Re: Message from the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio
Posted by Leeedy On 2020/5/10 12:13:46
Quote:
Like Packard bicycles, here is another history that keeps popping up every few years-always with yet another embellished spin on it.
First, I have known this car since it first reappeared in public in the very early 1970s. At the time, this Caribbean was being driven on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood by Jean Peters' nephew. It was the nephew who got the car out of the residence garage in Beverly Hills after it had been sitting parked since 1955 when it was new. He took the Caribbean to a former Packard dealer for work. Then to the Sunset Ecology Car Wash on Sunset Boulevard and started driving the Caribbean-at least for a few days.
The car wash was just down the street from what was then the headquarters of Petersen Publishing Company (where I used to freelance). So as you might imagine, someone from Petersen spotted the Caribbean and thus it wound up in Motor Trend. To this day, I still have original poster-sized color proofs from the center-spread photos that were taken. The car had 611 miles on it when I first saw it.
Unfortunately if you want to use the Motor Trend article as a reference for this Caribbean, you'll certainly be on a merrie chase-especially when it comes to technical details and historical. After all, the MT author claimed that the car had "air bag suspension" (I can absolutely assure you it didn't and it doesn't).
The linked "Tribune Chronicle" article also contains several inaccuracies. AND the photo bizarrely makes the the car appear to have an orange stripe-at least as it shows on my computer. The original center strip color was Rose Quartz (pink). I also strongly disagree with the statement that the first seven 1955 Caribbeans were "testing cars"... who says that?
Also while the museum and newspaper are so quick to have the Caribbean top lowered, it is a shame that no one will get to see a factory original 1955 Caribbean top WITH color lining...WITH color top well...WITH stainless rear bow trim... WITH original fabric all folded up and hidden from view. ANYBODY can see a Caribbean with the top down. Seeing a factory original 1955 Caribbean top UP is the real miracle here!!!!! What's the big deal with NOT seeing the factory original top? And how many-even knowledgeable Packard fans have ever seen an original 1955 Caribbean factory convertible top????? And please... do we really HAVE to call this a "ragtop"?????
Regarding carbs...all 1955 Caribbeans had dual four-barrel carburetors. So this is a fact. This Caribbean came with dual four-barrels, but for some odd reason Hughes had an electric fuel pump hooked up to the #2 carburetor. Caribbeans had no progressive linkage... but Mr. Hughes had his own ideas and loved to tinker. What was on his mind regarding the second carb and electric pump only he would know. My friend who I knew even before he bought the car from Hughes' people in the 1970s removed the gadgetry and kept it intact in his garage.
It is a screaming pity that no one ever seems to recall articles published by the Packard Club... in their glossy magazine, The Packard Cormorant (TPC). And that "googling" doesn't always bring up factual sources. When these Packard stories arise, it's always some news stand magazine or auction house blurb that gets quoted. But reference never seems to be TPC. However TPC is where the factual Packard history usually is!
I wrote the first accurate history of the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters 1955 Caribbean. This history was published in the Spring, 1980 issue of The Packard Cormorant magazine. The article tells the whole story of this car, how it was purchased, who purchased it and when and where. It talks about the paint (which certainly was NOT all white). And IF the color stripes were only added only AFTER Mr. Hughes ordered the car, why would they be in colors Miss Peters disliked? And why would the car already have a top with pink lining and interior for the white-pink-charcoal colors? Frankly, the normal process of painting these Caribbeans at the Conner Avenue plant in Detroit was to paint them white first and then the stripes were added. This process was not done special for Mr. Hughes, although it is indeed possible that the Hughes/Peters car was completed or touched up at a dealer in Los Angeles.
As I stated in the TPC article, this Caribbean was not left to sit because of any carburetion issue. Not true at all. It was left to sit like a lot of other expensive Hughes toys. In my story I told of a pilot I once met who flew for Hughes. His orders on one occasion were to fly Mr. Hughes to New York and to have the plane gassed up and ready to leave New York at a moment's notice. Months later, the poor fellow was still sitting there with a gassed-up aircraft, awaiting further instructions and forgotten (Hughes turned up in Salt Lake City).
The Caribbean was also left sitting because Miss Peters was not at all fond of the colors. She didn't like it... so she didn't drive it. And that was that.
I can assure you, I know this Caribbean very, very well. I still have dozens and dozens of photographs I took of it in the early and mid-1970s. Here I am driving the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean in Beverly Hills in the early 1970s. Yes, I drove it. Look closely and you will note the inside of the top is pink...
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BH wrote:
I used to go over to Warren for the Museum's annual Packard weekend, as a spectator, but (for a variety of reasons) I began losing interest in that event. I stopped going after they did away with the all-Packard car show, on Saturday, and merged it with their all-makes car show, held on Sunday.
