Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Restoring a 56 400 Does any one know what technique the factory used to paint the black stripe in the recesses of the thin aluminum sheet? Was it a paint and then wipe off the high side process? Thanks

They probably bought it already done or had a roll process where individual small rollers were spaced & shaped to fit and fed the paint as the material rolled under. Stamped and shaped for use afterward.

I did the paint and wipe off the excess with lacquer thinner process on mine when re-doing. Turned out fairly decent although took some experimenting to get the right time to let paint dry then pressure, thickness & hardness of pad. Had to touch up a few spots but not terrible.

The ribbed side trim is actually stainless steel.

I often wondered if the factory or supplier had used some sory of stencil, but it seems impossible to do with longer pieces. I like Howard's thoughts about a roll process better.

Most of that black paint was lost on so many cars that I'm not surprised to see it simply polished up (with no black inlay) on plenty of restored cars.

I've also seen cars where the owner tried to carefully lay down pinstriping tape. That's effective for short pieces such those on the front fender, but it's tough to keep so many lines of tape pefectly parallel on long runs like the doors and rear fenders of the Four Hundred hardtop.

Thinking back to Howard's idea of original production, there is a company that makes a striping tool that utilizes a roller and has a guide arm:

http://www.beugler.com/beta.html

That might yield better results than stripe tape or hand-striping with a brush.

If you have it off the car, taken it to a sign shop that does painted signs. They should be able to repaint it for you quickly. That is what I plan to do with my wheel covers that need the red background repainted.

i have redone some of these pieces. and i did use the pinstripe method. i used to work in a paint shop. when your used to laying pinstipe tape straight on a kenworth hood, the side stainless is nothing! However, if your not used to doing that, b.k.'s sign shop may be for you.

I think the Beugler striping tool would work well. I tried using an el cheapo one and it didn't work out. I pinstriped mine via black tape. There are 24 &^%!@#$#*)+-( valleys in those pieces and the ones on the quarter panels are real *******'s. I used to do two rows and go upstairs and beat my wife. The tape has held up rather well. I sprayed it with clear urethane when I was done. I painted the stripes on the taillights.

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Paul Cornwell said he painted the whole piece black and then used 2,000 grit sandpaper and that cleaned off the tops of the ridges and also put a nice shine on the stainless.

I did all of my 55 Patrician, R. Bergers way. 3 weeks every night on the kitchen table, and then the weekend.

When it came time to do my wifes Patrician some 10 years later, we both found out that neither of us had the patiences for a repeat, so I painted the whole thing red to match the black and red 400 style interior that we had come up with.

I first attempted to do employ a couple of the techniques suggested without acceptable success. Then I punted, wrote a check so to speak and paid a fella I knew to pin-strip the pieces for me!

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Tape or paint?