Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Thought you fellows might like a look at this one. It's in the Johnson County Car Museum in Coralville IA (a suburb of Iowa City).

I wonder how many HT's were made, if only 500 some Caribs total (as I recall) were built.

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According to Dawes in The Packard 1942-1962, 263 HTs and 276 Convertibles

Thanks for the info. Didn't know it was that even of a split... always assumed there was a smaller market for hardtops.

I think that Packard had a tradition of giving out some shares of stock with these cars. At least this was displayed next to the car:

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why is there a vinyl top on this car.....two seams running down the top if you look close.

A vinyl type material (actually more a rubberized canvas) was standard on Caribbean HTs. Believe was supposed to resemble the convertible top fabric materials. There was a fairly thick felt pad underneath which collected water after a while. The body metal was same as 400 so a lot of tops rusted quite nicely safely hidden under the pad--until it was too late.

The top covering was Hypalon, a GoodYear product which later proved to be less than impermeable to moisture, thus many of the Caribbean hartops have suffered from rusted roof issues.

Gerd, is the car actually silver, red and something or is it just the lighting in the photo?

If that's the 56 Carib I think it is, it's #1228 and was originally painted MTV. Back about 20 years ago #1228 was in the Musee De L'Automobile Henri Malartre (pardon my spelling), and was originally exported by S-P Corp to a buyer in Boulogne Sur Seine, France.

Gerd,

Great history! Edith Piaf. It's nice to know the original ownership, even if it's somebody not so famous, like Eloyse L. Moore on the Packard Stock certificate. I wonder if that HT Carib was a one-owner, considering they still had the original certificate.

All,

Can anyone make out the signature on that stock certificate? The Secretary line is hard to tell. The President is obviously Macauly, which if it is a 1956 certificate, wouldn't be right, would it?

Also interesting to me is the stock Registration companies:

Guardian Trust Company of Detroit and
Union Trust Company (Detroit)

Why registered with two companies?

As you can tell, I don't know beans about reading stock certificates.

Not sure about why the two trust companies but M. A. Cudlip was secretary in the 20's and 30's so that should make the stock of that era.

EDIT: There is a date on the Guardian Trust company side of Oct 7. 1929. If that is when bought, wonder what she paid and what it was worth a few weeks later.