And the winner is... Speedster.. give the man a repair kit for leaking blocks!!!... The wheels should be the same color as the fenders. The light blue is the correct color for the pinstripes...Fender colors are Midnight blue, and the body is Countess blue...B

tbird, I don't know what his fuel lines were made of...B

Here's a 1931. I'm not sure if it's an 840 or 845. To me, this shows all the elegance that was Packard...B

That looks like the long-wheelbase 845, and it is just right. The only thing I would do is remove the Trippe Lights and put black tires on it. The pinstripes look a bit thick, too.

It's hard to Beat 'Basic Black', It never goes out of style.

Maybe Santa will bring that kit for Christmas.

I for one find this thread to be very interesting. I'd love to see more photos of 'proper' cars and improper.


BTW. 'Circus wagon' or not, if someone offered to give me the car......

Geoff

This is the Color I usually look for when finding a Packard I can afford. Your Basic RED.

I know this is a custom bodied Victoria by Waterhouse body company, but I've forgotten the year, and I think it is a 1930 7th series. It is a very rare car because Waterhouse made very few cars on Packard chassis. Paint is personal opinion.. but to me, this is one ugly combination. I don't know if it's supposed to be the original colors or not. Note also the rare light bar bumper on the front, there is a matching on the rear with red lenses, as well as the Woods lights, chromed disc wheels, and Lalique hood ornament....B

Those are supposedly the original colors for that car, as it was made up for the auto-show circuit. One thing I've heard/learned is that many cars custom-painted for auto shows (using WILD color[s] combinations), needed to be repainted before being put on the market. Not all, mind you, but most.
The first person that restores cars like this and takes it down to the last nut and bolt, finds some very strange colors.

This is a good example of why you should NEVER put a lighter color on the bottom (fenders) and a darker color on the top (body). I know there are several original examples of Packards (and others) that did this, but it doesn't work. High contrasting two-tones look strange to begin with, but when you do it backwards, it looks even worse. But then... that's just MHO.

The light over dark tends to make the car look less massive. The 1941 two tones (highly promoted in the sales literature) are all light over dark (silver/gray, silver/blue, silver/maroon, green/green, tan/brown). So are the Clipper ones. The odd ones are the bathtubs - brown, blue, or green over tan.

I used to like those dual Trippe lights but not anymore. Apparently those style lights were never actually a factory authorized accessory and are actually lights originally meant for large trucks. The Packard Trippe Light shown in the '32 Accessory Catalog is the single center mounted "steerable" light. I don't think anyone has ever seen a factory photo showing the dual Trippes. AACA grandfathered them in years ago and they are still popular on show cars, but they aren't correct.

On the garish colors...I have an original 900 hood with watermelon red paint and chromed hood doors. The chromed hood doors were a factory accessory though seldom seen.

When one ordered a custom body on a classic in the 20s or 30s the owner choose the color, so there were no "factory colors" per se. Most buyers were older, rich and conservative, but not all. I once saw a Ruxton in California restored in its original colors, seven shades of lavender in stripes. You paid for it and you got what you wanted.

There were 4 or 5 of those Ruxtons painted that way, not because an owner wanted it that way. They were painted that way for the auto-show circuit. It drew attention, and was supposed to make the car look even lower than it was (optical illusion). Each had a different color scheme.
What looks really odd on this car is not so much the paint, but the big ugly trunk on the back. I think it would also look better with black tires.

Could one walk in with their own paint for a stock body?

This is giving me ideas on my color choice.

All thanks for posting. Keep'em coming

I'm starting the think West doesn't like Trunks and Whitewalls !!! LOL

Tom
I think this has been answered, so you must be confused. Packard gave its customers the option of selecting any color they wanted, but it cost extra. There may have been cases where Packard either refused a poor selection (because they didn't want a "Packard" seen in such a gawdy color), or they may have tried to convince otherwise.
It is highly unlikely that any Packard customer would have walked in with his own paint. I don't understand why they would. They might have walked in with a piece of cloth, so that they could get Packard to match the color, but their own paint??? I doubt it.

West,

Yes I was a bit confused. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Just remember... no whitewalls, no trunk (unless you're traveling), no driving lights, no spotlights, keep the colors dark on the bottom (preferably all one color), and make the pinstripes THIN.
(Who knows, Rick, maybe I can get everyone to think like me. And when that happens, I can rule the world . I even had Ken thinking about black tires for a little while.)

Here is one with black walls I took at the Fathers Day Car Show in Oak Brook.

The other one is me trying to black-in the walls on my car.

That's what I'm talking about. Yup, yup, yup.
(By the way, Tom, when it comes time to paint your bumper "bananas," they should be black, not red -- or any other color -- like they are now.)
Oh... and if you can get away with it, lose the front license plate.

That is interesting to know. I think they are all red now and some are different. We did have a chat on here awhile back about this subject. I had an no no when taking mine apart. I had one where the bolt has snap off.

There may be a discrepency because I believe Packard used different size bumpers between the 733/833 and 734/740. Even though the "bananas" look the same, they are slightly different in size (the 745/845 used different "bananas" altogether). You could have a mixture.
We could use a couple for the 734, but I haven't yet gotten clued-in on exactly how to tell the difference, or where to get them. Then again, I haven't persued it that hard, yet.

The '32 in the photo is a 900 Coupe Sedan, an extremely rare body style. Only half a dozen or so 900's with this body are known to survive.