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Yyyup! See? Bet some folks didn't believe me. And just like I said... a real car and note the 1955 style rear window and 1955 front fenders with 1956-style turn signal superimposed. The doors worked on the same principle as the 1956-57 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham (Rex Terry of Creative had one of the first of the Eldo Broughams, by the way).

I can't find my original photo (which was very similar) anywhere. But I know that Creative Industries built at least one, possibly two of these Packard Four Hundred 4-door hardtops for Packard-quick and dirty just to show appearance, operation and engineering feasibility.

Thanks for refreshing my memory on the car also appearing in CA.

Oh, and by the way... this car was not intended for 1957 as some have suggested... but rather it was originally intended for 1956.

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There was a fellow in Illinois back in the 1980s who was supplying repopped Packard V-8 front and rear antenna masts... and they were accurate masts. No idea what ever happened to the biz, but he had a very nice-looking product. If I recall the name was "Antenna Masters" or some similar clever name.

As I recall they ran ads in Hemmings and in Packard Club publications. Guess I'm showing my age here, but it just seems like yesterday, despite this being 2016.

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No details other than it was based on a 1955 body, but fitted out to look like a 1956 Four Hundred-only with rear doors and no B-pillar.

As for lowering glass in the rear doors, nah. No big challenge. Huge room in there and most of the other manufacturers figured out how to build and produce 4-door hardtops for the 1956 model year. The rear doors and side glass were very different from those on the Patrician. But again, as far as I know it was put together mostly for looks and probably some engineering feas. People outside of the industry did not know it, but Creative was one of the top engineering firms in the world-in addition to all their other activities.

By the way, the Caribbean press photo that you used to Photoshop here was actually a 1955 Four Hundred made to look like a 1956 Caribbean. Creative did that one too-or one just like it. And... if you look very closely at the original press photo you will notice it has a 1955 Caribbean hood and seats! There will be lots more in the upcoming Creative Industries book.

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Well? Again, I don't know about this specific car for sure... or anything about Packard's corporate policies vis-a-vis Mexico. However, one could look at it this way: Prepare a set of auto shipping train cars from Detroit... especially just to go all the way directly to Mexico? Or add a few more cars KD'd onto a trainload already bound for SoCal, and then route the handful out from there? Shortest distance isn't always the cheapest-especially when it comes to economies of scale.

And remember too that Mr. Anthony wasn't just West Coast Distributor... he was also on the Packard Board of Directors too... at least for a while.

I have seen a lot of nice 1955-1956 Packard engine compartments, but I have to say this is one of the nicest I have seen in a long time. As we used to say back in Detroit when I was growing up, "...clean as the board of health!"

I don't know if the paint is original, but that Scottish Heather on the firewall sure is accurate and gleaming beautifully...which is the way original nitro-cellulose lacquer looked when new. Nice.

Anyway, the colors and finishes are accurate... the ground strap is in the right position under the battery holder bracket, the oil-bath air cleaner decals are accurate and in the right positions. Wow. The only thing I see here missing is the anti-short extruded rubber shield over the regulator connections (almost all V-8 Packards I see today are missing this part).

This is one gorgeous 1956 Four Hundred! I had two duplicate sister cars in these colors, one with factory air and wire wheels (long before repops were available). I last saw it in the 1970s in Reseda, California.

As for Caribbean hoods and dual quads, I can assure you that I knew of at least 2 or 3 1956 Four Hundreds running around Southern California in the 1970s. One of them lived in Long Beach. Another lived in very wealthy town of San Marino. My two cars came from San Marino via Pasadena.

Back in the 1970s I was told by a former owner that his car "came that way" and was ordered via Earle C. Anthony dealership. Furthermore, I was also told by a former ECA parts & service man that ECA kept both Caribbean carb set-ups with batwings and factory air kits on-hand at the two main SoCal ECA dealerships. I suspect they also swapped a few hoods.

Of course, there were other Four Hundreds running around with Caribbean hoods on them... and I knew who put the hoods there! One of them is sitting out in the desert today and I'm sure there will one day be stories about it. A lot of years have gone by and folks have short memories.

Anyway, I will also say that many-possibly most or all- postwar Packards delivered CKD/KD to Mexico were distributed via ECA. I know this because the ECA Controller-who I knew and interviewed-told me that they (meaning ECA distributor personnel) had inspected and loaded KD cars on trains to go to Mexico. And you know, EC certainly loved to jazz-up Packards and encouraged buyers to order the unusual! Something to think about in the equation.

On a final note, I remember at least two dark metallic blue 1956 Patricians that had full leather interiors (yes FULL leather) and factory air. One of these turned up many years ago in the 1970s at a PAC National in Illinois. The other was from New Jersey (sadly, I last saw it in a junkyard). While I know the fate of the second car at least as far as the boneyard, I have no idea what happened to the other car-which as I recall belonged to a Chicago stockbroker.

Anyway... info offered for what it's worth....

Oh... and yes there is a partial shot of Ed Macauley's specially painted/specially colored Caribbean-ized Four Hundred in the upcoming Creative Industries book!

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The evaporator core box that mounted under the instrument panel was developed (as I understand it) at the insistence of both James Nance and Earle C. Anthony.

But we need to remember that the parameters for the space available, the design of the firewall... and the design layout of the ventilation system were all fixed by the fact that they already existed in the Briggs body design. And after all, the 1955 and 1956 Packards were still just a disguised older Briggs body.

So yes, perhaps we can say that the V-8 air conditioning unit underpinnings were somewhat of an afterthought... but what else could they be? They had to work with the bones they were given.

And yes... the flange on the firewall was attached differently for dealer-installed factory air units.