Packard made magnificent automobiles at one time. But their image was such that the cars were stodgy and built for old people. So, they created a “halo” car in 1953 to help change the image, the Caribbean. It was only offered as a convertible, though a hardtop was added in 1956 (the last year). Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, this restored (we think) 1955 Caribbean is a thing of beauty and is being sold out of a Packard collection. This majestic machine is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $69,500. Another fine tip brought to us by “Zappenduster”.
Packard and Studebaker didn’t merge until 1954, so most (if not all) Caribbeans had no Studebaker influence. The Caribbean’s look was based on a 1952 show car, the Pan American Packard. The car was both luxurious and sporty in appearance (as sporty as a big car can be). And they were expensive vehicles for the day ($6,000 then or $75,000 today). Production quantities were never large, and for 1955, just 500 Caribbean convertibles were built. The last Caribbean and non-Studebaker car was assembled in 1956.
The seller misses the boat by not providing a photo of the engine compartment. There should lie a 352 cubic inch OHV V8 there that was rated at 275 hp (it would be outdone in 1956 with 374 CI and 310 hp). A 2-speed Ultramatic transmission should also be part of the package, which we’re told has 60,000 miles. The seller confirms that the big automobile is in excellent condition and sports a brand-new leather interior. That contrasts nicely with the white paint and silver accents.
Since this car is from a collection, it would be interesting to know more about said group. But to some folks, a collection can be anything greater than two in number. Not much else is said about the car other than it’s well-documented. Kind of surprised a car of this caliber isn’t marketed on Hemmings or Hagerty rather than freebie Facebook. But it’s still a thing of beauty!
What a gorgeous car!
This thing just oozes luxury, I’d think anyone would be thrilled to have it, though I’m not sure how many buyers are out there for $70k.
Good luck with the sale and I hope some lucky person buys it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the market for these cars continues to shrink each and every single day with “boomers” dying off and interest in this segment of the collector market simply waning. This is a first or second day vehicle at Barrett Jackson if they were serious about selling it or – as you mentioned in your excellent piece – either for sale via Hemings or Hagerty – and not for the average “consumers” on FB Marketplace.
Still a beautiful car from a bygone era that unfortunately will be a difficult sell even if they decide to drop the price. I wish them luck with the sale.
The only reason the seller will have a hard time moving this one is because they are asking more than market value. The ones that we have featured that were priced right sold immediately.
Great point, Jesse. I was wondering about valuations, so I checked and the average range for this seems to be from the $40’s to the $60’s.
I wonder if this would be sold by now if it were in the 50’s….
You’re right I’ve seen other Packards featured here that were in comparable condition, priced at market value that did sell quickly
Well based on a little market research there seems to be a couple of problems;
1) the seller’s price – obviously – given that a similar car “complete” with factory colors just sold on BAT back in Feb 2026 for $56k and it was painted correctly and had all the correct trim work, and 2) Sothebys sold one a couple of years ago at Hershey for $82k that was completely restored – and again – had the proper paint!
So unless he/she decides to reduce the price point significantly there appears to be “enough” of these cars out there already done that if you really had to have one you could purchase one complete if your heart so desires and call it a day.
As I said originally the pool of players for these cars is dwindling fast but they still may be out there. Personally, I’m not spending $70k on a car that is not period correct when for a couple of extra dollars I can get one that is! The seller didn’t do his homework and he thinks some of the buyers may not either.
Wrong!
If you want to “question” any of this please just type in “1955 Packard Caribbean Convertible” into the search engine and it will bring up some of the recent sales as well as current listings I mentioned earlier.
It would be interesting to see if this seller decides to lower the price but IMO it’s probably something sentimental and emotional that’s driving the decision making process. I’ve seen lots of cars like this (not this specific model mind you) wind up in the car coral on the last day of a Mecum Auction with a “must sell” sticker on it.
1955 and 56′ Packards were among the most beautiful well balanced looking cars of the 50’s.The problem is..the 1955 was so full of issues and terrible quality control that the even more beautiful and fully sorted out 1956 fell on deaf ears.It’s a shame..but they went out with a glorious stunning bang.
99% of these were tri-colored (above/below that silver [wrong] band). They never had a “Starfire-type” side like that.
So they are asking for an exorbitant amount for a car that’s not even paint correct?
They are definitely going on the adage that a sucker is born everyday!
No under the hood or chassis photos makes me wonder more.
The price just dropped to $35,000 in my head.
