History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

I was reading that and I was thinking to myself, "wow, that sounds like something I would say". .

The 53 Caribbean is my favorite 1950s car. Packard got it mostly right. They should have used the big engine from 54 earlier and a split exhuast would have been a nice touch. The packard automatic is a power hog so the three speed is better.

I have a very distinct early memory from right around 1968 of driving down the road in my dads while laying in the top well (those were the days) and the hub cap fell off the continental kit. That stupid hubcap is special and hard to come by. We drove around for an hour asking people on the side of the road if they had seen it. My dad was pissed.

The next year he put it in my grandma's barn where it sat for the next 40 years or so. The barn wasn't the best storage spot as the car was super nice in 1969.

 

Alsancle,

Hmmm.

Is the Carribbean still there?

Vintageride

 

He sold it 3 or 4 years ago at the Kruse auction in Hershey. It was the year of the really bad rain (that narrows it down, doesn't it?). It mechanically great and complete, but it needed paint and chrome plus the original interior wasn't looking sharp. I want to say it sold for around 22k. The chrome bill on one of those cars is staggering but the guy that bought it was very happy.

 

Anyone ever heard of a Whippel? (spelling?) I found a car in a barn he close to me and its a early 30s and the emblem on the grille shell says its a Whippel cant remeber if thats how its spelt.

 

Could you mean Whippet




On April 15, 1928, Willys Overland announced the all-new 6 cylinder Whippet Model 98 which complemented the 4 cylinder Whippet Model 96 in terms of styling and appointments. Although there was a 6 cylinder Whippet for 1927, the Model 93A, this was very new in terms of its engine which included a 7 bearing crankshaft, full pressure oil feed to all bearings, thermostat water control, Nelson Invar Strut pistons of Bohnalite and an adjustable timing chain drive. Bore was increased, stroke decreased to new dimensions of 3 1/8 x 3 7/8 inches and an extra 3 horsepower to give 43 bhp @ 2800 rpm. RAC Horsepower was now 23. Advertising and promotion of the Whippet 98 was minimal even though it was the lowest priced 6 cylinder automobile made in the USA at the time. Prices had been dropped between 15 and 20% over the previous Model 93A.
Some speed and endurance tests were performed at the Indianapolis Speedway and some records were established for a car costing less than $1000, including 56.52 mph average for 24 hours, and 63 mph in a 50 mile sprint.
The Whippet 98 was however fairly short lived, because on November 9th, 1928, production started on its replacement, the Model 98A.

 

Most likely a Whippet. If you can post a picture, we can probably pinpoint the year.

The Whippet marque was introduced in July of 1926 as a 1927 model and was Overland's successor. In comparison to the equivalent four-cylinder Overland, the Whippet was 200 pounds lighter and rested on a wheelbase that was a quarter inch longer. The engine was more advanced, smaller, and produced the same amount of power. It featured advantages such as full-pressure oiling and pump-circulated cooling. It was a very durable and sturdy engine that would eventually be used in the Jeep vehicles more than a decade later.

The Whippet vehicles quickly became a very successful, popular and high selling vehicle. In 1928 a six-cylinder engine was added to the line up increase the vehicles versatility and catering to a wider demographic of buyers. In 1928 they were the third-best-selling marque and lost out to Essex by a small margin in 1929.

Lots more Whippet pictures here;

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/wokr/gallery/gallery10.htm




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Alsancle,

Excellent. Plus your Carribean had a solid history. Lots of cars are just a mystery.

The 3-speed overdrive Carribeans drive nicely, 4.11 gears, 327 straight eight with a four barrel. The closest I came to an automatic came in a 1951 200 post coupe. I called it the slush box. The lock up feature (torque converter) was nice in the ultramatic though.

