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Re: Jean Marais' 1955 Caribbean and other French V8 Packards
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Ahhh. Thank you so much for responding. RE: the Pan American in France... I have repeatedly been told of this car in various locations. One rumor is that it is in a museum, but so far museums I have contacted say no. Another rumor is the car is at a villa located outside of Paris. Still another story has the car in the south of France. Are any of these rumors factual? I have no idea. RE: the Piaf Caribbean... 5699-1228 on my Roster has been in a museum since 1988. In 1976 it was in Lyon and owned by a fellow named Pierre. This car was originally assigned to South Bend in my records and left from there to Europe. I see the car in the museum has sprouted an odd gray paint job with reddish-orange stripe (hard to determine stripe color in the photo). However this car was originally MTV color. Also the interior now appears to be gray and seats/upholstery patters/colors completely changed. Front seat cushions appear adapted from Mercedes. Removable cushions appear to be permanently removed. It would be nice to see more photos of this Caribbean. RE: the Marais Caribbean... I will look in my records this summer when I can get into deep storage in my warehouse. There was also a 1955 Caribbean in Belgium at one point and I never got around to checking the numbers to see whether or not these were the same car. Again, thanks for the response. I would love to see more images of your Patrician. I had one just like it many years ago, same color with factory air and twin rear antennae. No idea where that car is today. Oh yes, somewhere I have a pair of the French safety reflectors in little round housings. These were on a Mercedes convertible I had long ago.
Posted on: 2018/2/23 8:53
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Re: Jean Marais' 1955 Caribbean and other French V8 Packards
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Hello... I believe the Jean Marais 1955 Caribbean still existed at least in the mid-1970s. A fellow from France wrote to me in California and sent photos of his 1955 Caribbean along with pics of him driving it and his kids in the car. I believe he even sent me the serial numbers from the car.
That part of my files are buried in storage right now, but perhaps this summer I will have time to dig them out and look again. I never got around to completely digitizing my collected information on 1955 Caribbeans... which is considerable. Most I had was in letters, notes and 3 x 5 cards. But years went by and I was busy with my career. In the meantime, I'm trying to track down a rumor of a Packard Pan American supposedly somewhere in France. Some say it is in a garage. Others say it is in a museum. And there are other rumors. But so far, I have had no success in finding this car. Do you know anything about it? Thanks!
Posted on: 2018/2/22 13:48
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Re: Packard Monte Carlo
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I have the body number and serial plate info from many years ago buried in my records. I'm certainly familiar with this vehicle. I will say one thing. While the fellow holding this car on that fork lift grins, the drive shaft is likely being bent. This is what usually happens to old cars lifted this way. Often the damage may not even be obvious... but it usually shows up under driving if not in visible bends or dents. Of course as one can see, the logo is cast metal and this is certainly not a home-built backyard thingie. Known of it for decades. Good to see it is going to a good home where it will be loved.
Posted on: 2018/2/18 14:33
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Re: PMCC annual model car styling contest - does anyone have any information about this?
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Well. Hello Roger. I believe I missed that PAC meet. But my next question is... what happened to all of those interviews and where was this wonderful stuff published for the meet? One of my photos is dated December 18, 1950. First place winner was listed as Niels Diffrient, age 22 of Detroit, Michigan. One winner was all the way from San Francisco, another from Wisconsin. But one was from Bloomfield Hills... right in the backyard of Cranbrook. The reason I concluded there must have been some kind of annual contest is that a model-building friend back in the 1960s told me of a Packard model contest he entered in 1954. But I've never seen or heard anything more about this. However all of my model car buddies in Detroit back then were pretty precise in their info so I figure if he said 1954... hey... As for special mascot for heritage owners of a Packard, Cadillac revived that idea with special grille badges in the 1990s. I still have my badges and my cars. Some of my grille badges never got installed, but I have them in the original boxes. Early ones were gold tone... later ones were combinations of black, gunmetal and pearl white. Instead of years or anything else, Cadillac would indicate in Roman numerals how many Cadillacs the badge awardee had owned.
Posted on: 2018/2/14 17:21
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Re: packards in tv and movies
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The latest issue of The Packard Cormorant magazine (first quarter 2018, #170) from the Packard Club includes several pages jam-packed with behind-the-scenes photos of Packard in movies. Many photos shown were taken on set during filming. Title of the article is "Packard Goes To The Movies" and shows both prewar and post war images.
Posted on: 2018/2/10 11:01
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Yes. The history of Lee Hendricks and his twin brother, Byron is known and far more extensive in connection with Packard than is indicated here.
Watch for a complete article on the Hendricks brothers and their connection with Packard automobiles in an upcoming issue of The Packard Cormorant magazine-the glossy publication of The Packard Club. You won't forget it! And yes, yours truly has original video taken in the 1950s of jumps made over Packards that will astound you!
Posted on: 2018/1/30 1:21
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Re: Caribbean interior photo
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Okayyyy... or is this what you need??? (not the model, just the car and windshield trim)...presuming you want 1955 or 1956... and you already know what this one is... Attach file:  (221.46 KB)
Posted on: 2018/1/19 13:17
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Re: !955 Packard White Jade code"M"
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No problem. I drove the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters car back in the 1970s when my friend bought it from the Hughes people. I'm very familiar with this car. Photographed it and wrote its first accurate history in the 1970s. Anyway, okay, but none of these locations will get you anywhere near El Segundo. PI usually has their event in Orange County someplace...and San Diego is even farther south. Wrong direction for both if you plan to go to El Segundo... which is north right by LAX airport in Los Angeles... long way in the opposite direction.
Posted on: 2018/1/19 10:48
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Re: !955 Packard White Jade code"M"
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Okay... looks like you've got the pretty Rose Quartz color combo on your Caribbean. Best trick for finding original paint samples on a Caribbean: ? Remove items like trim louvers, door latch striker, decklid hinge attachment, beltline trim, windlace welting. I'm betting you'll find original paint under these. ? Since you have a "MUH" color 1955 Caribbean, point your browser immediately in the direction of Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo, California and click. Why? Because this is where the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters original unrestored, extremely low mileage MUH 1955 Caribbean lives. And it has original paint. I am sure that the museum would be happy to assist you with your color mix search.
Posted on: 2018/1/19 10:01
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Re: !955 Packard White Jade code"M"
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I've been in the car biz all my life, including working on the OEM level with major manufacturers. I am amazed that painters can't find or match vintage paints today and have become so reliant on "codes" for getting a color mixed that they just can't do it anymore. In the old days, most really good automotive paint suppliers usually had one or two guys on staff who could eyeball the color and nail it. Betz Speed & Color in Southern California always had a guy, Stan, who owned the place and he could nail any color simply by eyeballing it! Never missed once for me. And good ones now should have color scanners. Anyway, today all you need to do is find a good sample of the original color(s) (inside the door jamb, under the deck lid, etc.) and take it to a good, long-time professional wholesale automotive paint supplier and get it mixed. They even have computer matching of colors now that they never used to have. A good professional automotive paint supplier ought to be able to get proper colors mixed for you on the spot. What are the paint codes stamped into the serial plate in the driver's door jamb? Unless custom-ordered, there should be 3 letters, starting with "M"... Caribbeans for 1955 normally would have been "MAC"...OR ..."MDF"... OR... "MJV" ... OR... "MUH"... These were the standard color schemes offered that year for Caribbean.
Posted on: 2018/1/17 19:14
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