Re: Rarest Car Options?
Posted by Leeedy On 2024/3/21 20:32:24
Quote:
This is just plain not true. Whenever was published in that issue of The Cormorant (and I have not looked back in mine) was almost certainly based off of a factory order list. NOT on which cars actually got delivered or dealer-added with the seatbelts when new!
Factory order lists are notoriously erroneous in terms of actual history of a given vehicle. I have looked at too many cars over the years to know better. And there is a 1956 Caribbean hardtop that is sitting this very minute out in the desert in SoCal ... rotting with factory seatbelts. And I knew this car since the 1970s. Last time I saw the car, the driver's left-hand belt was carelessly left dangling out on the bare ground below the car. Poor Caribbean!
MOST Packard 1955-1956 factory seatbelts were actually installed either at distributors or dealers. So factory order lists for this accessory are almost meaningless. There were several Caribbeans delivered NEW to customers ... equipped with factory seatbelts. Not sure why this has become such a mystery today.
As for retractors on seatbelts, this does not make them necessarily so new. Retractors were accessories to accessories and became popular in the early 1960s. J.C. Whitney and OEMs sold them too. My 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible was ordered NEW with deluxe seatbelts that came from the factory with the same spring-loaded retractors you could buy at auto parts stores. I also installed a set of retractors on my 1963 Ford Galaxie XL convertible (ordered new with seatbelts).
Here is my 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible...
Here is a 1956 Caribbean that was equipped with factory seatbelts. It was last seen sitting abandoned in the California desert and being barbarianized....
Pete '56 wrote:
According to my 1987 Autumn Cormorant, one and only one '56 Caribbean Convertible was delivered with factory seat belts. This car was #5699-1021 delivered to Earl C. Anthony as his demonstrator. Car was all white on the outside and also had factory air installed.
This is just plain not true. Whenever was published in that issue of The Cormorant (and I have not looked back in mine) was almost certainly based off of a factory order list. NOT on which cars actually got delivered or dealer-added with the seatbelts when new!
Factory order lists are notoriously erroneous in terms of actual history of a given vehicle. I have looked at too many cars over the years to know better. And there is a 1956 Caribbean hardtop that is sitting this very minute out in the desert in SoCal ... rotting with factory seatbelts. And I knew this car since the 1970s. Last time I saw the car, the driver's left-hand belt was carelessly left dangling out on the bare ground below the car. Poor Caribbean!
MOST Packard 1955-1956 factory seatbelts were actually installed either at distributors or dealers. So factory order lists for this accessory are almost meaningless. There were several Caribbeans delivered NEW to customers ... equipped with factory seatbelts. Not sure why this has become such a mystery today.
As for retractors on seatbelts, this does not make them necessarily so new. Retractors were accessories to accessories and became popular in the early 1960s. J.C. Whitney and OEMs sold them too. My 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible was ordered NEW with deluxe seatbelts that came from the factory with the same spring-loaded retractors you could buy at auto parts stores. I also installed a set of retractors on my 1963 Ford Galaxie XL convertible (ordered new with seatbelts).
Here is my 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible...
Here is a 1956 Caribbean that was equipped with factory seatbelts. It was last seen sitting abandoned in the California desert and being barbarianized....
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