Vintageride

 

More Whippet <table align="right" width="312"> <tbody><tr> <td>

[FONT=ms sans serif, geneva, helvetica, arial][SIZE=-2]1929 Whippet Sedan
Photo: Bill Vance[/SIZE][/FONT]​

</td> </tr> </tbody></table> [FONT=arial, helvetica] by Bill Vance [/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica] The Whippet car had a short but surprisingly successful sales history. A product of the Willys-Overland Co. of Toledo, Ohio, it was introduced late in 1926 as a 1927 model to replace the Overland, which had not really appealed to buyers in the low-priced field. The name was derived from the Whippet dog and was meant to denote a vehicle that was small yet swift.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Indeed, the Whippet was small, said to be America&#8217;s smallest car, having a wheelbase of only 2546 mm (100.12 in.), and a 30 horsepower four-cylinder side-valve engine with just 2.1 litres (130 cu in.) of displacement. But the swiftness would be achieved more by the six cylinder Whippet introduced early in 1927.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]One of the sixes was taken to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where it averaged 91 km/h (56.52 mph) during a 24-hour endurance run, establishing a new American record for cars costing under $1,000. It was advertised as &#8220;the world&#8217;s lowest-priced six.&#8221;
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Whippet got off to a good start selling 110,000 cars during its first year. Continued success helped pull the Willys-Overland company into third place in sales in 1928 behind Ford and Chevrolet. And it was a pioneer in the popular priced field by offering a convertible with wind-up windows as early as 1927, although Ford had produced its soft top Model T Coupelet model with lift-up windows beginning in 1915.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Willys-Overland was one of the first manufacturers to recognize the importance of exporting. By the early teens the company that traced its beginnings back to the first Overland in 1903, was selling cars in some 37 countries. It also built cars in Canada. [/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Willys-Overland took over the old Russell plant in Toronto after the Russell Motor Car Co. went out of the car business in 1915. Willys built cars there from 1916 to 1933, with a brief interruption during World War I to make aircraft engines.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Canadian Willys-Overland plant produced Whippets, and only the Canadian plant could build both left-and right-hand models, probably because of its relatively small production rate. The Toronto factory built the right-hand drive Whippets for export to countries such as Australia and New Zealand where vehicles were driven on the left side of the road.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]In this era of &#8220;smart switches&#8221; and powered push-buttons, we tend to think we have the latest in gizmos, but the Whippet had a pretty slick gadget, too. It was called &#8220;finger tip control,&#8221; a button in the centre of the steering wheel that not only sounded the horn when pressed, but also switched on the lights when it was turned clockwise &#8211; parking first, then headlamps &#8211; and activated the starter when it was pulled.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Unfortunately, all of the wiring connections for this magic button were located at the bottom of the steering column under the carburetor where it wasn&#8217;t shielded from dripping gasoline. The result was numerous fires and frequent re-wirings. Needless to say, right-hand drive Whippets didn&#8217;t suffer the same fate.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Whippet had a rear fuel gauge located on the left end of the gasoline tank, a not uncommon feature of that era. It also had four-wheel mechanical brakes, although it appears that the company didn&#8217;t quite finish engineering the system; some had external contracting bands on the rear wheels and internal expanding ones at the front. [/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Although Willys-Overland did very well with the Whippet, selling 315,000 in 1928 and 242,000 in 1929, it, like many others, suffered badly with the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing Depression. The company shifted its emphasis to one model in the lower priced field, the Willys 77, really a reworked Whippet, and discontinued the Whippet name early in 1931.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica] The parent company in Toledo was in deep financial trouble and the Toronto operation ceased production of Willys cars, including the very quiet running sleeve-valve Knight-engined Willys-Knight, in 1933.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The U.S. operation would later be revived and would go on to gain fame by building hundreds of thousands of Jeeps during World War II, and then successfully converting this sturdy military general purpose vehicle to civilian use. The Jeep was the product that would enable the company to survive; it was taken over by Kaiser in 1953, followed by American Motors in 1970, and most recently by Chrysler in 1987.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The Whippet had come on the automotive scene quickly, had sold well for a short time, and had disappeared just as quickly. It is still remembered by many people, however, as the car whose name was inspired by a dog. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]
[/FONT]

 

If the guy that bought it happens upon this thread (Kruse won't give up the buyer's name now) I have the sales invoice and some pictures from the 60s I stumbled upon last year. I like cars with fewer owners and a known history but not everybody cares.

Have you driven both a 54 & a 53? You can feel the extra oomph in the bigger engine. Externally they are identical so you in theory you could swap a 54 engine into your 53 and nobody would know.

