Re: 1953 Caribbean Prototype

Posted by Leeedy On 2016/11/19 11:18:28
Quote:

Kelvin wrote:
i say fishy because just tell us the serial number of the car from the original vin plate. If it isnt 26782001 it's not the first Caribbean, period. Post some pictures? Why do they NOT wants details shared on this site? The facts will simply stand on their own.


Owen is quite correct. As someone who worked in this business all my life, I can tell you. The "first" of any line, including the Caribbeans, is not necessarily going to be numbered as serial number one of a production series. It just doesn't work that way. And there is a difference between "prototype"... "pilot production" and "production." First production Caribbean would have been 001... but that is production. And the first 1953 Caribbean was not a "production Caribbean" vehicle, but rather, based on a regular production convertible that had to be modified.

I have personally worked on prototype and pilot prodction cars for car makers that were actually based on previous year's production cars and thus numbered that way. Some even had no numbers-although this is almost impossible in modern times. All the more reason why people should stop trying to use serial-number information in a vacuum. One needs to understand the background of how these cars got built.

Also on a personal basis, I rode in the very first operable 1956 Packard Caribbean... in 1955. But it was not really a 1956 Caribbean and I am sure was not numbered that way. It was actually a 1955 Caribbean refitted to look like 1 1956. Despite looking like a 1956, it still had several 1955 features if you looked close... as well as features that never made actual production (like seats that were different).

Connecting the dots and using "if this, therefore that" logic will not work when it comes to determining numbering and status of prototypes and pilot production cars. It just isn't that simple.


This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=184712