1953 Packard Caribbean Custom Convertible

The Packard Pan American show car was shown at the 1952 New York International Motor Sports Show and it was met with much consumer excitement. Packard assigned young designer Dick Teague the task of transforming the Pan American show car into a production automobile based on the 250 convertible. The result was the Caribbean and only 750 examples were produced during its introductory year of 1953.

This particular example is a rare Series Model #2631 and has many unique elements such as fully radiused rear-wheel cutouts and chrome wire wheels. It was once in the possession of collector William Pettit and part of his Museum of Motoring Memories in Natural Bridge, Virginia. It was sold in December of 2005 and was then disassembled for freshening, building upon its previous frame-off restoration. It was repainted and the chrome was re-plated and given a new top, carpets, tires, and wire wheels.

This car is finished in Catalena Cream and has a Cranberry leather interior. It has a 327 cubic-inch eight-cylinder engine and a rare three-speed manual transmission with overdrive. There are four-wheel hydraulic brakes and front independent suspension.

In 2009, this Caribbean Convertible was offered for sale at the Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. The car was estimated to sell for $120,000 - $150,000 and was offered without reserve. Bidding failed to satisfy the reserve and it was left unsold.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2009