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My dad bought this more than 40 years ago. I remember riding it in it to various Packard club outings. I even got to drive it once. Sadly, the car was not kept up and now needs to be restored. I set up a folder on Google for all the photos. $12,300 obo.

Link to photos on Google Photos

Would have been a little better if it wasn't stored outside.

What's your location?

BTW I would value that at more like $2500 assuming there's not substantial rust hiding. For the money you would need to make it nice, you could just go buy one.

Yeah, it is very weathered. The car is in Southern California (LA County). I pulled that asking price from the 2025 Old Cars Price Guide. A 5 is a car that needs a full restoration and may or may not be running. A 6 is just a parts car. Even as a parts car, it gives me a price of $4,100. I'd say it is somewhere in between, hence the OBO. :)

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This is a very tough time to sell as I have seen like three 55 Caribbean projects for sale at discount prices just in the past couple months. It's a buyer's market.

This is from someone that pays close attention to the market, not a company with 100,000 prices listed. I could see 5k to the right buyer if it's very low rust. But that's really about it.

Curious to hear others' thoughts.

When was the last time the engine was run? When was the last time the car was drivable? Does it come with any additional parts?

I don't know for sure the last time the engine was run. My best guess is 15 years ago. My dad died four years ago, so all I can do is guess. No additional parts. He left some parts cars, but those are 1949, 1950, and 1956 Packards.

Regarding this 1953 Caribbean, it can be very difficult to put a value on a car needing a total restoration. I personally do not put much stock in price guides as they tend to inflate values, particularly for cars requiring extensive restoration work. I once worked as a Packard consultant to a leading price guide and ended up quitting because they were ignoring my recommendations. I later found out that all they would do was to apply CPI inflation factors to their existing car values. Then they would hype their new edition as having the most current values. They did this quarterly. This is actually kind of dumb because obviously, you cannot price collector cars like commodities. A Packard is not a gallon of milk. Another factor to consider is that there are few Packard enthusiasts out there with either the ability or the financial resources to tackle a project like this, and as we all know, our numbers are shrinking with every passing year. But there are some benchmarks out there. A few years ago, a large Packard hoard of more than 250 individual cars was sold at public auction. This was the collection of noted Packard enthusiast (or should I say, hoarder) C. Lewis Ablelove. Mr. Ablelove was a prominent attorney in the Utica, New York area and had amassed an extensive collection of vintage cars, the vast majority of which were Packards. At the time of the sale, almost all of the cars were in rough, unrestored condition and many were really just parts cars. Mr. Ablelove apparently spent much of his life combing the Northeastern part of the U.S. buying Packards in whatever condition he could find them (the rustier the better!) and then bringing them back to his storage facilities where they then sat for decades. The collection was dispersed in two public auctions held in November 2021 and April 2022. The collection included a number of Caribbeans of all years and there were several 1953 and 1954 models. I think that the auction sale prices for these cars should give us a fair indication of what this particular Caribbean might realistically be worth on the open market. Here are some of the results from the C. Lewis Ablelove auctions for 1953 and 1954 Caribbeans. I do have results for several 1955 and 1956 Caribbeans in case anyone is interested. But based on analysis of these auction results, I would put the value of this car at between $4,000-$5,000. Probably closer to $4,000 unless the floors are in really good shape. If the car had been kept inside, the value would no doubt be much higher. Given that the car has been left exposed to the elements apparently for at least 15 years and the top is about completely gone, I would be very concerned about the condition of the frame and floor pan. The car might actually be unrestorable if these are seriously compromised.

Lot 75: 1954 Caribbean. Sold: $4,000

Lot 76: 1953 Caribbean. Sold: $500. Note that the trunk pan is completely gone on this one. This was the worst of the lot.

Lot 184: 1953 Caribbean. Sold: $3,250

Lot 190: 1953 Caribbean. Sold $4,250

Lot 191: 1954 Caribbean. Sold $3,250

Lot 193: 1953 Caribbean. Sold: $3,000

Lot 195: 1954 Caribbean. Sold: $6,250

Lot 9: 1954 Caribbean. Sold: $20,000. This car was sold at the second auction and was by far the best Caribbean in the collection. Car was totally original and appeared that it could have at least been put on the road with minimum effort. I attended the second auction in person and actually sat inside this car. It really was quite nice and I was seriously tempted!

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After looking at the pics, I said to myself "that's a $5K car". Everything is bad. Body/paint, chrome, top, interior. Who knows if the trunk and floor pans are bad.
$5K to the "right" guy, the guy with $50-60K, maybe more to restore it, not to mention the years of time and labor. PB