Gorgeous car, but I’d settle for having another 56 Patrician. That’d be more my price range, and I like the 56 styling better (did have both 55 and 56).
A stunner. Most people today have no clue what a Packard is. Maybe the Packard crowd that’s left will support this price, but outside of that, there’s no market.
The 55 352 needs a jack vines oil pump upgrade. My Clipper Custom Constellation ran great after the upgrade. Before when hot the lifters were tucking. Loudly. Had a 3 on tree with OD. Banker hot rod!
Friend of mine used to work for the Studebaker dealership in the early 1960’s in the service department, and he developed a love for the Packards. So much so that he started rebuilding Ultramatics at home, on the side. He had about 6 55-56 Packards, and he told me a quick cheat for the ticking lifters was to overfill the oil by a quart on the dipstick. Never did have a lifter problem on the 3 Patricians I had. Not a legit fix, of course, but it seemed to work.
Beautiful car. When people took styling seriously, unlike the cookie cutter rides of today. It is pricey & like a previous poster noted, the market for these is drying up fast. Basically anyone under 50 could care less.
No; they couldn’t care less; as they saying actually went and made sense.
I think that Packard ruined their looks in 1956 with the different grille, more heavily-hooded head-lamps, and modifying those gorgeous “cathedral” tail-lights. And every 1955 Caribbean that I ever saw was tri-coloured. The green in the interior suggests that was one of this car’s predominant original colours. But an incorrect re-paint lowers this car’s value substantionally. That said, when you refer to baby-boomers ageing-out and dying-off; then, what about those of us from the generation BEFORE those “boomers”??
Glad you’re still with us however don’t see many of you throwing down this kind of $$ for these kind of cars anymore!!
Yeah, agree with your last comment. They call us the “silent generation” but it’s a misnomer because we definitely weren’t silent! And we’re still here raising “heck” as much as we can.
On another note, a neighbor during my fifties childhood had one of these beautiful Packard convertibles. Believe it or not he used it as a fishing car!
God this Packard is gorgeous, and outside my or many others price range. This year Packard didn’t have the Studebaker, stain on it yet. Also, it was some of first year V8s for Packard after its long run with its straight eights. This one is a true, Trailer Queen.
I’m a boomer 1953, and I love most older cars. My father had a 1953 Packard I remember it from pictures. My grandpa had a 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954, and a 1957 Packards. Grandpa had a friend who bought a new Packard every 2 years and he bought the used one. I was 6 when he bought the ’57 in ’59. It was a Packard Clipper. His said Packard on the front but had many Studebaker parts. It was 2 tone, copper and white. It had a/c coming up through the package shelf and blowing across the ceiling. If my memory is correct I remember grandpa saying it had a super charged 289 to V-8. In 1959 the friend bought a Cadillac. He asked grandpa if he wanted to buy it in 1961 and grandpa said he didn’t want a damn Cadillac. Lol.
Every time I hear the word “Boomer”, I cringe. Yeah, I was also born in 53 but so what? People are people. Grouping us by generations with labels is nothing more than – dividing us up, and to an extent pitting us against each other. And there are some who would like that, a lot.
I agree with you, 370zpp: dividing us, as in this one as opposed to that one, is very harmful to each one of us and to us all. But originally, these generational names were simply a way to put one into an age-category: for example, [so-called] “baby-boomers” would currently be aged 62 to 80. Sadly, “boomer” has worked into a way for some of the younger set to denigrate their elders, it seems. As a modern society, this began when it was the “boomers” who were out to tear-down, and declaim their moral superiority over, the ones we now regard as “the greatest generation” — during the counter-culture “hippie” era, when young people were certain that they knew it all. Have you LISTENED to any of these “flower-power” anthems of sixty years ago — how simplistic, naive, and downright juvenile their lyrics sound to-day? My generation, who were raised and grew up through the Great Depression, the Second World War, and fought in the Korean War, hadn’t the luxury to bask in our own brand of “self-importance”. We respected the level of suffering that we as children saw our parents endure, largely shield us from, and ultimately prevail over. Even when money was scarce, we felt privileged, somehow. So, each generation has its crosses and its glories. But, regardless of age or personal background, I should think it would gain society greatly, if each one of us would extend the effort to truly befriend and share with someone whom we might not ordinarily identify with. Humanity happens. And we generally find that we have more in common, than not. And even as we were sure that the cushioned “baby boomers” would grow up “weak” and flaccid; that particulatr generation has provided outstanding heroes of great courage and moral strength! Be careful of what you assume about those who are in some way distinct from you and I and ours!
