Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi

I'm new here, and I know this is a Packard forum, but. . . I'm hoping to find some help with a 1955 Studebaker Speedser project.

One '55 Speedster was painted with an "experimental" gold/white two tone. According to the build sheet, the "gold" color is Rinshed-Mason #E21N014. Rinshed-Mason/BASF has gotten back to me and identified that as 1955 Packard Agate.

I found one car in the picture galary here with that combination. The Agate doesn't look like much of a gold to me. I'm hoping someone here might be able to supply some pictures of other '55's in Jade White/Agate. Color chip samples I have seen don't look as pinkish/tan as the Agate on the 400 in the picture galary.

Thanks for any help.

Paul

Agate is definitely not gold. The Packard Club website has the paint chips, however, as you suggest, the colors on the monitor are not always what you see in person. Here's the link:
packardclub.org/
Go to the Library section and then to the reference subsection and go from there. On the paint chip section there's a DUCO paint reference for the colors. Perhaps your local paint shop would be willing to make a small sample for you.
Good luck.

Paint chip sets from various suppliers and for various years can be found in the Packard Paint Chips section of this site's Literature and Manuals archive.

Our collection even has the chip sets provided by Studebaker-Packard Corporation to its dealers for 1955 and 1956. However, 1955's Agate (Code N) is described as a "Light Tan".

If you have a sufficient sample of good paint somewhere on the body, find a local autobody supply store that has a computer-assited paint matching system that utilizes a portable camera. They can take a picture of the paint that their computer system can analyze and find the closest possible match and then tint as needed.

Thank you Brian and mlgrimes.

Brian, my understanding of Studebaker judging is that it's a bit "looser" than most marques. My car was originally coral/gray/coral in color. Not being a big fan of pink, I discovered that one later production Speedster was white/gold/white. To the best of my knowledge, the whereabouts of this car are unknown.

But in Studebaker judging, I've read that as long as something was factory or dealer "available" it will be allowed on a car without deduction of points, even though the build sheet doesn't show it on the particular car being judged.

So I don't have a patch of "gold" anywhere on my car. And since the one Speedster done that way is an unkown, nobody really knows what that color was. I have the build sheet for the white/gold/white car, and it gave the above Rinshed-Mason number and called it "gold." Rinshed Mason was nice enough to look up the number for me, and reported back that it referred to Packard 1955 Agate, with no metalic content at all.

In the three different paint chips I've seen for Agate, I've seen enough varaiation that one could almost imagine it as a grayish/tan sort of gold, close to a champaign color.

I'm a long way from painting, anyway. So I have time to keep researching this.

Thanks again.

Paul

Paul -

Thanks for clarifiyng that your car is not the one that was originally painted with the experimental two-tone. Clearly, I was confused.

I have no experience with Studebaker judging for show, except that I've heard it may vary a bit from the standard, depending on the team. However, that the experimental color was a one-car job might preclude it from consideration as factory or dealer "available".

Meanwhile, I went down to my basement archives and pulled the original paint chip sets that I have for 1955 and 1956 Packard colors, from DuPont, PPG, R-M, and S-P - the latter being hard to come by, especially in good condition. The Agate chip from PPG and R-M are about the same shade - a light tan; some might call it beige. The DuPont chip is a little darker, with a bit of gray to it. The S-P chip is somewhere in between. I wouldn't consider any of them as gold or even champagne.

I'd hate to see your car painted in what you believe to be "gold", only to have some irrefutable evidence turn up to the contrary.

You might want to submit your question and that #E21N014 to the Studebaker Museum for further research.

BRian,

Thanks for going the extra mile to look up your collection of paint chips for this question. You're probably right about going back to the Museum for more research.

Paul