Back in the day when American cars were about the only unity real Americans could grease one’s palms , include the epoch of the 1953 - 1956 Packard Caribbean , your modal Detroit automaker was n’t quenched it had arrived until it offered a " limited edition . " That term is fairly faint , and they did n’t apply it much then , though production of such cars was undeniably circumscribe .
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Yet in the booming seller ’s food market of the belated Forties , the American industry could hardly encounter demand for its standard models . So except for a few low - intensity dealings - detergent builder like the Chrysler Town & Country , Detroit merely spewed forth a " orotund river of jelly - bodied clunkers , " to use Ken Purdy ’s musical phrase – and the public happily bought every one .
ineluctably , though , the market became satiated and literal contest retrovert by about 1950 . Three years after , Ford launched a sales " blitz " against Chevy , ship huge numbers of cars to dealers disregarding of orders , and the rivalry became murderous . One resultant role of this fierce marketing was the " sports railcar , " which commonly mean anything with a translatable top , mass of performance , a few alone styling touches , and top - of - the - line price tag .
Of of course , some of these were true sports cars , like the Nash - Healey and Chevrolet ’s Corvette . Most , however , were just alter standard ragtops with high - grade trim and , sometimes , a hotter locomotive engine . But whether literal or fake , they had the same use as their late - Forties forbear : to attract the proletariat into the local emporium , where it might eyeball the latest - and - great , then start out in one of the more plebian exemplar .
In the upper reaches of 1953 ’s regimented market , Buick , Cadillac , Oldsmobile , and Packard field two - ton " sports cars " with wheelbases of 120 - plus inches and no less than 165 horsepower : severally , the Skylark , Eldorado , Fiesta , and Caribbean .
The last was no hasty response to General Motors . Packard conceived the Caribbean around the clip Cadillac first thought of Eldorado ( 1951 ) , and for much the same reasons : a more vernal image and redundant publicity . ( Chrysler was likewise moved to expel the C-300 in 1955 , though it was far more sporting than any of these . ) But whereas the GM railway car were in - house designs issued principally to estimate public reply to coming features like the wraparound windshield , the 1953 Caribbean had little that was really new .
That , perhaps , stem from its origin at the Henney Company of Freeport , Illinois , long - time provider of Packard ’s professional - car bodies . Henney president C. Russell Feldmann hoped to expand his Packard business by tailoring a low - volume , eminent - one dollar bill " athletics " model , and had designer Richard Arbib work on a proposal of marriage by the autumn of 1951 . The result , named Pan American , punctually appeared at the various 1952 auto shows .
Find more data about the Pan American concept on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
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Pan American concept
Packard had already been thinking " fun car " for some time when the Pan American concept appeared in 1952 as a precursor to the 1953 - 1956 Packard Caribbean . Packard ’s body shop , Henney Company , was commissioned to evoke up a hardtop on the house ’s 1949 chassis and again on the 1952 , both call Monte Carlo .
Packard also read an Italian - made Abarth as a possible ledger entry in the sportsmanlike section , and conceived an queer rig named Panther , later to become the archetypal Panther Daytona . But the Pan American was the most successful of these efforts because it really led to a output model , the Caribbean .
The original Pan American start as a stock 1951 Series 250 convertible . Packard president Hugh Ferry gave Henney president Russell Feldmann only six weeks to fork out it , in sentence for the opening of the New York International Motor Sports Show on March 29 , 1952 . With house decorator Richard Arbib working evenings and weekend , Feldmann met the deadline .
Arbib ’s concepts were kin to those of present-day customizers in that the Pan Am was dramatically lower than stock . It also resembled the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado in having conduct bodysides – again for a low-spirited expression – plus chrome wire bicycle , and a metal tonneau covering the cushy top and its yet - to - be - developed protein folding mechanism . But unlike the Eldo , the Pan Am had only a single terrace rump ( Henney had closed up most of the space behind ) as well as " continental " exterior - mount spare tire and a useable hood scoop .
Henney general manager Preston Boyd told Feldmann that their business firm had spend nigh to $ 10,000 on the first Pan Am and would have to institutionalise over $ 18,000 apiece for copy , including overhead and Arbib ’s remuneration . But his estimate apparently pertained to that one railcar , not a yield version .
Though Feldmann proceed trying to trade Packard on the idea of at least a small streamlet ( " Do n’t you think it remarkable that interest in this car is still so not bad ? " he require in July ) , no more than six Pan Americans were establish . Evidently , monetary value dissuade Packard from thoughts of even limited output .
To learn about the first production fomite built off of the Pan American , go forward reading on the next page .
1953 Packard Caribbean
In October 1952 , Packard decided to offer up a limited run of " sports cars " that , in due course , emerged as the 1953 Packard Caribbean , which was the first yield Caribbean . ( The Pan American sport car , which led directly to the Caribbean , inspired a serial publication of monikers with a Latin American flavour : " Balboa " in 1953 , for a one - off showcar ; " Pacific " and " Panama " in 1954 , for Packard and Clipper hardtops . ) To keep a lid on price , the firm ostracize segment and depress ; with an eye to sales , management insisted on six - passenger capacity .
