1954 Packard Caribbean - Now THIS is a Real Barn Find

I love "barn find" videos on YouTube where the car might need little more than a deep cleaning, perhaps fluids, tires and belts changed. At worse a carburetor might need re-jetting or rebuilding. A turn of a screw here, a plier applied there and, voila, the car magically starts. Imagine that. Well, that rarely is the case in real life. In reality, most "bard finds" are like this 1954 Packard Caribbean that's stuffed in a storage shed about 40-minutes east of Cleveland in lovely Geneva, Ohio. 

Looks like this was stored outside for a while too. Up here thisclose to Lake Erie, the winters are cold and snowy, summers are hot and humid, and it rains here more than it does in Seattle. This poor old Packard didn't stand a chance.

So, what is this thing? More like, what was it? 

To start with, Packard was an independent luxury car builder founded by brothers James and William Packard in Warren, Ohio, in 1899. In 1902, the company moved to Detroit where it stayed until its move to South Bend, Indiana shortly after merging with Studebaker, which was headquartered there, in 1954. 

Although Packards never sold as many cars as even Chrysler, the smallest of The Big Three sold, through the start of World War II, the company was profitable. However, their first post-War models didn't sell well, and the company amassed insurmountable debt rather quickly.  

Problem was, post-War Packards were seen as old-fashioned and stodgy. The Caribbean, launched in 1953 (above), was one of Packard's last attempts to become solvent again. Cut to the chase, the Caribbean wasn't the answer to any problems Packard had. Blame questionable if not dated styling, engineering that wasn't up-to-date and lastly but not leastly, Packard Caribbean's were expensive. Just 750 Caribbeans sold for 1953, our 1954 barn find one of just 400 sold.  

Packard merged with Studebaker in October of 1954 with plans to eventually combine forces with American Motors, but it never came to be. As "Studebaker-Packard", the slow selling Packard line, which had become little more than rebadged Studebakers, was discontinued after 1959. Studebaker eventually closed up shop in 1966. 

Poster of the ad does have the decency to say that this might be best as a parts car but the asking price for what amounts to a heap of dust and grime of $5,000 is hard to swallow. Parts for these cars are quite expensive, though, for instance, one chrome fender molding will run you just shy of $1,000.  Mind you, that's for one that's perfect condition.

With some exceptions, cars from the '50's generally aren't my cup of anti-freeze, especially before 1955. It's not because of a lack of context either; frankly, car styling and design was still in its infancy. However, over styled cars from the '50's indirectly laid the groundwork for what was to come; we probably wouldn't have had the tastefully restrained designs of the 1960's were it not for cars like 1954 Packard Caribbeans. Here's a '54 in very nice condition Gateway has for sale currently for $55,000. Compared to what it would run you to restore our barn find, this might be a bargain.