The larger the car show, the better chance you often have of seeing something you wouldn’t normally see. Once again, at the Fleetwood Country Cruize-In 2016, I found a 1955 Packard Caribbean convertible in the field. Packards in general are rare, but in this case, more so.
The Caribbean was created in response to the stunning dream car convertibles from GM, the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Skylark and Oldsmobile Fiesta. There were only 500 Caribeean convertibles made in 1955, and another 276 in 1956, before Packard production stopped and the company joined Studebaker in an ill-fated merger of 2 struggling automakers. The sad truth is that Packard had, in terms of styling and engineering, caught back up to the Big Three, as the pretty Caribbean shows. The company however was terminally ill financially, had lost its body manufacturer, and the public wasn’t beating a path to Packard. By 1959, the Packard name no longer graced any new cars.
The Caribbean was shot using my Nikon D3200 with the 18-55mm Nikon lens. It was shot at ƒ/9, 1/320 sec shutter speed and ISO set at 100. As usual, the post-production was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust to bring up the detail in the non-factory paint. The original shot is below. The above is available as a poster for your garage or mancave by emailing shootyourcarmister@gmail.com.
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Oh, my good sir. You have shown, literally, one of my favorite cars ever.
I have an (unhealthy) obsession with defunct American makes and if I am ever in a position to do so, I would love to buy a Packard or a Studebaker.
https://disaffectedmusings.com/2019/05/22/ultimate-garage-2-0-honorable-mention-car-number-one/
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Of course I knew of your love for Studebaker and Packard, and I suspected the Caribbean would be high on the list of cars you admire.
As I recall, I think the car pictured was painted all this burgundy colour. On the one hand that’s a shame to me as the tri-tone scheme suits the car well. On the other, I thought the colour was stunning on this car. I regret I didn’t take more photos of the car (though it’s not easy when people are killing about).
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