The Caribbean ( accent on the third syllable , please ) thus arrived as a full - size of it convertible sharing most sheet - metal with the stock ragtop . Trouble was , Packard ’s stock convertible was an rethink , hinge upon the firm ’s light , 122 - inch wheelbase and competing more with Buick than Cadillac . To get around this image problem , Packard simply priced the Caribbean at $ 5,210 , more than $ 1,000 above Cadillac ’s Series 62 convertible .
Responsibility for Caribbean design fell to Dick Teague , a youthful hairstylist of exceptional natural endowment , Packard ’s " wizard of face lift . " His modification to what was fundamentally the Series 250 transmutable shell were mild but efficient : radiused rear wheel openings , molded - in " bugeye " taillamps from the senior Packards , bright metal on beltline and roulette wheel openings , a " continental " ( outboard ) spare , wire - speak bicycle , and a Pan - Am - style line - scoop bonnet .
The interior was luxuriously trimmed in leather . Power was provide by Packard ’s 327 - three-dimensional - column inch , five - briny - bearing straight eight with 180 horsepower as used in the 250s ( now live as the Packard convertible and Mayfair hardtop ) and uncommitted with optional Ultramatic ego - shift transmission .
The result was dramatically clean for 1953 , miss even a " Caribbean " nameplate . And it sold quite well for what was fundamentally a cobbled - up problem . Packard built 750 Caribbeans for the model year to proficient both Eldorado ( 532 ) and the Olds Fiesta ( 458 ) , though Buick built more Skylarks ( 1,690 ) .
That Packard Motor Car Company would offer such a car at all was decide by its loud new president , James J. Nance , recruited by outgoing United States President Hugh Ferry to alight a fire under an old - line automaker that seemed to have snooze through the early postwar years . ( Road quizzer Tom McCahill say the 1948 - 50 business line of " significant elephant " Packards looked as if they ’d been designed " for an old dowager in a Queen Mary hat . " )
The canonical torso stayed the same for 1954 . chance out what changed on the next page .
1954 Packard Caribbean
One of Packard President James J. Nance ’s target in the early 1950s was to resurrect Packard ’s prewar ikon of full sumptuousness . The elbow room to do this , he said , was to found the cheaper Clipper as a freestanding make and load Packard with stretch Packards , such as the 1954 Packard Caribbean .
He did , and the evidence is that it worked . As a former Packard dealer said : " I do n’t remember anything that was a good showroom traffic - detergent builder after the war than the Caribbean . That car was a classic . "
thing began to go bad for Nance in 1954 as Packard , injure in the crossfire of the Ford / GM sales conflict , fail to meet his deadline for a Modern V-8 locomotive and a heavy lift . Both were table to 1955 and the 1953s warmed over to satiate the gap , but sales ran at just a third the previous year ’s step . All this naturally affected the Caribbean , and 1954 production dipped to only 400 social unit , the lowest of the model ’s four years .
One drawback of being stuck with the same bodies for 1954 was that Packard ’s tune leader was stuck with the same poor wheelbase . In that proportion , the Caribbean was an exact match for this class ’s much - less - special Buick Skylark . Olds bury the Fiesta , but Cadillac ’s Eldorado blossomed to 129 column inch . It , too , was now much less unequaled , but it also be $ 2,000 less than the 1953 .
Nance and companionship did what they could by giving the 1954 Caribbean everything they had : a fresh 359 - three-dimensional - inch engine ( at 212 horsepower , the industry ’s most muscular postwar straight eight ) , two - feeling key , lowered rear - roulette wheel cutouts ( to emphasize what length there was ) , and a flashy new flair ( share with the rest of the parentage ) . To top it off , receiving set , bullet , and power windows and buns were all standard . " There is no more glamorous railroad car than the new Packard Caribbean , " trumpet the 1954 brochure . " The swank continental look will flex all eyes . " Well , it caught 400 dyad of eyes , anyway .
Learn about the big performance hike and other change for the 1955 Caribbean on the next page .
1955 Packard Caribbean
The year 1955 promised to be a turn distributor point in Packard chronicle , at least on newspaper , with a sheer newfangled 1955 Packard Caribbean among its models . Though still saddled with a body blueprint that see from 1948 - 49 for most of the lineup , designer Dick Teague managed a remarkable facelift with all the democratic contemporary trace : wrap up windscreen , eggcrate grille , giant " pentad " symbols in strategic places , twin radio antennas , " cathedral " taillights , miscellaneous scoop and crenation , even a set of " run lights " in the precede edge of the rearward fenders .
