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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
 
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packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/parts ... &SearchValue=429557&ButtonLookup=Go
Group #31.061 Part#429557 Looks like all 51-56 convertible used it. Might help with your search.
Posted on: 2022/4/14 12:33
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Forum Ambassador
 
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West, if you're inclined to scale from an illustration, Plate 13 of the 1955/56 Parts List includes a rear elevation which should be useful.
Posted on: 2022/4/14 22:07
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Received a great photo from 1955 from Kevin, showing a straight-on rear view. It is perfect to compare with what is on the car now, and appears to be identical.
Since I got the photo from Kevin, I do not feel I have the right to post here without his permission. Thank you all for your help.
Posted on: 2022/4/15 8:05
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West Peterson
1940 Packard 1808 w/Factory Air 1947 Chrysler Town and Country sedan 1970 Camaro RS packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4307&forum=10 aaca.org/ |
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
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Go ahead and post away, West, the photo was already in the Packard Info photo library. It was just easier last night to send you the scan I had made of the original print than it was to find the URL.
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=2748
Posted on: 2022/4/15 9:38
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
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Quote:
What DIY-ers don't realize is that to a professional trimmer, a convertible "rear window size" is usually measured from the entire size of what trimmers would refer to as "the curtain." The curtain is what goes under the outer top itself. DIY-ers presume this size if the "window opening" size in the top itself... which to pro trimmers is a whole different animal. The window curtain is the entire rear window assembly which may be much larger than the visible window opening as seen on a completed top itself. I know Electron is a very different company from the old days when I was using them. However, they always used to have proper dimensions. Why that would suddenly not be true is a mystery. Furthermore, "making it any size" is an offer to all of the people out there now creating custom whatzits. I'm sure that Electron knows and sells the stock original size rear window. They did back in the 1970s-80s. Again, if all else fails, Warren, Ohio can't be too far away. If there is some critical question/issue about 1955 Caribbean convertible backlight rear window, why not get it direct from the dead original, low-miles Howard Hughes Caribbean right there in the museum? No guessing, no consensus needed. No he-said-she-said, might-be-this-could-be-that stuff. A dead original, low-mileage, un-restored, un-molested top! Right there where it can't go anywhere...
Posted on: 2022/4/15 13:23
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
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Yes, I had certainly taken that into consideration, BUT 26 inches stretches from the turtle deck to beyond the top bow. Well beyond what could be considered the "the curtain."
Posted on: 2022/4/16 17:33
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West Peterson
1940 Packard 1808 w/Factory Air 1947 Chrysler Town and Country sedan 1970 Camaro RS packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4307&forum=10 aaca.org/ |
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Professionals in the convertible top business know that rear window backlight curtains on a dry-well convertible are never cut to exact size. It is expected that the installer will trim the size during installation, so the curtain is invariably made larger to allow the trimmer to trim for variances. Such curtain assemblies for a dry-well convertible are never pre-cut to an exact size. This is always how the industry has worked. The time to worry is when it is too small... not when it may seem too large. Just like measurements from the front bow to the rear bow may seem like a set entity to a DIY-er. But the tops are always, always made longer ...and are trimmed back at installation. Doing convertible tops– despite what J.C. Whitney catalogues and the internet might imply– were never a good DIY field.
Posted on: 2022/4/17 16:52
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Home away from home
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Here are some photos, taken in 2008, of Howard Hughes' all-original 1955 Caribbean when it was on display at the Automobile Driving Museum in Los Angeles.
Attach file:  CIMG4749.JPG (168.15 KB) CIMG4751.JPG (158.89 KB) CIMG4752.JPG (207.07 KB)
Posted on: 2022/4/17 20:53
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Re: 1955 Caribbean top material
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Quote:
Thanks. Just for clarification, I'm not attempting to do this myself. Just trying to get the correct (correct size, anyway) top ordered.
Posted on: 2022/4/18 9:46
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West Peterson
1940 Packard 1808 w/Factory Air 1947 Chrysler Town and Country sedan 1970 Camaro RS packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4307&forum=10 aaca.org/ |
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