Color Matched Brake Drums 1930's factory original?

[Graham Man]

Always thought color match brake drums negate the look of wire wheels (and was not original?), but this vintage picture shows color match drums.  Are they factory correct? 

 

1929-30 Packard shown

 

 

[FLYER15015]

Packard's do need "dressing up".

They're such cute little things.

 

If he would ditch the side mount canvas covers, and put a set of wide whites all round, just think what she would look like

[edinmass]

The entire chassis could or would be painted what color you wanted......black and red are most commonly seen today. Monochrome paint jobs on the car and chassis were popular with auto show cars and one off’s. Whit walls on the above car would be too much.

[TexRiv_63]

My low end 34 Packard 1100 had body color drums and undercarriage. It was ordered by a zone office as a demonstrator which may be why.

[Graham Man]

Graham had color matched frames and bumper irons in 1932 on the Model 57 and 58 apparently the drums were color matched also.

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Graham Man (see edit history)

[Hans1]

white walls have their place, for some.

They often seem to draw the viewers eye away from the form of the vehicle.

then again, some  need to be drawn away from styling on some. 

 

to many lights, horns, mirrors, antennas finger guards by handles and white walls clutter up the appreciation of the intended design

[Walt G]

The 1931 Franklin victoria Brougham with Derham body was built for the NY Auto Salon and appeared in the Chicago Salon as well. It had the brake drums the same color as the fenders and hood , a light color.

I personally like wide whitewalls, but it 1) depends upon the year and body style of the car 2) does the car have side mounted spare or rear mounted spare 3) Painted or plated wheels ( wire , wood , or pressed steel) 4) color of the car - one shade, different body and fender color 5)how large the cars are - huge sedans ( especially from 1935 up into the 1940s) with dark colors and black walls make the car appear really heavy 6) larger cars look better with white walls then smaller shorter wheelbase cars

The more streamlined the cars are rather then perpendicular in styling the easier on the eyes are whitewalls.

 

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, edinmass said:

The entire chassis could or would be painted what color you wanted......black and red are most commonly seen today. Monochrome paint jobs on the car and chassis were popular with auto show cars and one off’s. Whit walls on the above car would be too much.

 

For high end or coachbuilt cars.   My REO was red on the chassis and drums.

[Graham Man]

Interesting white wall side note...  Drove my 1929 Graham-Paige into the local town hardware store about 15 years ago.  They had a bench in front of the Hardware store with three 80-90 year old gentleman (acquaintances of mine) drinking coffee.  Took one look at my 6 white walls and said "Only time a car like that pulled into town, meant someone was in trouble with the Gangster's" there were a few stills in our neck of the woods.  They said that nobody had any money in the early 1930, mostly horses and bald tire Model T's.  They do look good...

 

[Graham Man]

Back on color topic an interesting thought came up... if you are painting the chassis body color think about how much work it would be to mask off parts, so why not paint it all?

 

In 1932 Northup’s philosophy to hide the chassis with the body color (Northup designed the 1932 Graham Blue Streak) chassis painting only lasted the one model year.