|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
 
|
Quote:
acolds wrote: Update on Randy's Caribbean . Randy several years ago when he first started on his Caribbean project asked me if I would complete his project if anything happened to him. I said yes but told him I would prefer he stick around as I valued his friendship and company more than anything. Al, I would update the Registry Entry except you're ostensibly the "new owner"? Because of this change in Ownership, it's infinitely preferable for you to create a new entry for "your" Caribbean. I will then update the entry that's in Randy's name and cross reference the two entries. If you start wearing black, then so be it.  And, good luck with the restoration. I'm sure the expertise gained in the resto of your '57 Clipper Sedan will come in more than handy.
Posted on: 2021/4/18 21:56
|
|||
|
Mal
/o[]o\ ====  Bowral, Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia "Out of chaos comes order" - Nietzsche. 1938 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD 1941 One-Twenty Club Coupe - SOLD 1948 Super Eight Limo, chassis RHD - SOLD 1950 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD What's this?  Put your Packard in the Packard Vehicle Registry! Here's how! Any questions - PM or email me at ozstatman@gmail.com |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
|
Regarding the transmission I see that Randy had this comment regarding it in his Registry Entry - Transmission rebuilt by Ron Siegal 03/10/2008. Maybe it was changed from the original at that time?
Posted on: 2021/4/19 22:36
|
|||
|
Mal
/o[]o\ ==== Bowral, Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia "Out of chaos comes order" - Nietzsche. 1938 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD 1941 One-Twenty Club Coupe - SOLD 1948 Super Eight Limo, chassis RHD - SOLD 1950 Eight Touring Sedan - SOLD What's this? Put your Packard in the Packard Vehicle Registry! Here's how! Any questions - PM or email me at ozstatman@gmail.com |
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy's Caribbean
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Forum Ambassador
|
AC, does the Utica transmission # match the one I provided earlier for Randy's Caribbean (C1004)?
Posted on: 2021/4/20 7:41
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy's Caribbean
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
 
|
I will check to trans number as soon as I move car to my location and can get under it. Need to make arrangements get brother to help.
Posted on: 2021/4/20 9:17
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
AC, Delighted to know you are going to continue with Randy's Caribbean project! Randy's attention to detail always impressed me and glad to know he chose you to bring that beautiful VMV Caribbean over the finish line. Looking forward to your progress!
Leedy, I am curious of the production number of your Caribbean which was stolen out of your barn? With 5699's showing up on eBay and other auction sites I am wondering if any trail to the theft has ever turned up? All the best, Robert.
Posted on: 2021/4/24 11:57
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Quote:
Hello... In response to your question... believe me. The Caribbeans being sold are also being watched... for many years now. And yes, several Caribbeans are coming up for sale in recent times as we are having a generation die off and/or simply roll over. But...there ARE people out there who very well know where my car is and they know it was stolen. However everybody suddenly "didn't know nuthin' " after it happened and during all of the cover-ups and chicanery that followed. There are also people who know how to exploit bias in their favor. AND how to work all of the legal loopholes and steal your property "fair and square." After all... in their view I didn't deserve to have all that cool stuff anyway. Right? Some are chortling and grinning about it. Some are proud that they feel they got away with the theft and probably made good money off of a zero investment. The car was in my barn, in a sparsely populated unincorporated area with no police force of its own and nobody wanted to help other than passing the buck to some other entity who then kicked the can even further down the road. IT WAS AND IS A NIGHTMARE. Rather than helping, they seemed more interested in why was I living so far out on acreage in a cool house with all this cool stuff and nice cars? ( other cars were stolen including a 1941 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special which is more rare than the Caribbean). It is easy to spend a fortune chasing down snakes swirling in a dark and slimey barrel. One can end up throwing good money after bad. At one point you are out of options and you simply have to throw up your hands and walk away. These reptilian "people" know this. One person who was involved in this theft was indeed caught and sued by me in court. I won a judgement against that person (he claimed it was all a 'mix-up" and that he could not pay for his crime. Somehow, he mysteriously had a lawyer, despite not being able to pay me. He further said sold it to his friend who sold it again, etc. etc. etc.) It was made to appear that my Caribbean was just a POS and was lost forever... like it evaporated. In fact all my Caribbean needed was a paint job. I had worked on the car for several years in my spare time (which was precious little in those days). All chrome and gold plating was done. All bolts had been sent out and nickel-tumbled. Anything that was rusty (and this was almost nothing except for light surface rust) was replaced with DESERT PARTS that had never seen a winter or bad wet weather or salt. All dash knobs were NOS. The factory air conditioning control was tested and reconditioned. There was even a brand new convertible top in the box (and at least two spares)... and a barn full of parts enough to do several cars. Bumpers, fenders, a