paint, etc. Was special paint available on a 1937 110 sedan? - show me where that's listed as available from the factory!

PS - paint chart for '34 Eight from factory documentation. See special paint options (at page bottom).

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He's a roster keeper for the junior packards!

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I'll make sure I buy from you then, as I'd gladly pay less for a car with a painted radiator shell. Again, it's a matter of taste, as it's well-known it was an option to do so.