 

Alsancle,

I have only driven the 1953.

The 359 was a bit bigger and featured an aluminum, high compression head.

Vintageride

 

All this talk reminded of an even more important car than the Caribbean. Only one was built and it is a true survivor.

This car would be the Macauley speedster. This car was a one off design study built for Edward Macauley. Many features became part of the Caribbean (i.e. wheel trim and leaded hood scoop). The car had a Henney flower car style roofline and an elongated rear deck lid and senior trim. Best of all, under the hood, it had a supercharged 327 cubic inch straight eight.
<O</O

The car had an interesting history.
<O</O

It was later owned by the New England car officionado and opera singer James Melton. Mr. Melton was well known to the classic car buffs of the northeast. While Mr. Melton owned the car, the Packard powertrain, dashboard, and some of the trim was removed and replaced with Chrysler bits. The Chrysler Hemi was an update to the tired Packard engine.
<O</O

Later the car was purchased by Korean owners. During the next few decades the car would remain essentially untouched. The car was then purchased by an east coast Packard collector and restored.
<O</O

During the restoration, the original engine and supercharger was located and returned to the car. The engine was stored all these years. The engine featured enameled exhaust and intake manifolds, remote position air cleaner, a chrome plated air box over the four barrel carburetor, and a McCullough Supercharger. In 2007, the car was invited to the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours where it took a second place.

Vintageride

 

Genesee - Batavia, NY (1911) The Genesee was a big car indeed, its producers bragged that its 148 inch wheelbase made it the longest car in america by 2 inches. Its wheels were 48 inches in diameter, its six-cylinder 564 - cubic inch engine developed 96 horse power. But there was only one Genesee ever built

And I'm pretty much sure its extinct.

Adria - Batavia 1921-1922 The Adria Motor Car Corporation was in trouble almost as soon as it began. Although as produced, it was an assembled car with a 4 cylinder Supreme engine, the company wholelly ballyhoed the "radical departures from conventional design" it represented. These departures included a chassis made up in four pieces and put together like the sides of a box. A body made in 3 main sections and built up in appropriate jigs so as to be interchangeable, and a unique design of cross springs and non-loading axels front and rear.

The Adria was an American assembled car that was promoted though not actually mass-produced. The address of the makers was given as Batavia, New York. About 20 to 40 prototypes were built from 1921 to 1922<SUP id=cite_ref-Beaulieu_0-0 class=reference>[1]</SUP>, but that was as far as the project went. The five seat touring car was advertised at USD1495. <SUP id=cite_ref-Beaulieu_0-1 class=reference>[1]</SUP>
It was to have a four-cylinder 2932 cc engine made by Supreme and a 3-part frame chassis, which resulted in a patent dispute with Parenti Motors

 

Whippet is probably what it is. It is about two foot deep in dust. I didnt stay long the owners grand daughter let me look at it and she was acting like it was a sin for her to let me out there to look at it. So I just took a peek and left. I left my # and told them if they wanted to sell it to call said she would pass it on the her family. We shall see I guess. If I get that way again I will stop and ask about it and maybe get a pic.

 

As long as were on Packard;

1937-1942 Packard Darrin

Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin, the man behind the 1937-1942 Packard Darrin left an indelible imprint, not only on the automobile, but on the people he met in the old car movement, long after his career building and designing cars had
ended

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Packard Darrin creator Dutch Darrin and his wife are shown here standing next to a 1941 Darrin One Eighty Convertible.

Dutch Darrin was a kind of "breakaway designer." He was crusty, hard bitten and had no reticence about expressing his opinions. He had flashing blue eyes, snowy white hair in later life, a bubbling enthusiasm for what he liked, a withering contempt for what he didn't. Interviewing and reporting on Dutch was a test of a writer's finesse: the art of balancing Darrin's fierce convictions with the opinions of others who sometimes saw matters in quite a different way.<table align="right" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><center>
The interior of the 1940 Packard Darrin was notable for its padded dash.

