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Were there really only 3 '55 Caribbeans with manual transmissions?

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Were there really only 3 '55 Caribbeans with manual transmissions?

I doubt there were any official standard-shift 55 Caribbeans as there was no engine manufacturing code for the Caribbean engine except with Twin Ultramatic.

No doubt a dealer occasionally undertook a conversion, though it would seem remote that it would have been on anything other than a post-sale basis.

FWIW, I personally have seen ONE manual trans 1955 Caribbean at a PI swap meet in Orange County, CA. The owner claimed that it was original.

Prior to buying my 400 in 1999 I spied a '55 Caribbean in Prescott AZ. I was in the market so to speak, but with few dollars in the pocket, I passed on the '55 Carib that had a 3-speed manual transmission. The car was going for about 17k as I recall and the original owner had moved from Detroit to AZ for health reasons. At the time the man was quite old, and he was also selling a '55 Clipper HT & a '41 120 sedan also. A friend purchased the 120 sight unseen and I don't know what ever happened to the convertible. I took lots of pictures (35mm) at the time, and each time I see them today I kick myself hard in the a__! Reference the transmission, the story was that it was a factory replacement! The man was so frustrated with the TU that he returned the car to the factory and they installed the dependable manual unit for him.

That and a dollar buys us a cup of Joe.

kg

Steve Williams in Napa CA had a Carib ('56?) with three on the tree and OD. He said it was converted at the buyer's request prior to delivery by Earl Anthony, the SF dealer.

Anyone know what happened to his cars & stuff after he passed away?

I have a copy of a work order showing my father converted a '56 Caribbean Convertible from Twin Ultramatic to a manual shift transmission. This work was done in the early '60s.

Unlike other makers of expensive cars, Packard had a policy of offering a manual transmission as an option even on more expensive cars. Whether this extended all the way to the top of the line I do not know.

What was Packard's policy on special orders? Some makers would fill such an order even if the option was not in the catalog. For example there are at least 2 1966 Dodge Coronet Hemi 4 door sedans that have been authenticated as factory built, even though Dodge did not offer the Hemi engine in a 4 door car.

What I am driving at is this. Does a manual shift Caribbean fit in with Packard's known policies? This does not mean such a car was ever built, only that it was possible. From what I know of Packard it would at least seem possible that they would build such a car to special order.

I have an article on the 54 Pacific, which was available on special order with a weird lavender color (I forget what Packard called it) and even the wheel wells were painted lavender. The author opined that at the time, Packard would do almost anything to sell a car. It would not surprise me if they would accept an order for a manual trans Carib, but the ones I've heard of were converted by the dealer, much like the 56 Golden Hawks equipped with dual quads.

Amythyst (probably spelled wrong) & Carnation were I believe the colors you referred to. Those cars used a special paint code on the VN plate which was used for all the small batch "field-test" colors and was not specific to any of them. If memory serves the code was "R". Some good articles have appeared over the years in TPC on these special colors.

On the subject of what was or would have been done by the factory versus the dealer, hard evidence is not abundant. But I think common sense says that unless the factory had codes for some of these changes, they would find it more practical to farm the work to the selling dealer.

Rusty, I really can't comment on your question of what the factory policies were; on the topic of standard shift in V8 Caribbeans I'm guided mostly by the fact that the engine plant had separate build codes for standard shift or ultramatic for some models (flex plate or flywheel), but NOT for the Caribbean (or the Patrician or 400 either, if I recall correctly).

PS - I believe the 1953 Caribbean was the only Caribbean where the standard shift w/ or w/o overdrive was available w/o question.

Nice video I must say, I have a hard time making a comment to this car, but I saw a 1955 Clipper for sale on Ebay in 2009 August that had a factory manual transmission set. I should have the pictures of it, if I can find them from my computer.