Re: 1956 Packard Patrician Caribbean Clones

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2007/4/9 22:14:08

Got my curiousity up, I've just gone back to review the second article in "The Packard Cormorant" on the Esquires. Its in the Fall 1974 issue and is a result of an interview with Harry DuBois who owned the dealership that made them. In an earlier interview he had said they only did 8 cars, all hardtops. In this current interview he says they also did 4 door sedans, perhaps 20 cars in all. The article pictures an Esquire sedan based on a Patrician, Dover While/Danube Blue. The conversion of the Patricians was much more complex, and in them (but not in the 400s) the trunk script was also changed to say "Esquire" in addition to the script on the front fenders. This particular Esquire was then owned by Pete Grave of Penndel, PA who purchased it from Russell Didgion of Springfield, VA. The earlier 1972 article pictures a hardtop 400 "Esquire", apparently also in two-tone.