Start with what the Packard Caribbean is: a 2-door convertible / 2-door hardtop with 327 cuin 4-bbl. L-head I8 "Thunderbolt" (185 bhp), built from 1953 to 1956, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer.
The background
The Packard Caribbean is a full-sized luxury car that was made by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, during model years 1953 through 1956. Some of the Caribbean's styling was derived from the Pan American Packard show car of the previous year. Available only as a convertible from 1953 until 1955 with a hardtop model added in its final year of 1956.
The engineering
The engine is 327 cuin 4-bbl. L-head I8 "Thunderbolt" (185 bhp); other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Drive goes through a 2-speed Ultramatic automatic / 3-speed manual w/overdrive. The wheelbase is 122 in (1953-1954) / 127 in (1955-1956). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Packard line-up the Packard Caribbean has a clear place: it replaced the Packard Super Eight Victoria Convertible. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Chevrolet Corvette, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, the Cadillac Eldorado. Its Packard stablemates include the Packard 160 and the Packard 180.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Packard Caribbean — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.