Road Classics a 78 episode TV series seen in 25 million homes.
Ashley Gracile created and produces Road Classics, a 78 episode TV series that celebrates his and your passion for collecting, restoring, racing and admiring great old cars. Whether its fixing up that '68 Mustang Fast Back that's been sitting in your garage forever or the unsurpassed thrill of a barn find... Road Classics shares it with you.
Whether its attending the Pebble Beach Concurs d'Elegance or just sifting through a parts bin at a swap meet in Pomona... Road Classics gets it: you're into cars. So are we.
Ashley Gracile is the Executive Producer and Creator of the television series Road Classics. Every episode features the best of the best in classic cars and great automotive legends some household names and others... well not so much.
The 1953 Packard Caribbean was produced by Packard in 53 to compete with Cadillac and lot of the other specialty makers who made very specific models for that model year. Packard took their standard convertible car, sent it to a coach building company.
They made 750 of them by extending the back fender by 10-inches. They removed the fender skirt and opened the rear wheel well to match the front wheel well and custom designed the chrome molding that you see. They installed the chrome wire wheels; put a scoop in the hood which necessitated a hood stay, because the hood became too heavy to stay upon its own. And then they hired a company that designs continental wheels, which was installed on the back and the wire wheels of course were installed on the car at that point as well. And at that time the car sold in the $7000 range, which was considerably higher than Cadillac that sold in the $5000 range.
They made 750 of them by extending the back fender by 10-inches. They removed the fender skirt and opened the rear wheel well to match the front wheel well and custom designed the chrome molding that you see. They installed the chrome wire wheels; put a scoop in the hood which necessitated a hood stay, because the hood became too heavy to stay upon its own. And then they hired a company that designs continental wheels, which was installed on the back and the wire wheels of course were installed on the car at that point as well. And at that time the car sold in the $7000 range, which was considerably higher than Cadillac that sold in the $5000 range.
Ashley Gracile Road Classics Creator states that it was a very expensive and exclusive car and only certain people could afford it back then. So as a luxury car it featured towards a full leather treatment on the interior. And everything on the car was power and was included in the price of the car. The only accessory was a backup light, which you could purchase in addition to the accessories you got with the car, which were power brake, power steering, power windows, power top, power seat, power antenna, radio, it was an optional radio called a type of signal seeking radio that they had. There were actually several different models in radio, the basic radio with a push button. The windows were hydraulic and as the seat and top are as opposed to electric. This particular car was painted in the early '90s,
And it was done by the proverbial little old fellow retired from the body business that had a lot of spare time in his retirement and spends an entire winter block sanding and painting and rubbing to get the type of finish that you see.
It would not be economically feasible to go out and have that done. It can be done, but it would be extremely expensive, because of the amount of time involved, which of course is the major cause in any hands on type of endeavor you paying for the dollars time. But in this particular case, this chap was able to deliver lot of time get the desired finish. When you drive the car like that, I suppose you want people to see going down the road and say oh there goes so and so in his beautiful car and you can achieve that with a nice paint job and nice paint color.
Only 750 were built in 1953. That was the highest volume of that model for any one year. They made less each subsequent year, the same body with a different paint scheme was used in 54 and then in 55 the car was produced with a V-8 engine and a slightly different body style, more than square style in a tri color paint scheme with different chrome and electric self leveling system and the rear and that was done for 55 and 56. But those were the only four years they produced that particular car. And as you probably know Packard, went out of business soon after they amalgamated with Studebaker and there were some Studebaker models that were called Packard’s and had Packard engines and so on and then toward the end of the 50’s it was all gone.
No more Packard. Its heavily desired but not easily afforded probably as the value of cars increases obviously the window of the opportunity diminishes for a lot of people and so even though people like it desired and are interested in seeing it, not necessarily everyone can afford to buy a car like that and that’s the standard routine for example of many car dealers who have been in years past would handle a very expensive car and a very inexpensive car. So when people came to the showroom, they get envy of the expensive car and then buy the car they could afford and go home. It’s a desirable car and of course there are many Packards and there is a large following for Packard. There are many Packard clubs, associations, they actually exist on the internet as well they have their meetings in their parts exchange people and technical advice and so on. So there is a good support system for anyone who wants to get involved in the Packard movement.
This Packard will look great in any one’s drive way but even better cruising down the road. but drives like a 60 year old car. It’s large, it’s comfortable and it’s capable of good speed but it does not handle with sort of split second timing and so on. Although there are some good interesting promotional shots of this car that were taken by the factory going so it’s paces at test tracks and leaning heavily into turns and skirting around corners, it was a powerful car was capable of doing a lot of things. It weighs 5,000 pounds and its 21.5 feet long, so obviously agility is sacrificed to some degree.
Check out the Road Classics video of this 1953 Packard Caribbean
The best of the best in classic cars and great automotive legends; some household names and others... well, not so much. We're at all the shows and classic car auctions too. SEMA, Pebble Beach, RM just to name a few...
This powerful broadcast television programming was developed and created by Ashley Gracile an Executive Producer and Show Runner in Los Angeles.
Ashley founded GPI Content Corporation in order to bring you this great one of kind television along with 13 other TV series... lifestyle television programming seen in over 100 million domestic U.S. homes and over 80 million homes internationally.
Ashley's multiple television credits include: STEEL DREAMS, DISTANT ROADS, PLAYERS PARKING ONLY, FORMULA DRIFT TV, THAT'S BOATING, A PLACE IN THE SUN, SPORT COMPACT TV, ROAD CLASSICS, FREERIDE, WELLNESS FOR LIFE, SPY GAMES, RV VACATION ADVENTURES, A PLACE OF YOUR OWN and CYBERQUEST.
In fact much of Ashley Gracile's lifestyle TV content has been continuously broadcast every week for the last 24 years and has been (and can be) seen on Discovery Channel, NBC Sports Network, ESPN/Star, The Outdoor Channel, My Family TV, Retro TV, TUFF TV along with over 150 ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, My Network TV affiliate and network owned local TV stations across the country.
Roll up your sleeves, put on your racing gloves and join Road Classics for the ride of a lifetime.
