One brief fad was that of the three-tone paint job. Because it's difficult to coordinate three colors on an automobile, what stylists and color consultants fell back on was making at least one of those colors black or an off-white. An alternative was to use black and off-white with one other hue.
Three-tone paint schemes first appeared on 1955 Dodges, DeSotos, Buicks and Packards. Ford Motor Company was at the fad's tail end, offering that feature on 1958 Fords and Edsels.
Unless noted, the images below are of cars listed for sale.
Gallery
1955 Packard Caribbean - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
The Caribbean was strictly a convertible with unique side trim. Besides the red shown here, most other '55 Caribbean stripes came in pale blue, light green, and pink. Some Internet images show totally black cars and two-tone versions with black or off-white as the dominant hue. A few had off-white uppers and light stripes of blue or green plus, below, dark shades of the same hue.
1955 Buick Super Riviera - Mecum auction photo
A few Buicks that year could be had with three-tone paint.
1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer - Auctions America photo
Dodge was the only mass-market brand featuring three-tone paint on many of its cars for the entire 1955 model year.
1955 DeSoto Fireflite Coronado - image via Hemmings
The Coronado was introduced in the Spring of 1955 as a means of increasing the interest of potential DeSoto buyers. That was a fairly common industry practice in those days.
1956 Chrysler New Yorker Newport - Mecum photo
Chrysler added three-tone paint the following model year.
1956 Nash Ambassador
So did American Motors. Above is a Nash version.
1956 Nash Rambler Custom
AM's Rambler was redesigned for 1956 and the bold paint scheme was found on this top-of-the-line model.
1957 Hudson Hornet Hollywood - Mecum auction image
Final-year Hudsons as well as '56 models could be had in three-tone paint. This is an example with two shades of blue offset by white.
1958 Ford Fairlane 500
As noted, Ford was late to the three-tone game. Here we find two shades of green plus white. The gold anodized insert adds what might be considered a fourth color.
1958 Edsel Citation - Barrett-Jackson photo
Some Edsels also were three-toned.
The Caribbean was strictly a convertible with unique side trim. Besides the red shown here, most other '55 Caribbean stripes came in pale blue, light green, and pink. Some Internet images show totally black cars and two-tone versions with black or off-white as the dominant hue. A few had off-white uppers and light stripes of blue or green plus, below, dark shades of the same hue.
A few Buicks that year could be had with three-tone paint.
Dodge was the only mass-market brand featuring three-tone paint on many of its cars for the entire 1955 model year.
The Coronado was introduced in the Spring of 1955 as a means of increasing the interest of potential DeSoto buyers. That was a fairly common industry practice in those days.
Chrysler added three-tone paint the following model year.
So did American Motors. Above is a Nash version.
AM's Rambler was redesigned for 1956 and the bold paint scheme was found on this top-of-the-line model.
Final-year Hudsons as well as '56 models could be had in three-tone paint. This is an example with two shades of blue offset by white.
As noted, Ford was late to the three-tone game. Here we find two shades of green plus white. The gold anodized insert adds what might be considered a fourth color.
Some Edsels also were three-toned.
I really like your blog - it's now part of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your excellent and informative posts.
Scott
All of these cars are absolutely beautiful. Makes today's automobiles look very bland, especially since most are now black, grey/silver or white. You don't even see many new blue cars anymore. What a shame.
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