Brian, somewhere I have a small piece of original material that I took off a hardtop 35 years ago. I'll try and locate it in the swill at my place.

Not solid evidence, but it was my understanding that Goodyear made the convertible tops and was also the maker of Hypalon. I always thought the external appearance of the top material was same on the convertible and hardtop, i.e. a leather grain (for 1956). My 56 Caribbean top was made by E-Z down in Georgia I believe, and the grain was a perfect match to the grain on the original boot, thus I would suspect that the hardtop had the same pattern.

My first encounter with a '56 Caribbean Hardtop was many years before I was lucky enough to acquire one - back in my high school days. It was locally owned, but I only ever spoke with the owner once, and not for very long as he seemed like a busy guy.

That car had all the appearance of a well-maintained, unrestored original. Although I had already read (then) that the Hypalon material used for roof covering was prone to premature failure, I assumed the top on this car was also original. The material on that car had what I call a "diamond pinpoint" texture to it, which I felt was intended to emulate the material used on the convertible models of the day (and up).

However, I recently ran across a glossary at this site:

http://www.haartz.com/index.asp?ID=80

...which advised:

Quote:

"Crush grain" must be one of those fast and loose terms that are intended to cover a whole bunch of simulated leather textures - as there is not a consistent grain among the handful of samples I've found online.

Anyone have any solid input as to what material is truly authentic for the Caribbean Hardtop?

The TH400 I installed was the "Ultra400" kit by Jack N. in Texas. All total, including a custom made driveshaft, it costed about the same as a rebuild would have been for the Ultramatic.

I also swapped an AMC 2.53 rear end under the car. With the TH400's 1st gear start it is still lower geared (higher numerically) than the OEM, which took off in 2nd gear, yet also has a highway gear.

I had not heard of the R700 kit, but am not suprised to hear one is now available. The TH400 is great, but had the R700 been available at the time, I would have chosen it. The TC lock-up, high gear OD, and lighter duty/less tax on engine would have been preferable.

As is though, it is a pleasure to drive and is trouble free.

Joe H

Mite be good idea to start a transmission conversion regisrty. AND an Olds oil pump conversion registry too.

Joe. Tell us more about the TH400 conversion. Who did it and do u know how it was done??? WHy the 400 and not the 700R-4???? I'd really like to have a 700-R4 in mine. Is the TH400 easier or what????

When I jacked the body up off the frame in the back between the body and the frame (near the body bolt) there was this material that reminded me of tar paper/shingles.

Was this original or was it added by someone? If original can I just go with tar paper again or ????

Was the purpose of this material so you wouldn't have metal to metal contact and was is it also to control the noise of metal to metal?

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Since I've seen the mod of adapting the TH400 and the TH700-R4 to the Packard V8, and how they do it, it's had me wondering... Why don't they do a manual version of the GM trans? Take an aluminum bellhousing from a GM, cut it like the 700R4 conversion, and weld on the Ultramatic flange to make a manual bellhousing that accepts a GM four speed trans? It wouldn't be so hard as converting to a 727, and ending up with the problems that I've read about. Manual bellhousings for Packard V8's are hard to come by, but Ultramatic bellhousings to convert to manual transmissions would be rather easy to come by. This might be a project for me down the road, after I put the T56 in the Patrician.

Mr. Pushbutton: Think you can make a pushbutton shifter for the T56???!!! LOL!

Could you post pictures?

Hmmm.......we need to get you a TH400 compatible pushbutton unit!

Just wondering if this was your own conversion or the one mentioned on the 56J site. You've apparently had a decent experience with yours-- has anyone done the 700R4 from another vendor. Haven't heard that much good about the Torqueflight setup, and just wondered how these compare. The GM mods seem to eliminate the large spacer and mount plate the Chrysler uses.