Harrison, you are so right about boomer becoming a sort of derogatory comment for older people. I am a boomer (born in ’61) and everyone in my department is a lot younger than me. Fortunately, I look a lot younger (and act it too) than my age. When I first started working with this group, it was amusing to hear during meetings remarks about boomers whenever something old or old fashioned was brought up. About a year later, I let the cat out of the bag that I am a boomer and was more amused than offended, telling them that when they get 10 years older, the up and comers will be making the same remarks about their generation.
Harrison, at 68, I’m a boomer who has feet in your culture, and hippie culture. A libertarian patriot hippie. Go figure. Whatever.
When it comes to cars, there’s a huge difference between generations. You all fixed everything. We boomers fixed some of it, as cars became more technical than mechanical. Younger-than-us generations fixed nothing and have no mechanical history with cars beyond wipers and flat tire changes.
Likewise, leaving politics and morals out of it, older generations raced cars, drank in cars, had sx in cars, and used cars as second homes. Today, kids do little if any of that.
So were always attached to what we drove from age 16 to 25.
That is what drives old car values these days. When a generation is no longer buying their era, prices plummet.
Boomers have the additional curse of using object accumulation as a source of validation. We are the first consumer generation. Buy, buy, buy. Your generation was far more grounded in human values.
What i see today from younger generations does not bode well for the car hobby. The latest trend of ultra-dangerous street takeovers is more about anarchy than the cars themselves.
Younger generations live in subdivisions, have no mechanical skills, tools, or training. Theyre not going to fix up an old hulk of metal.
They want WRXs, and Supras, and Hellcats and Mustangs, ready to go fast. Or 4 x4s.
The entire car hobby, as we saw it, is pretty much doomed. Restoring is over. Project cars are now parts cars, if that. There is still a market for drivable classics, but the prices have to be low. Nobody wants to fix anything.
This excludes the truly rare collectibles. Those have become millionaire toys. They’re all now trailer queens and in private collections or museums used as tax ploys. Too expensive go to the local car club meetups and those mega-millionaire owners really don’t relate anyhow.
Its the end of an era. Enjoy it while we can.
@370zpp
Something in the by-laws about no political comments or statements…..
I can’t tell from the photos, has the corrugated trim been replaced by paint? Regardless, I love this car in white.
scottymac, with all due respect, not at THIS price!!! If she ain’t just as she originally left the Packard factory, that cuts the value in half, because restoring this one to utter authenticity will be costly. If you simply want one sexy-looking cruiser that will turn heads just the way that it now is, then don’t pay the price of a show or museum car!
I could never afford to buy or drive one; but I would love to have a near-perfect all-original 1955 Packard Patrician produced toward the end of that year’s model run. But yes, they were marred by Studebaker. Sadly, James Nance took Nash’s word about a grand merger combining Hudson and Nash with Packard and Studebaker, and so he bought Studebaker, anticipating that move as a way to keep the major independents alive with strength against “The Big Three” working to price-squeeze them out and cut-off their supply-chains. As we all know, George Romney took over at Nash and put the end to that entire understanding, leaving Nance holding the bag with a bankrupt and moribund Studebaker, even as Chrysler bought a key lynch-pin in Packard’s legendary quality, the Brigg’s Coachworks. This forced Packard to build their cars at South Bend, where the Studebaker body-builders had nowhere near the refined skill to be had at Brigg’s. Suddenly, Packard had quality-control issues, wrecking the one “ace” they always had going for them — their unmatched build-quality and reliability of trouble-free motoring, without the exotic maintenance cost in owning a Rolls Royce. That, and the rather public rumblings in 1954 that Studebaker was in serious financial straits, kept Packard buyers away in droves: who would invest in a new Packard? — that would be like putting a small fortune into a sinking ship. Nance had waited too long to move the Packard brand back upscale, while failing to distinguish the look of the Clipper which was every bit as fine an automobile as Packard at a more “everyman” price, ruining Packard’s exclusivity. Packard was essentially finished right there as America’s finest luxury car. And even though they had their quality issues ironed out by mid-1955, it was too late. And once trust and reputation are sullied, it is nigh impossible to get the old sterling reputation back. “Ask rhe man who owns one” became “Don’t ask ME — I’ve had nothing but problems with my new Packard.” It was over. My father always was a proud senior Packard man. But his last Packard was a 1951 “400”. Tells you something.