What A Difference Color Makes

[1935Packard]

I've found seven different 1935 Packard 1207 Coupe-Roadsters online (7 of 51 cars made), and all seven have very different color schemes. It's interesting to see what a difference color makes on the "look" of the car:

1. Two-tone green

2. Red

3. Two-tone black and silver

4. Yellow

5. Dark blue

6. Tan/Cream

7. Black

Edited November 11, 2010 by 1935Packard (see edit history)

[keiser31]

I would have to say that the Black fenders and silver body car shows off the most as far as design of the car itself. It really defines the fenders and bumpers as the base for a silver body nestled in between them for comfort. WOW!! Too much coffee, again!

Edited November 11, 2010 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[DLynskey]

1935Packard, you're a wonder worker. One of the websites says there are three in existence. Another says five, yet you show photos of seven.

It's interesting the liberties taken in some of the paint jobs. Sidemount covers and headlights body color on some, the same color as the fenders on others.

Don

[Earl B.]

Don, actually it's the same car .....1935 P just had it painted 7 times to fool people...hahaha...B

[Joe Block]

Silver was prettiest in my eye, I seen a lot of 34 roadsters with the green shown.

[1935Packard]

I'm glad you like the silver and black one, given that that one is mine. Although when I eventually have it repainted -- it needs it, unfortunately -- I'll probably go back to the original color, beige, like this '37. Someday.

As for the # of these cars that are still around, yes, I had to laugh that several sites say only five are left, others say only three are left, but you can find photos of seven different cars with a little googling. I guess it goes to show you that claims of how many of a particular car are left should be taken with a grain of salt.

Edited November 11, 2010 by 1935Packard (see edit history)

[K8096]

I think the black one looks the most "period correct." Starting in 1935, a vast majority of senior Packards had one tone paint jobs. The stylists were trying to streamline the cars and two tone paint jobs hinder that effect. Also starting in 1935, a lot of the senior Packards had wheel discs on them to cover up the wire wheels, again trying to stramline the cars. I doubt many had chrome wheels originally.

Edited November 11, 2010 by K8096 (see edit history)

[1935Packard]

K8096,

Here's the silver and black car in 1951 with its original look -- one-tone tan paint and wheel discs, as you say. I still have the wheel discs, but I keep them only on the spares because I like the wire wheel look.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Great post, 1935Packard! Tough to find a "bad" color combo on such a great model but yes, color does a lot to impact the look of a car. It looks great now but I think it will wear the original beige really well. Period correct yet a bit different. Simillarly I think Birdman chose a great color for his '32.

We are convinced the unusual but correct Havanna Beige on our '39 sets it apart from other cars, it usually gets a lot of attention at shows even when near very high point cars in more typical colors.

Not a Packard but I once had a Triumph TR-6 in "Mimosa Yellow" - when I first got it I wanted to paint it red like 90% of them, but in looking at how the color made the car look a tad bigger and complimented the lines it grew on me. If I ever got another one I would look for the yellow. Just an example of the impact of the right color on a car.

Does this mean the engine is now sorted and you are thinking of the next step?? The paint sure looks pretty good to me!

Edited November 11, 2010 by Steve_Mack_CT
add comment about current paint - still nice! (see edit history)

[1935Packard]

Steve,

The engine isn't done yet: I was just googling around and noticed the impact of the different colors.

As for the paint on the car now, it looks really good in the photos. In real life, though, you quickly realize that it has flaked off in lots of places; has scratches down to the metal; and is worn through to the primer in some places. The black fenders also have almost as much black spray paint on them as lacquer. The good part is that I don't have to worry about the paint when I take it out. But someday it would be nice for it to have a more respectable paint job.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

I remember you mentioned paint a couple years ago but still think it is pretty presentable.

I can appreciate the wires and WWW but it also looks really cool with the discs, blackwalls and single tone. Looks like a happy group in the 1951 picture!

[tbirdman]

Steve,

Thanks fr that color compliment. It's an interesting color as though I don't think it's outstanding, I do get a lot of compliments of teh color of teh car from people who do think it's outstanding.

if I was repainting my car, I would be tempted to go witha silver or a dark green. There is a 32 Packard coupe roadster ad with a color scheme that I thought be interesting. Yellow body with black fenders and green interior. Maybe I'm crazy.

BTW, the green 35 V12 that was listed, is very nice in person. The picture doesn't do it justice.

[Earl B.]

I think almost all cars came with factory color combinations and almost none were given custom paint jobs. Of the original cars I've seen, all had standard factory colors. None had custom colors. My 901 included. It came with a standard color combination....B

[Owen_Dyneto]

This "Packard would do anything to sell a car" statement often gets taken much too far as an explanation for non-stock features, especially on junior cars and in later years. But that said, using 1934 as an example, the Salesman's Data Book specifications under paint combinations note a charge of $110.00 on the Eight and Super Eight for the entire body in "special paint". No charge for it on a Twelve. There are various other lesser charges for chassis in color, hood louver doors in different colors, window reveals and mouldings in different colors, etc. Certainly there was a lot of freedom for the buyer willing to pay, but I'd suggest that despite that, 99.9% of cars, perhaps Twelves excluded, were in stock colors.

[Earl B.]

Owen, the same prices were in effect in 1932 also. B

[Restorer32]

In 1932 an available option, at least on 900 models, was chrome hood doors. I've never seen them on a car. Not sure if I would like them or not. Same with full chrome disc wheels.