spare deck lid, grilles, doors, glass, trim, perhaps 20 tail light assemblies, exhaust systems, wheels, caps, chrome and stainless galore. Lots of NOS parts in ORIGINAL boxes and in wood cabinets (they stole my cabinets and workbench too). Radio was rebuilt... with several spares (including several rare CLIPPER wonderbar radios). A NOS set of Packard factory seat belts. A NOS traffic light viewer. A NOS pull-out trunk light and spares. There were even TWO sets of RARE Packard "Car-Pets" (most don't even know what these are) and a roll of carpet. Original cans of Packard touch-up paint and motor oil. Several pairs of MINT and NOS Yankee Pacesetter rearview mirrors. A NOS Packard Safety Brake Fluid Reservoir IN the box–and a spare! Engine was re-done. Transmission was re-built. Brakes were re-done. Carbs were re-built and operating perfectly. The gas tank was done. Fuel pump replaced. New water pump. Generator rebuilt. Starter rebuilt. TIRES were NEW wide whitewalls (Remingtons) with protective blue coating still on them. The spare in the trunk was the original U.S. Royal Master that was on the car when delivered new (never on the ground). There were FIVE nice original genuine Packard Motor Wheel wire wheels with two and a half sets of original center caps, including one set of Earle C. Anthony cloisonne center caps. AND a lot more including a 1956 374 cid Caribbean engine block with pistons and crank, a spare Caribbean "bat-wing" air cleaner, extra complete dashboards, door panels, harnesses and electrical parts, two 1956 Ultramatic transmissions, boxes of push-button assemblies and wiring, several compensators complete and a NOS compensator unit. There was also original Packard literature in cabinets saved from Detroit. And LOT more. ALL gone. You mean to say NOBODY knows about all this? All this nightmare cost me tens of THOUSANDS of dollars and several years to seek remedies. In the end I only went backwards. This is what happens when things like this are stolen and you don't have a honeypot full of money. endless patience, bottomless resources and a good lawyer. AND it wasn't just the car, but ALL of my Packard parts (many NOS) and ALL of my tools. Yes. This actually happened. Of course, years later when it finally got to court, the female judge (who was definitely not an old car buff ) looked at photos presented to her by the defendant's attorney of the disassembled car and could not see a realistic value. Clueless. And worse, I was not allowed to speak on the issue on my behalf... as incredible as this may seem in the REAL rational world. As far as the judge was told (and probably believed) I was just some Sanford & Son piker dude out in the country with junky old cars and a pile of old parts to something nobody knew what it was. And that was that. Take it or leave it. I had a great-great grandmother who was full-blood Creek Indian. Her land was "legally" taken from her and she was "legally" forced to WALK from Georgia to "resettlement" in Oklahoma in the 1800s. Somehow she survived when many of my relatives didn't. But after this experience, I had just a taste of how she must have felt. IF my Caribbean came up for sale, believe me, I would know the car. I bought the car in Winter Park, Florida in the early 1970s when I was in college. AND I TOW-barred it all the way back to Los Angeles, California behind my 1963 Chevy Impala (bought NEW see photos). No little feat, I can assure you. And yes, I have photos. And yes, I still have the original notarized Bill Of Sale and even the receipt for Florida fees and the tow bar receipt! The serial number means nothing since the plate was off of the car when it was stolen and I believe the number was changed later. It was an MKN car with factory air and wire wheels. I DO have suspicion that my Caribbean was subsequently auctioned in Arizona in 2010 to persons and parts unknown. Perhaps it is in Saudi. OR... maybe somewhere in the USA, sweating in somebody's garage. Down to the umpteenth owner who knows nothing about the real history of the car. Or perhaps they know the whole story and are hiding it. I contacted the auction company and they were VERY cagey about the serial number... refused to provide a pic of the serial plate... they refused to say who was selling it, what the serial number was... and who bought it. Then they lied and said the car was sold new in California and had been there all its life. Pure rubbish. NOT TRUE. NOT TRUE... AND NOT TRUE. The car they sold was white/pink/gray (MKN) with a re-done interior and wire wheels. It was pictured with it's rear sitting up in the air for some reason... and a pair of (Hmmmmm) Yankee Pacesetter mirrors. But it appeared someone had very stupidly painted both the dash AND the firewall GLOSS BLACK... something the factory would have NEVER done. Part of the A/C was still in the car, but the engine and compressor and blower appeared to be changed/missing. Other things were altered. Any knowledgeable Packard person seeing this car SHOULD have smelled something wrong. But nobody knew nothin'. The car disappeared. SOMEBODY knows about this car. And SOMEBODY knows about the serial number. But nobody knows nuthin'. But one thing is for sure... whoever has my Caribbean today... you may have what appears to be a "legal" title or a "bill of sale" but you are standing on DEEP QUICKSAND. Some day (and I may be gone from this world when it happens) this will all come out and the dirt done here will be exposed for what it is. Oh... and what was I doing while my car and parts and tools and possessions were being stolen? DYING in Anaheim Memorial Hospital where I was for over a month. They even called a priest because they were not certain I would survive. I have an undiagnosed medical condition, courtesy of my service in Viet Nam. My first attack of the condition was 1967 in a place called Duc Pho, surrounded by ocean on one side and mountains and jungle on the other. The