Still, I took a look at the Donor Letter and couldn't help but notice mention of the 55 Caribbean that Howard Hughes bought for Jean Peters. So. I did a little Googling and found this article on the acquisition:
https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2019/10/national-packard-museum-gets-1955-caribbean-bought-by-howard-hughes/
I'm confused by the statement that "Hughes souped up the vehicle with two four-barrel carburetors". (There's a later mention of "some under-the-hood modifications" as well.) It's been my understanding that the 2x4 setup was factory install on all V8 Caribbeans, and I've never seen factory documentation to the contrary. Conversely, I have seen a few of these cars that were refitted with a single 4-barrel carb, intake, and air cleaner.
My recollection from a Retrospective article in an issue of Motor Trend, back in the early '70s, was that Hughes was dissatisfied with way the car ran, but could never get the 4-barrels adjusted right. So the car just sat, and that's why there were so few miles on it when Stan Zimmerman was finally able to buy it.
If this COVID mess ever passes, I'd like to go back to check that car out.
Like Packard bicycles, here is another history that keeps popping up every few years-always with yet another embellished spin on it.
First, I have known this car since it first reappeared in public in the very early 1970s. At the time, this Caribbean was being driven on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood by Jean Peters' nephew. It was the nephew who got the car out of the residence garage in Beverly Hills after it had been sitting parked since 1955 when it was new. He took the Caribbean to a former Packard dealer for work. Then to the Sunset Ecology Car Wash on Sunset Boulevard and started driving the Caribbean-at least for a few days.
The car wash was just down the street from what was then the headquarters of Petersen Publishing Company (where I used to freelance). So as you might imagine, someone from Petersen spotted the Caribbean and thus it wound up in Motor Trend. To this day, I still have original poster-sized color proofs from the center-spread photos that were taken. The car had 611 miles on it when I first saw it.
Unfortunately if you want to use the Motor Trend article as a reference for this Caribbean, you'll certainly be on a merrie chase-especially when it comes to technical details and historical. After all, the MT author claimed that the car had "air bag suspension" (I can absolutely assure you it didn't and it doesn't).
The linked "Tribune Chronicle" article also contains several inaccuracies. AND the photo bizarrely makes the the car appear to have an orange stripe-at least as it shows on my computer. The original center strip color was Rose Quartz (pink). I also strongly disagree with the statement that the first seven 1955 Caribbeans were "testing cars"... who says that?
Also while the museum and newspaper are so quick to have the Caribbean top lowered, it is a shame that no one will get to see a factory original 1955 Caribbean top WITH color lining...WITH color top well...WITH stainless rear bow trim... WITH original fabric all folded up and hidden from view. ANYBODY can see a Caribbean with the top down. Seeing a factory original 1955 Caribbean top UP is the real miracle here!!!!! What's the big deal with NOT seeing the factory original top? And how many-even knowledgeable Packard fans have ever seen an original 1955 Caribbean factory convertible top????? And please... do we really HAVE to call this a "ragtop"?????
Regarding carbs...all 1955 Caribbeans had dual four-barrel carburetors. So this is a fact. This Caribbean came with dual four-barrels, but for some odd reason Hughes had an electric fuel pump hooked up to the #2 carburetor. Caribbeans had no progressive linkage... but Mr. Hughes had his own ideas and loved to tinker. What was on his mind regarding the second carb and electric pump only he would know. My friend who I knew even before he bought the car from Hughes' people in the 1970s removed the gadgetry and kept it intact in his garage.
It is a screaming pity that no one ever seems to recall articles published by the Packard Club... in their glossy magazine, The Packard Cormorant (TPC). And that "googling" doesn't always bring up factual sources. When these Packard stories arise, it's always some news stand magazine or auction house blurb that gets quoted. But reference never seems to be TPC. However TPC is where the factual Packard history usually is!
I wrote the first accurate history of the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters 1955 Caribbean. This history was published in the Spring, 1980 issue of The Packard Cormorant magazine. The article tells the whole story of this car, how it was purchased, who purchased it and when and where. It talks about the paint (which certainly was NOT all white). And IF the color stripes were only added only AFTER Mr. Hughes ordered the car, why would they be in colors Miss Peters disliked? And why would the car already have a top with pink lining and interior for the white-pink-charcoal colors? Frankly, the normal process of painting these Caribbeans at the Conner Avenue plant in Detroit was to paint them white first and then the stripes were added. This process was not done special for Mr. Hughes, although it is indeed possible that the Hughes/Peters car was completed or touched up at a dealer in Los Angeles.
As I stated in the TPC article, this Caribbean was not left to sit because of any carburetion issue. Not true at all. It was left to sit like a lot of other expensive Hughes toys. In my story I told of a pilot I once met who flew for Hughes. His orders on one occasion were to fly Mr. Hughes to New York and to have the plane gassed up and ready to leave New York at a moment's notice. Months later, the poor fellow was still sitting there with a gassed-up aircraft, awaiting further instructions and forgotten (Hughes turned up in Salt Lake City).
The Caribbean was also left sitting because Miss Peters was not at all fond of the colors. She didn't like it... so she didn't drive it. And that was that.
I can assure you, I know this Caribbean very, very well. I still have dozens and dozens of photographs I took of it in the early and mid-1970s. Here I am driving the Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean in Beverly Hills in the early 1970s. Yes, I drove it. Look closely and you will note the inside of the top is pink...
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