I remember this car for sale in the late 1990's, It looked like a great car, I remember watching the Hollywood Christmas parade in the 1980"s and mid 90's on TV and was freaked out to see qty. 4 1953 Caribbeans in it! Jimmy Stewart was on one of them and Charlton Heston on one of the others along with other stars, I do not know anything about the history prior to then on this car though but I recall the CA owner had it for quite awhile, take care

great post!

question, did they ever make any money on the 1932 900? I know the CCCA made them full classics due to their high quality

I know very little about the pre-1929 cars and appreciate this info

always liked the V8's but never owned one, always was captivated by the late great straight 8, how does a 56 Patrican drive, handle, and brake compared to say a 53 or 54 Patrician?

Great Points by all! what a knowledeable bunch! I've heard strong viewpoints I have never heard before!

especially the one where Mercedes still survived when making smaller cars and also taxi's
Mercedes made them where they did not look the same outwardly though, a 190 was nothing like a 300 or 600

nearly everyone could tell a 1937 115 sedan from a Super 8 or 12 sedan though when new

I use to frown upon the 110's , 115's, and 120's until I owned and drove them, some drive better than the senior cars due to more advanced suspensions

in 1940 and 1941/2 Packards indeed did get to begin looking more similar

the 47 clippers, 49 bathtubs, and 1951's sure ALL looked very similar..... it is sometimes hard to tell a 1951-52 200 deluxe apart from a Patrician!

sure will!

Packard had no choice to but to bring out the 120 for their survival, it was a fine car and boosted their sales big-time in the ravaging times of the Great Depression. The 110's, 115's and 120's (though fine cars) were obviously not the same size, look, and quality of the senior cars.
However look at what George Christopher did, he made the Junior cars and the senior cars from 1946 through 1952 so similar it was hard to tell them apart, this is what i feel really hurt their luxury image. in 49 and 50 he made the super deluxe and Custom 8 nearly identically looking from the outside. Why pay more when they both look the same?

Ike, and thus his administration, were GM and Chrysler loyalists, and did not offer any support or bailout or contracts to Packard and pulled the plug on many of their defense contracts in 1953 and 1954 which crippled them

the Studebaker acquisition was a huge mistake but Nance thought he had AMC coming to merge also

Nance was blamed for a lot of things that were just not his fault.......... (even though he should not have merged with Studebaker until he had an inked deal with AMC too) Nance did a lot to bring up Packard's image like bringing back limo's and the Caribbean in 1953

The Conner Avenue body plant move after the Briggs body sale to Chrysler was a big mistake and some of the quality control issues and recalls on the 55's were a major problem that hurt sales, the 55's were a good basic design but just rushed to market due to the Conner Avenue body plant move,

also like today, some folks just would not buy a Packard due to they thought they might go under like some folks are not buying their GM or Chrysler right now until a bailout happens for the big 3. The press is hurting their sales big-time.

we should have not lost Packard but it was inevitable....

Svensk, what color was this car and what town did you last know of it in? thanks! Vance George

this is Vance George, this gentleman inquired and I do not have any data or records on this particular car he is looking for, thanks

This is Vance George who is the roster keeper on these for the PAC club, the post answers are correct that none of these 1953 cars originally had the Caribbean script, you do see a lot of cars that later have these scripts added in various places and also have the finned 1954 headlight rims added which is also not factory correct, some folks just felt this script was needed but it is indeed not original. I would love to hear about 1953 caribbean #1 more which is 2678-2001! heard many rumors of it over the years, I heard it was found where it was just a remaining firewall in Kentucky and then heard it may have been in Florida as a rough complete car, the earliest confirmed car is #2 which i belive is still in Texas. Thanks