[Earl B.]

Restorer, those chrome hood doors were available on standard, deluxe, and twin six models also. On all models, including light eight, the price was $20.00.

You could get the luggage rack chromed for a mere $68.00. Now, that I think would be totally over the top.

I've seen restorations with the chrome doors, which are not to my liking. There is a Waterhouse convertible victoria with chromed disc wheels, which, for me, well, just not my taste....B

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Owen, I couldn't imagine a custom color on a Jr. with the possible exception of some commercial use; what is interesting to me is the variety of standard colors available that you rarely see. I guess most Juniors were purchased out of dealer stock rather than ordered so black, blue, red and green are by far the most common colors. There are some nice colors on the chart and in the catalogs though.

Birdman, I think the yellow, black and green (interior) would be nice, I have seen it on other Classics both Packard and non and in the right hue, it looks really good.

Did anyone see the orange '34 V-12 coupe roadster in the car corral at Hershey this year? Owner is a long time collector here in CT with some great cars. Not sure why he picked the color, it sure is unusual.

[Rusty_OToole]

A noted designer from the custom body era noted that very few classics were special orders. Most were bought off the showroom floor, a few were ordered with stock bodies with special paint or upholstery. In his experience not more than 1 or 2 out of 100 was a unique design, full custom body. He was referring to senior cars that came with hand made bodies from well known custom body makers. The car manufacturer ordered the more popular bodies in batches of 50 or 100 then finished and installed them themselves.

[1935Packard]

Incidentally, this picture might be of an eighth '35 1207 Coupe-Roadster still existing, with the caveat that (a) it looks like a picture from the 1990s that was scanned, so it might have been repainted and photographed in one of the images above and ( it's not entirely clear it's a Coupe-Roadster, as it may be a convertible victoria.

Oh, and as for what color looks best on these cars, with the usual caveat that opinions on color are matters of taste, I tend to think that this color (on a Super 8 in the photo) looks particularly good.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Picture taken at the Greenwich (CT) Concours? Without the cloisonne hubcaps one might guess it's a Super Eight with a Twelve bumper, which seems a pretty common upgrade.

[Guest bkazmer]

if need be you can date the photo from the Mercedes dealer's new cars in the background

[Ozstatman]

The pic's were taken at the 1998 Paris RetroMobile show based on the photographers captions of the Packard and his other pic's. Search also led me to a couple of videos from the 1998 show but neither show the Packard. One thing I noted in my search were 3 prototype Renault 2CV's hidden in a barn from the Germans in 1939 and discovered in 1995, very interesting. Sorry for the off topic excursion!

YouTube - Rétromobile 1998 (Partie 1/2)

YouTube - Rétromobile 1998 (Partie 2/2)

CitCity - 2CV prototypes at the RetroMobile Paris 1998

[1935Packard]

Sorry for the confusion: The attached picture relates to the second paragraph of my comment above, not the first comment. It should make sense if you follow the links.

[Ozstatman]

Sorry, confusion is my normal state of mind, wasn't helped by the sign in the background of the 1998 pic saying Mercedes-Benz de France.

[Dave Mitchell]

You might consider maroon - here is a 36. The yellow car is a fairly bright in person. I did the engine on that one back in 93. Back then it had a black top and blackwalls.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Dave raises something basic to consider first, 35Packard. Does the car look better in a darker or lighter color. If you did not go tan I would opt for a darker color on this particular year and model, and one color rather than two tone. (my comments earlier on yellow and green were more generic and probably a better fit for an earlier model like Ken's) You are smack in the middle - you can go for an "early 30s" look or a "late 30s" look. Monotone would also work well with your wires and WWW, keeping a clean look.

Of course, staying with the original color (since you know it) is a strong consideration, and with tan you are right in the middle tone wise also!

With all this feedback it may take you until you are ready to paint it to pick a color!!

Edited November 18, 2010 by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)

[1935Packard]

Steve, Dave, thanks for the ideas.

[1935Packard]

I think I may have found yet another one of the 1935 Packard Twelve Coupe Roadsters: This picture appears to be of one of them that has been turned into a hotrod.

[West Peterson]

With a chrome windshield frame? Or is that easily removable to chrome?

[Steve_Mack_CT]

So what's the deal on the cars, 35? One, both back on the road? Hope you had a good Spring and have the engine sorting done. Thought maybe you had moved on to Chrysler K-cars or something!

Did you contact the CT guy I told you about and if so was he any help?

(Just a little Friday humor, I hope I don't bet a barrage of hate messages from K car owners...)

[1935Packard]

Steve,

The '41 is back on the road. I ended up having a local shop weld the part together, which so far has worked pretty well: The linkage still needs adjustment, and you need to go through third gear to shift from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 1st to keep it from hanging, but it's drivable. I never contacted the CT guy; I ended up bringing the car to the shop to fix the part because I wanted to drive the car to a local event that was coming up soon. Thanks for the contact, though -- I appreciate it.

As for the '35, it's still at the shop. It was supposed to take about 4 months and we're now at 13 months and still going (and it's already at about 2x the expected cost!). In theory it should be finished up soon. The shop does great work, but they're also quite busy, and I haven't been their highest priority.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Well, once done that engine should last a lifetime and beyond, sir. Good luck with it and keep us posted!