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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Home away from home
 
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Quote:
by Owen_Dyneto on 2014/2/26 14:12:00 Just joking, I think this photo came to me from either Mike Dulinski or Joel Ray. I wonder what ever happened to it, I titled the photo "before", still waiting for the "after". Here is the Before & After: Attach file:  (28.45 KB) (11.43 KB)
Posted on: 2014/2/27 16:06
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Just can't stay away
 
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there is allways a possibilty that car never had 2x4s on it,being special ordered in black,and no trim code stamped even the interior color was special ordered ,,and if it is a original stick shift car with od,might have been ordered with one carb??,,very good possiblity ,sad no one knows what the no.s and letters on firewall stands for ,or we would all know
Posted on: 2014/2/27 23:18
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Forum Ambassador
 
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Folks, there is no great mystery about this car. The older Packard folk here in NJ were aware of it for decades, it belonged (along with several other Caribbeans) to one of our good regional members who passed away many years ago. It was a standard V8 Caribbean except for the special order trim.
Point, what numbers and letters are you referring to on the firewall? Perhaps you mean the body dash or theft-proof number embossed above the heater box? No mystery there either, if you search this forum for "theft-proof" I'm certain you'll find probably a hundred posts about it. Just a sequential number assigned to each body as they were produced and no way to correlate it to how the car was built, that's done thru the build slip.
Posted on: 2014/2/27 23:37
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Home away from home
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There were only 500 Caribbeans built in 1955. Very few were in solid colors and I doubt that there were many with the standard transmission. The car is in bad shape no doubt but if someone does not step up to restore this car, it will end up like the car that Mike D. parted out.
There is no way to restore a Caribbean today without spending a lot of money. The parts are getting harder to find and the pieces that are unique to the car can be prohibitively expensive. Batwing air cleaners are running over $ 1000 and complete and restored two four set ups are pricier than a decent Comstellarion. A correct interior and top will easily cost $8000. Try to find the antenna masts or the chrome that holds them. The hood and deck lids......when was the last time you saw them on Craig's list or eBay? The car needs someone with the time to do it right. Completed it may be worth the cost of the restoration, but if not-- who cares? Anyone who works on old cars- particularly post war Packards- in the belief that they will make money on them may be delusional. We fix old cars because we appreciate the design and engineering and like the idea that we are not driving 57 Chevies or Corvettes. I have been working on a 55 Caribbean for over 3 years that was pretty much the twin of this car. It will get done some day and I will not keep it in the garage and trailer it to shows. I will drive it to Hershey with a big grin on my face and the wind blowing through the remaining strands of hair on my balding pate. If I were not in the middle of the current project, I would savor getting this car back on the road. It has every possibility of being as gorgeous as the black 56 shown in the ad--- and rarer for the standard transmission and custom interior. Those who look at this car as hopeless should clean their glasses. This is the ruby in the bottom of the Cracker Jack box for someone who is willing to do the work.
Posted on: 2014/2/28 0:40
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Forum Ambassador
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I do have a pair of the chrome-plated trim castings that go from the base of the antennas down to the horizontal trim strip, particular to the Caribbeans. These are new in Packard packaging and I was keeping them should, God forbid, I had an accident and needed them. But I would consider selling them if they were essential to a Carib restoration. NOT cheap. PM me if interested.
BTW, that is not a factory and probably not even a dealer conversion to standard shift. Those dealer conversions that I have seen used the same clutch pedal and linkage as the other Packards that were available with standard shift (conventional pedal and arm actuated thru the toe board). It would be interesting to see an underhood view and see if the clutch actuation is hydraulic.
Posted on: 2014/2/28 9:04
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Forum Ambassador
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Quote:
I do have a pair of the chrome-plated trim castings that go from the base of the antennas down to the horizontal trim strip, particular to the Caribbeans. It should be noted, here, that the design of the LH molding differs between 55 and 56. See Gr. 30.7925 in the parts book; look for the moldings described as "EXTENDS VERTICAL FROM UPPER MLDG TO TOP MLDG" for 5588 and 5697-99 applications. The 55 molding (P/N 469507) has something of a notch on its leading end that lets you get a finger under the trailing end of the gas door molding (P/N 469508) to open it. For 55, the Carib was the only model where the line of any side molding ran through the gas door. They reworked the tooling to eliminate that notch from the molding (P/N 6478581) for 56. This was concurrent with the addition of a finger cover to the underside to the gas door molding (P/N 6478202), which was now used on all Senior models - including the Exec. The RH molding (P/N 469506) is unaffected by all this - hence, same part for both years. I learned this the hard way when I purchased a nice used LH molding, but didn't notice that little difference until I compared the part to what was on my 56 Carib Hardtop. The part I bought is actually for a 55. Now, I've never removed those moldings from my 56, but judging from the texture on the reverse of this 55 part and it's relative weight, I'm guessing that the base metal is bronze (as I've found with a few other parts from early production 55 cars). Trim parts that are cast in bronze are much easier to replate; replacements are not likely needed, except for a missing or badly broken part.
Posted on: 2014/2/28 9:56
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Forum Ambassador
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Yes, they are bronze castings. As to 55 or 56, I'll have to check if anyone is interested.
Posted on: 2014/2/28 10:44
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Yes, if you really know your 1955 and 1956 Caribbeans the gas tank filler door trim differs, thus the cast antenna riser for the left-hand side is slightly different (there is a set of 1956 Caribbean antenna riser trim pieces on eBay now). As for single-tone 1955 Caribbeans, this one is genuine...specially ordered. And originally had black and red interior-special ordered. But someone has quite obviously changed the transmission and carbs. These are all things that can be fixed and returned to original. Depends on just how much you love the car and how fastidious you are in tracking down parts. This car IS a known car. Certainly no mystery. And there were other odd-color Caribbeans for 1955 done by the factory (in addition to ones running around today with home-grown colors inflicted on them). Jay Leno has an unusual 2-tone 1955 that was a known SoCal car... a kind of beige with an orange stripe and orange with black interior when I last saw it decades before he bought it. Hardly 1955 standard colors, but ordered that way new if I recall. There was also another factory all-black 1955 Caribbean in Southern California for many years. Solid black with a solid black interior, made that way by the factory. A good friend owned it for many years, but no idea where it is today. And there was also a factory all-black 1956 Caribbean convertible with a single pink strip on the interior. Unfortunately the photo in the eBay add showing the "black with (gag) pumpkin" interior" 1956 is a car that is certainly in no way original. Heavens. I used to drive this very car in the 1970s when it was original and unmolested. Yes, it had factory air, but none of that interior or top it has now! And certainly not the color. You can see it as it originally looked (prior to the molestation) in factory Dover White, Scottish Heather and Maltese Gray in an old issue of Car Collector/Car Classics magazine in an article where I photographed it. It had a white grained top with pink inner lining.
Posted on: 2014/2/28 22:45
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Re: 55 caribbean on ebay
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Home away from home
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Hi
When I see one of these badly deteriorated Caribbean convertible I wish someone would use the convertible parts to create a '56 Executive convertible. Yes, I know, not factory authentic but just to have one example of what should have been built too. Steve
Posted on: 2014/3/1 10:03
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