Meanwhile , primary engineer Bill Graves answered president James J. Nance ’s call for " a remainder to sell " with Bill Allison ’s new Torsion - Level abatement , plus Packard ’s first - ever V-8 , a stiff 352 - cubic - in overhead - valve powerplant belting out a claimed 275 horsepower ( close to 200 H.P. in today ’s SAE net bill and allowing for magnification ) . Ultramatic robotlike transmittal was reengineered to suit , becoming Twin - Ultramatic .
With all this , Packard had a newfangled deviation to sell : high operation . A 1954 Caribbean would mosey up to 60 mph in 15 endorsement and break loose like any other car on washboard roads . The 1955 tally 60 miles per hour from respite in 11.5 seconds and almost be adrift over the bad possible surfaces , including railroad tracks . ( Packard delighted in expose the deviation between its Patrician sedan and a Cadillac , film tackling a notorious rail crossing in downtown Detroit . ) At last , Nance had a styling / applied science package that go his mind of what a Packard should be .
It certainly suited the Caribbean , which now rode a more competitory 127 - inch wheelbase , made potential by a forward-looking miracle call charge plate tooling . This not only take half the time and be out of the tooling process but countenance , as product deviser Roger Bremer said , " the output of a concluded line of products of cars that would not have been possible by conventional methods . "
or else of short and chunky Buick rival , Packard now had long and glitzy Cadillac competitors . For the first time , a Caribbean could look an Eldo in the eye and beat it in a drag slipstream .
particular lineament describe the 1955 Caribbean : bivalent dummy atmosphere scoopful on the hood or else of a mascot , and a slender , bodyside contrast - gloss panel form by two full - length chrome moldings , the top ones sweep up at the rear to fender - mountain antennas . And , not to be outdone by less ignitor like Dodge and DeSoto , most Caribbeans add up with bright , three - whole tone paint job .
Packard did well in 1955 , but not well enough . At 55,000 unit for the whole company , model year production was almost twice that of 1954 , but little more than half the 1953 total .
One grounds : early mechanical problems and workmanship lapsing , perhaps because the cars were rush into yield before all the glitch were out . Then too , the yr - sure-enough Studebaker - Packard Corporation was in deep trouble , running out of money and suffering dealer raids from Big Three rivals , both of which only further undermined emptor confidence .
To learn about the even more too-generous 1956 model , keep reading on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
1956 Packard Caribbean
Packard gross revenue barely clear 10,000 units for 1956 , the year that brought what would prove to be the last " actual " Packards ( designed and built in Detroit ) . It also brought the 1956 Packard Caribbean , the last one and ironically the most unstinting and perfect of all .
By now , Cadillac had make up one’s mind that the Eldorado could actually make money and , shift its focal point from image to volume , provide it as a hardtop as well as a ragtop . Packard did likewise , but two Caribbeans were n’t much better than one : just 276 convertible and only 263 hardtops – 539 in all , versus 500 1955 convertibles .
Hypalon vinyl covered the newcomer ’s fixed roof , while both Caribbeans featured a fresh mite : removeable front and rearward seat cushions with two-sided covers – pleated leather on one side , bouclé cloth on the other . Like the 1955s , the 1956s were loaded . The only choice were telegram wheels ( $ 325 ) , air conditioning ( $ 567 ) , and Twin - Traction limited - slip differential ( $ 44 ) .
Packard ’s V-8 was blown out to 374 cubic inch and birth 310 H.P. . Twin - Ultramatic , newly strengthened to turn in better table service with the V-8 , now offered pushbutton controls , gear up to the right in a pod on an subdivision - similar extension of the direction column . Contrary to popular belief , the pushbuttons were n’t standard ( $ 52 additional ) ; they were n’t too reliable , either . But it hardly mattered : Studebaker - Packard was facing limbo .
Some Caribbeans deviated from normal specification . Packard had always taken superbia in custom - tailoring its automobile , and here , at least , it still did . Dealers or the manufacturing plant turned a few 1955 Four Hundred hardtop into Caribbeans and set up manual transmissions in place of Twin - Ultramatics .
A handful were painted peculiar color , including solids like black or agate , though tri - tones still predominated . The classical 1956 combining was white over sluttish blue over metal copper .
Bristling with fire and features , arrogantly price at $ 5,500-$6,000 and up , the 1956 Caribbean was as impressive a sumptuousness Packard as ever wafted down Fifth Avenue or the boulevards of Newport and Palm Springs in the golden years of the machine – and of Packard – back before World War II .
James J. Nance leave his stake as Studebaker - Packard president in August 1956 and Curtiss - Wright begin managing affairs , with longtime South Bender Harold Churchill get the product decisions . That ascertain the end of Packard ’s Detroit operations and , two years afterward , the marque itself .
Not count dealer conversions , only 2,189 Caribbeans were build up over four years . That ’s not nearly enough for the collectors who still remember them today , but that ’s as it should be . Had Packard sold more , this tale might have a very dissimilar ending .
