Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

A friend once told me that Packard - after demand for it's 1956 Caribbean hardtop outrun supplies - encouraged dealers to sell Four Hundreds with the Caribbean options, like the dual carbs, wire wheels, dual antennas and even the Caribbean hood could be ordered. Is this correct?

I ask, because I have my 1956 Four Hundred with a Caribbean Hood. I got it as such, and the past owner who had it since the early 70's also says it already had the Caribbean hood when he got it. My car also has the wire wheels and the dual carb, but that is about the interesting options. No pushbutton transmission, dual antennas or air conditioner.

If having this hood was a possibility, then I would like to keep it, as I think it looks fabulous, but if not, I already have a regular Four Hundred hood which I got recently out of a parts car, just before it was sadly scrapped.

So, is my friend's theory correct and you could have ordered the Caribbean hood?

Thanks!
Victor

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Someone probably has a proper answer, but right or wrong, documentation or not I would still keep it since you have the other items and you like it. Believe it has been well established that dealers would sell pretty much what the customers wanted if it would fit -- whether Packard officially frowned on it or not. Plus, there were those unknown or undocumented options that had some discussion some time back. No one seemed to know exactly what they consisted of or if any sold. Maybe a hood, wheels and carb package was one of those.

That is probably correct. Or at least they would do anything to make a sale. I recall a 56 400 floating around New Jersey with twin 4bbls and a factory stick shift. It probably had the Carribean hood as well, but I don't recall.

If you check the 1956 Build Sheet and Production Code Chart and even the 1955 Build Sheet and Production Code Chart that I compiled, exclusively for this site, from factory Trade Letters and related documents, you'll find that there's no such option.

However, it's been proven that the factory did, with enough persistence from the prospective dealer/buyer, accommodate some requests for special equipment.

Fred Waring, band leader (and inventor of the kitchen blender), had a '56 Patrician with Caribbean side trim and hood, and done up in a two-tone. However, I'm not sure whether that was a factory job or not.

In fact, there were one or two dealers who took it upon themselves to refit Four Hundred and even Patrician models with Caribbean trim from the parts bins. For '56, they even had special "Esquire" script plates made for front fenders and trunk lid. Heck, I once owned a '55 Patrician that had the '56 ribbed stainless all the way back to the taillights, but not across the rear; telltale signs lead me to conclude it was a dealer install.

However, in later years, as the parts inventory grew thinner, it was not uncommon to find hybridized transplants of parts for collision repair. I've seen more than One 55/56 "Patrician 400" hardtop - though the owner insisted it was factory.

If your car was a a bona fide factory exception, I owuld expect to see some notation on the build slip and production order - typically a sequenced request number that points to a separate detail file, which was likely lost after Detroit operations were shutdown. Take a look at the discussion beginning with this post in Randy Berger's thread on his "56 Patrician bought off ebay", for example. Unfortunately, the Studebaker Museum does not have production records for Caribbean and Four Hundred, but I believe that most of those survive in the hands of P'Info member 56executive.

Keep it and enhjoy it. Someone thought it was a good idea and had the freedom to make it happen. Why not?

Of course you lack the gutting tool needed for hardcore inner city use.........

Concur. Nice looking hood on that 400.

Keep the hood and any other modifications. No one can prove they were NOT factory changes.
When in doubt, leave it alone!
Unless someone can supply you with the original build sheet and prove your options were not on the car, then do not disturb what may be original mods.

Thanks guys!

I would love to find any older documentation like a build sheet, but from what I read, I understood it is not possible for a Four Hundred. In case it is, please let me know how to do it.

In any case, since the options it has "could" be correct, I will keep the car just as is.

Thanks again!
Victor

This discussion makes me wonder now about my Clipper-rod(see discussion in project thread). Maybe mine was done under those conditions. Carrib. hood twin 4bbls o a 352,
senior front clip. This gets curiouser and curiouser.

ALK

Quote:
Let me quote the last sentence of my previous post in this thread:

Quote:
If you'd like to inquire of him, privately, you can follow this hyperlink:

56executive

..to his Member Profile page, and click on the "PM" button to open a new window where you can write and and send a "Private Message".

Meanwhile, out on the production line, the factory also tagged each vehicle with a build code sheet or strip. For 1955/56 cars, look for a strip of paper taped to the top of the glovebox, but be careful as the strip can be be rather delicate, if still in place, after 50+ years. This build code strip will have a string of alphanumeric characters specific to the car; you can use the aforementioned chart to decode.

Let us know what you find.