Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

This pertains to mainly to cars 55 or later. Many of them, including Packard, have gold trim. I am reasonably certain this is not real gold-plated trim. My circle on the trunk of Best Other is gold because I had it plated gold. What process did Packard and other companies use to produce this appearance of gold plating?? Cadillac and Buick to a lesser degree used gold trim and I doubt any of it is real gold. What can I tell a plater as none of them seem to know?? And it is not paint.

Randy, I'd almost bet it was an anodizing process with dye rather than real plating. If it is real plating then certainly not very many carats or very thick -- more like the "gold" rings one could buy at Woolworth's. Caswell has a couple of yellow anodizing colors that if applied thin enough look like a possibility.

I bought a NOS trunk crest and the gold color was very pale -- certainly not what I call gold but IMO, more a yellow coating over chrome & looking more like a real cheap brass. If you didn't look hard, it could almost pass as dirty chrome but there was a difference between the two on the same piece.

Like you, I had also had my other items plated in the real stuff. When the new piece arrived, was somewhat disappointed in the contrast as can still be seen in this photo.

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Randy & HH,

I would like to know as well. I had at one time looked into playing the dash screen for a 55 senior. I could not find anyone who could match the look. The one I tried was the dull looking gold, no pop like the original.

If you do a spot test on an original piece I believe you'll find that it was 18K genuine gold plating, VERY thin.

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Maybe so because I know it sure isn't 24K and a quality plate job which is how I had my other items done -- (it is a Packard, after all). Thin is an understatement. I think they just waved pieces over the tank and whatever molecules were wafting about stuck.

24K is really much too soft for decorative plating which will be subject to handling and the elements. It's fine for things that never get handled and spend their lives in a china cabinet or the like. 18K is an alloy and is significantly harder (more abrasion-resistant, etc.) that pure gold.

Howard, I have an NOS trunk lock and the gold that is on the top of that Packard crest looks more like a gold wash. I try not to handle the gold part too much, but it is still wearing off. It is chrome underneath and I don't think you can plate gold over chrome??? I thought it looked elegant and understated. VHT made a very fine gold spray that many claimed looked like that but they discontinued it - VHT SP233. I paid about $50.00 to have the gold ring on the trunk plated and the plater forgot to re-energize the nickel and the gold washed off the first time I took it to the car wash. Needless to say I took it back to the plater and he redid it. I don't think $50.00 would cover it today. I have an NOS circle for the grille and it looks different than the trunk.
Thanks Dave, but I don't think I'm going to test it(lol). If you think of it, as Dan K. how they did the "Packard" and "The Four Hundred" script I purchased from them.

There is a process known as "electroless" or "immersion" gold which works with a gold salt in solution and the acid in the solution attacks the base metal forming hydrogen which in turn reduces the gold in solution to metallic gold at the surface. It only will continue to plate until all the original surface is covered, hence it's only a few molecules thick, and can't tolerate much handling. Usually lacquer-covered for protection. You can buy the chemical yourself for use at home, as I recall it's essentially a double salt of Potassium Gold Cyanide. Won't plate on all metals and I'm pretty sure it won't plate on Chromium but plates quite nicely on lesser base metals.

I had my emblems replated in Gold by Frankford Plating (Phila) about 14 years ago, it's held up superbly. Don't recall the cost. Frankford remains one of the very best platers nationwide, especially for die-cast repairs and the like.

Randy -

I bet if you were to check the factory blueprints, you'd find that the die-cast 55/56 script plates and circular bases for grille and trunk ornamentation for Senior cars were finished in genuine gold. I doubt if the print will disclose to what extent or the exact process, but refers you to some other engineering document wich may be NLA.

The gold 56 Senior grille screen was anodized aluminum, and I'd bet the instrument panel was, too. Some of the lesser makes had some highly-dimension ornamentation that was not die-cast, but stamped from aluminum sheet and then gold-anodized. Though I've read that zinc can be anodized, I've never seen examples in automotive trim.

I only ever heard the term "gold wash" in restoration circles. I have a "brush plating" outfit that I picked up some time ago for use (read as "experimentation") on my own cars, but all that work is on hold. I can at least verify that you CANNOT plate gold (directly) over chrome. However, the chrome can be stripped back to just the nickel, which will then accept the gold-plate, but the nickel - even if newly plated - must first be "activated" for the gold-plate to hold. It's not only possible to selectively remove the chrome-plate, but the nickle activator can be selectively applied - which may explain how your NOS trunk emblem was produced.

Several years ago, a restorer showed me some new "Packard" script plates where the "gold" finish had failed less than a year after purchase and installation - flaking off. What was left on the part appeared to be chrome-plating, but what had flaked off was translucent and amber in color. I seem to recall such an epoxy sold in aerosol cans (mainly for wheels, but haven't seen it in years. I know that more than one vendor has pulled a cheap stunt like that.