Answering the best I can, and many thanks for the valuable inputs:

- Packard Pan American: I'm not aware of such a car here, but who knows. When I see Chrysler Ghias or Eldorados in the most unexpected locations, then why not...! I know of a 1953 Patrician with the Derham roof.

- Piaf's Caribbean: the museum the car is located in is not too far away from where I live (60 miles). I'll probably pay them a visit this summer, and try to get confirmed it's 5699-1228. The Packard importer was Ets Barbezat ("Ets" means "Etablissements").

- Jean Marais' Caribbean: if the car survived the 70s, then it is highly possible that the car still exists today, somewhere. The 70s were pretty harsh for those cars, usually sent to the crusher, no matter their rarity: they were old, outdated, not maintained, gasoline was (still is) expensive... Eldorados, Imperials, convertibles... Many were crushed.

- Extra equipment on the rear: these are the mandatory French/European reflectors, because of the road regulations. One can see them on a 1956 Clipper that appears in a movie with Yves Montand ("C?sar et Rosalie"). The license plate number EN 75 denotes a '55 autumn registration in city of Paris.

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Recently discovered that famous (at least to us here ) French actor Jean Marais owned a 1955 Caribbean. Singer Edith Piaf also had a Caribbean, a 1956 convertible, and that car still exists. Jean Marais' Caribbean fate is unknown.

About Jean Marais:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Marais

Edith Piaf's Packard is photographed here:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Packard_Caribbean_Convertible_Model_5699_1956.JPG

About license plates and dates:
- Jean Marais' Caribbean plates are "BL 78" which denotes a 1955 registration in the "d?partement" of Yvelines.
- Edith Piaf's Caribbean plates are "ET 75" which denotes a very early 1956 registration in the city of Paris.

And while browsing some old LIFE magazine pictures on Google, I found that picture of Place de la Concorde with a 1955 Four Hundred.

In the meantime, I try to keep the Patrician road ready, as the original French Packards either disappeared or are in museums. Guess what: I had a Treadle Vac failure, and had to rebuild it. The car then passed the technical inspection and is now registered.

I'll keep this post open for the Packards I would be aware of in France, today or back in the day. I always appreciated these Detroit irons out of their US context. I let you image how "chic" it was to drive a Packard in Place de la Concorde or Place Vend?me back in 1955, or cruising down the Champs Elys?es...

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What could be the purpose of the knob/switch to the far right of the dash above the Packard script on the '56 "prototype"?

Spotted that 1940 One-Twenty in the middle of nowhere here in France yesterday. Supposedly ordered by the White House, then served at the US Ambassy in Paris in the 40s (maybe 50s too?), then stored in collections and museums, and now running again. I wonder when the car was imported, as I doubt it would have been in the 1940-1944 period.

In French, we say "Coup? de ville" (i.e. "Town Coupe").

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Thank you for the additional information. Indeed, June 25th, 1956 must have been a sad day at Conner. When parsing the registry here, there is a Patrician with a rather high VIN that was exported to France (now in Belgium). So they were still exporting, even when the end was getting closer. But maybe they still had hopes or didn't realize.

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It is from Florida. Not yet titled here, but I launched the process. For such imports, we need to provide some detailed information, like engine and VIN numbers (with pictures), build date (as accurate as possible), engine specifications (for the taxable horsepower), and few other things.

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Indeed! But I think I'll rather hear "That's a nice Cadillac".

Yes, my documents show elegant cursive hand notes as well, with the keys references. I just wonder why the production order is stamped June 26 when production ceased on June 25. I can understand a shipment the day after, but I'm a bit puzzled with the date on the production order and its meaning.

I received my Car Production Order copy, and a "In transit Receipt in lieu of bill of lading" document.

The production order shows "hold at factory for storage" with a date stamped next to it: JUN 26 1956. How should I understand that date?

The other document, also dated Jun 26 (hand written), shows shipment to a retail store in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Working for an US company for the last 18 years helps a bit to speak English, as this is my daily work language in fact. But I agree, the French are not known for their mastering of Shakespeare's mother tongue.

I will let the members here know when I get eventually more information about the Patrician from the Studebaker museum. For sure, I wasn't expecting to own one of the last ones.

Thank you for the welcoming.

Craigslist operates indeed in France, but is not well-known. Our nationwide equivalent is "leboncoin" (which translates to "the good place") with millions of ads.