Leeedy- Thanks for the information. Since I have to try to move forward with my installation , does anyone know of a top supplier who produces a top for the 1955 Caribbean that would have a light tan inner surface? The top offered by most of the suppliers who purport to offer tops that I have found are the white nylon pinpoint but are black on the underside.
If I can find a light backed top, I will try to dye the bottom side and let the Forum know my results.

Howard- I have scraps of the top material and lining if someone wants to experiment, but I have the Keppich top installed on the car and the liner is not attached and actually does not look too bad. The problem is that the top was cut wrong and does not lie well over the top bow and above the rear window.....aggravated by improper staple installation by the upholsterer which has left holes outside the cover molding at the rear bow and above the molding at the rear edge of the top.
I will try to take pictures of the liner and pads and see if I can download to this site.

Walt- We are pretty much in the same boat. There appears to be several suppliers of tops for the 55 Caribbean - as mentioned in this post- but no one who can supply one with the liner. You are even farther away from Art's than I am.
The top material for the 55 is vinyl. The material for the liner has to be thin and used to cover the pads and line the inside of the top. Attachment of the liner seems to be the issue. Keppich sewed the material into top and by her explanation this made the top difficult to stretch. She said that when they did the installations at her facility, they always had 4-6 people pulling to get the right fit. That would boost the cost.
The rear window of every car I have seen- including the Howard Hughes/ Jean Peters car with 1700 miles- have been vinyl with a zipper. I do not know if Packard ever offered a glass window in a frame, but I would guess it was a replacement. If it fits well, it might be a good idea to save it for pattern since several upholsterers I have talked to about the top have said that the zippered arrangement used by Packard makes getting a smooth install around the rear window difficult.
We may be stuck with a top without a liner or finding someone like Art's closer to home.
Since my car, unlike show cars, will seldom have the top up and will never be exposed to rain, I might be able to keep the unlined top down and hidden by the boot. It will be a lot cheaper since a top from Hirsch which purportedly fits well sells for under $500..
Maybe some upholster will take up the gap created by Keppich retirement but with less than 800 cars produced over 2 years- and far fewer still existing-- I doubt it.

Just as a follow up, I called Art's Trim Shop this morning. He was quite helpful and confirmed that he has installed quite a few tops for the gentleman in Indiana who seems to like Caribbeans. The bad news is that these tops are a custom installation and he cannot make up a top for installation by your friendly local upholsterer. He was gracious enough to agree to talk to any local upholstery installer to give hints on his methods for installing the lining.
Essentially to use his service would require transport to his facility and tying the car up for several weeks. His estimated cost for such installation was around $2500.
I will note that the top obtained from Keppach had a light material matching the center color of the car which was stitched around the perimeter with no obvious attachment in the center area. This arrangement did not seem to pose a sagging problem in the middle since that area is fairly narrow with the bulk of the space covered by the top pads. Although the top fits poorly around the back window, I did not feel that the liner material would prevent it from fitting into the well.
I am still hoping that whoever said they knew of someone who would produce a top if they were assured of several orders would respond.
The $2500 price for an installation is not outrageous , but I am hundreds of miles away from Imdiana.

I have a similar problem. I bought a top from Gretchen Keppach for my 55 Caribbean because she was the only supplier of a top with the correct inner liner. I purchased the top early In the build and it remained boxed for nearly two years.
When I went to install the top last fall it appeared to me that the top would not fit since there was too much material above the rear window.
I should have returned the top for correction but since I have installed tops before, I am no expert. I contacted a local upholsterer who has installed a number of tops over the past 25 years. He looked the top over and thought that he could make it work. Unfortunately, her was wrong and said the top had to be returned to Keppach.....after he had run a number of staples into the top. He and Gretchen did not agree as to who was responsible but in the end, Gretchen announced that she and her husband were retiring from the business( John ran KlassKolections that produced exhaust systems previously discussed on the Forum) since the exhaust business had been sold.
She would not entertain making another top since work had been done to it- not a totally unreasonable position- but agreed to refund half the original $850 that I had paid.
I spoke to Bill Hirsch at Hershey and he will make a top in the correct vinyl for the car but he cannot offer the liner.
I am currently trying to find an upholsterer who will either make up a new top with a liner or install a liner in a Hirsch top. The outlook has not been promising. The proposed price to make up a top on the car is around $1500-2000 and the wait time will eat most of the Summer.
I think someone posted a possibility of having someone in Ohio willing to make up tops if he could be assured of at least 5 units. I cannot find the link but if anything has come of this, I am ready to sign on.
It is truly aggravating to be put behind the eight ball by a supplier and an installer but ......what can you do.
If anyone else needs a top and knows anything about the upholsterer in Ohio, please post the info and I will follow up.

I have not looked into this issue to any great extent, but in talking to the geeks at Best Buy about installing a modern radio with MP3 output and modern speakers in the Caribbean ....as I have done with my other old cars...the major obstacle has been that none of the usual suppliers offer a system that will work with the 12 v positive ground system.

I have restored the original radio and speaker in the car but there is not much offered in AM broadcasting that I would care to listen to while cruising.
I have a Bose Bluetooth speaker that will allow me to listen to all of the songs on my iPad or iPod while I figure out whether I want to install a radio....although I seldom listen to the radio in my regular ride.

If someone has a simple solution to install a modern radio in a positive ground Packard without use of a converter, I would like to hear about it. I have heard of some folks installing a radio with its own negative ground battery or converting the car to negative ground but neither seems like a good solution.

Owen or Big Kev-.Please provide quick primer for adding photos to photo,archives or attaching photo to Forum reply.
I pulled some shots to post regarding this issue but cannot figure out how to download. I have a number of shots of the Howard Hughes/Peters car for the archives.
I am familiar with your sizing policy.
Thanks
RJR

I pulled two photos from my archives which I will try to download in the hope that they will answer some questions. The one shot shows the sunvisors at the time I acquired the car. I assume that they were original to the car. The colors were the white with the darker ( Jade) secondary color rather than the lighter middle color.
The second shot is a shot of the spare tire well. There is no indication that there was ever a brace.
I am still looking for photos of the front of the engine compartment showing no hood support.

Owen- My car did not have the hood support when I bought it. There was not a lot of the original car worth saving, but the radiator support was in place and original to the car and there was no indication of the car having had the support rod nor any opening in the bottom of the hood for the rod.
For the sake of safety, I purchased a hood rod assembly from Merritt and installed it.
The springs will hold the hood open without the rod, but I would not trust it to stay up there particularly if exposed to a gust of wind . The hood is a 55 unit with the leaded scoops.

Owen- I thank you for your observation on the support for the spare tire. I did not see it on the cars I photographed at Hershey and honestly did not look for it on other cars at Warren or at the museum in Dayton....or on the Hughes car.
I can say with certainty that there was never such a brace on my car....and it also did not have the hood support.
My serial number is 55881036 so perhaps we can try to determine when the hood and trunk braces were added from the folks on the forum.
I will pull my photos of the sun visors that were on the car to address the color scheme issue.
RJR