first attack was so horrific that I was paralyzed. I was then taken by my Commanding Officer's helicopter and ended up in a hospital in Qui Nhon... where I was so bad off that I was further evacuated to Manila in the Philipines...where I nearly died. I was then taken to Camp Zama, Japan (they weren't sending me back to the states with some undiagnosed condition). Army doctors in Japan worked on me to save my life. They never figured out what nearly caused my death. After some time in Japan, I recovered and volunteered to return to Viet Nam where I continued my service. Photo below is me in Viet Nam at a place we called LZ Montezuma. THIS was after we fixed the site up for the third time and it looked pretty good here (relatively speaking). And we now had tents instead of holes in the ground. I served with both 25th Division and 4th Division... and yes, it was very tough duty. A LOT of French, U.S. Marines and U.S. Army 101st Airborne men died on that hill behind me. One of the guys in our unit got both of his legs blown off (he stepped on a Viet Cong land mine) just trying to climb that hill to retrieve a parachute. I spell "Viet Nam" in two words instead of one because that's the way the Vietnamese used to spell it. This condition periodically returns and sometimes is so bad it puts me in the hospital for extended periods. It chose that time to hit and unknown to me –while I'm laying in a hospital with a team of doctors again working trying to save my life, someone was stealing my cars and possessions. Of course, that's another story since the VA has no official diagnosis of what the condition is (one doctor thinks it is a rare form of Malaria... another thinks it is a condition known as Brill-Zenser). Either way... I have never been compensated by the VA for this condition.... so again... nobody knows nuthin'. And there we are–all the way down to today. Thanks for asking. Attach file:  InTowStopGD.jpg (262.02 KB) RestStop.jpg (247.87 KB) LeeedyAtDucPhoHill copy.jpg (196.43 KB)
Posted on: 2021/4/24 20:37
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Leedy,
Thank you for your detailed reply and for including pictures. You clearly have had a horrible experience with an unsatisfactory outcome. Your Caribbean with its options was certainly a treasure. Thank you for your service! All the best, Robert.
Posted on: 2021/4/25 18:26
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Quote:
Hello Robert, Thanks for the kind response. Yes, it was and remains a horrific nightmare... one I have and LIVE nearly every day– even after all these years. All of it. And eBay? Don't count on their help. First thing they'll do is request YOU get LOCAL police intervention. THEN they might do something. We can't impede commerce after all! The dollars have to keep flowing! No matter HOW they are flowing! And with no police where the car was stolen and with the departments I contacted all standing around doing Freddie Prinze "not my job" imitations, nobody wanted to take responsibility for an investigation, much less an eBay intervention! The loss included several prototype, one-of-a-kind items from my barns. SOME were vintage bicycles and bicycle items. These included prototype Silver King aluminum bicycle frames and the VERY LAST 26 x 2.125 American-made Carlisle whitewall balloon tire IN a box... mounted and given to me by the Carlisle Rubber Corporation... WITH LETTER from the company to me. And car items, some Packard– like items I saved from East Grand Blvd when Packard closed there in the 1950s. These included PACKARD BLUEPRINTS.... A LOT OF THEM. YES. But also included was the ONLY set of aluminum prototype pilot wheels for 1986 Mazda RX-7... which were very different from the normal production wheels. This was the ONLY set of these wheels in North America and the ONLY set to ever leave Japan. No telling what moron ended up with them and what kind of car they ended up on, but they also had brand-new prototype TIRES mounted. These wheels and tires would be SO HOT that nobody could possibly sell them and still know what they are. OR could they? SOME of those items indeed apparently were sold on eBay. Oh yes. I won't list the excuses I was given. I'm an old guy now, and I had a lot of Packards over my lifetime. But my mistake was falling in love with the 1956 Caribbean. MY Caribbean. Which was made only more intense because I was given a ride in the first hand-made prototype back in 1955. That 1956 Caribbean convertible was my DREAM car and still is today. Nothing can change that. However the financial loss, treachery and pain associated even with just the memory and what happened is almost unbearable to think about for very long. This wasn't merely a theft. It was a sneering, MALICIOUS, hateful theft. As they saw it... how dare I have all of this cool stuff and live out where I lived... in the house up on the hill out in the country? What was I even doing there in the first place? They got off on doing me dirty... and having a free payday. There really ARE "people" like this... MONSTERS are not just in the movies. They really DO exist. By the way...it's "Leeedy" with 3 e's. Thanks again. As for my service to my country? You are most welcome. Thank you!
Posted on: 2021/4/25 21:04
|
|||
|
||||
|
Re: Randy
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Home away from home
|
Quote:
Hello Robert, RULES OF FORUM ETIQUETTE: 4) Hijacking: Please don't take a forum off topic. We all do it to some degree, but it can quickly annoy the original poster who never gets an answer because folks are off chatting about something non-related on their thread. If you are reading a forum topic, and it reminds you of something off topic then start a new forum thread for that. This keep each topic neat and on target and makes things easier to find in a forum search later.
Posted on: 2021/4/26 12:19
|
|||
|
The story of ZIS-110, ZIS-115, ZIL-111 & Chaika GAZ-13 on www.guscha.de
|
||||
|
||||
