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:
Hypalon material is best remembered as being used as roof cover material on Packard Caribbean hardtops in the mid-fifties. It was embossed with the so-called Crush grain.
"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?
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