Re: Howard Hughes Caribbean

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2015/1/25 11:53:04

There seems to be a range of interests from Definitely Original, Interesting and Emotional.

About ten years ago I decided that a long association with the National Corvette Restorers Society and I had to come to an end to preserve my otherwise good temperment with my 1967 Corvette Coupe. Before I bought it, thirty-five years ago, it had had a checkered life. I did all that I could afford to do to return it to the condition that it left the factory with. While it was mostly a complete "numbers-matching" car, the NCRS judging process was relentless. Much later, a similar experience with my 1987 BMW L6 coupe told me that other makes have judging processes much the same. "Nicely, almost Original" is my new goal with both cars. Even with a very correct 40th Anniversary Corvette, none of my other cars will ever undergo another critical review. My skin is too thin to withstand it. Others may, and that's fine with me.

My Esquire is a nice car, but with an alternator, an electric fuel pump and a non-working clock and AM radio. The original generator and mechanical fuel pump are stored in boxes, should a future owner want to return it to originality. The BTV and vacuum wiper motor remain intact. What is still there are the crowd-pleasing Torsion-Level system, the Mid Century Modern color combination and that dash that draws raves from the women. The men seem to find the Ultramatic push buttons of great interest. Casual on-lookers are there for the emotions, not the correctness of the hose clamps. But, in my own amateur way, I will appreciate all I can learn about "how correct" a V-8 Packard can be, and then, try to get mine a bit closer.