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You can't please all of the people all of the time, and occasionally a journalist would credit the wrong designer. Do this with Brooks Stevens and he'd send an elegant and polite correction by mail; do it with Raymond Loewy and he'd threaten to sue; do it with Dutch and he'd telephone: "I disagree with your conclusions and will not have my name attached to them. Goodbye." Come to think of it, he did the same thing at Kaiser-Frazer, when he took umbrage at something they'd done to alter his design for the 1951 Kaiser -- so in 1952, off came the little chrome "Darrin Styled" nameplate, which Dutch had insisted they put on in the first place!

He had an automotive curriculum vitae that put to shame most of his design contemporaries. Starting in the Teens as a Westinghouse engineer, he invented an electric gearshift for John North Willys, deciding then and there to spend his career on cars instead of electronics. When he went to France with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, he fell in love with Paris.

In 1920 he founded America's first scheduled airline, Aero Ltd., but he soon returned to Paris and set himself up as a custom coachbuilder, initially using the Minerva chassis. He was shortly building custom bodies for the cream of European society, working on his own or in successful partnership with designer Tom Hibbard and, later, a banker named Fernandez.

To have known Dutch Darrin -- designer of the 1937 Packard Darrin -- in fabled, between-wars Paris would have provided a writer with grist for a lifetime. Forty years later he would sparkle as he recalled Moulin Rouge, the Left Bank, and Montmartre in the Roaring Twenties.

His friends were people the rest of us have only read about: René Mathis of Ford-France, André Citröen, Louis Renault, the brothers Panhard, Ettore Bugatti, Sir John Siddeley, princes and potentates, presidents and polo players. To have associated with all these; to have had the incredible luck he always acknowledged; to have enjoyed a rich career, and to have had fun doing it, is surely what the philosopher meant when he talked about living life to the fullest.

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The most easily noticed feature on this 1940 Packard Darrin Convertible Victoria is the Darrin dip in the doors -- the designer's sporty trademark.

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>In 1937, Darrin moved to California, transferring his activities from individual to semi-custom bodies, but maintaining a distinct style that branded them immediately as his own. Here he was aided by two experienced coachbuilders, Paul Erdos and Rudy Stoessel, the latter going on to found California's long-lived Coachcraft Inc. Typically, Darrin made do with little, buying a former bottling factory with a good location: Sunset Strip, Hollywood.

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At the time, semi-custom Packard Darrins were quite expensive, like this 1940 Darrin Convertible Sedan, listed at a breathtaking $6332.
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"After fixing the place up I didn't have money to spend on plate glass windows," he said, "so we placed a plywood partition 10 feet behind the store front and displayed our new cars in the open. You could stand there at night and hear the screech of brakes and see cars backing up and people getting out to examine our wares."

He styled himself "Darrin of Paris," and like Raymond Loewy he had an aristocratic French accent that he could turn on or off as the need arose. Dutch's clientele now included the New World's aristocracy, such as Errol Flynn, Constance Bennett, Clark Gable, Ann Sheridan, and Carole Lombard.

Innately talented, Dutch was always personally involved in the cars that bore his name: everything from his custom bodies of the 1920s and 1930s through his reskinned Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows in the 1970s. Unlike Raymond Loewy, he was not a stylist-become-marketing expert, who discovered and hired talented employees and took credit (as Loewy had a right to do) for what they produced. Dutch did it all -- even supervised the construction of semi-customs like the famous Packard Darrins. They might not have been paragons of craftsmanship, but by gosh they were unique, beautiful, and as dashing as all get-out.

Darrin's Packard connection stemmed from his decision to return to America from France in 1937. He realized that the age of full-custom bodies was waning, but thought the Hollywood film colony would buy rakish semi-customs. His concept, for which he deserves credit as a pioneer, was to customize production cars and produce semi-customs -- relatively inexpensive, yet distinct from mass-market stuff. Of Packard he said, "Its chassis was unimpeachable, and its classic grille was a great starting point." He had always fancied himself "a strong grille man," depending on the radiator to focus his designs, though his favorite American production car was the grilleless Cord 810/812, designed by a man Dutch considered a genius, the late Gordon Miller Buehrig.

Darrin began designing what would be the first model of the Packard Darrin series.

The first 1937 Packard Darrin taught Dutch a great deal about his semi-custom concept. Built in a Los Angeles body and fender shop before Darrin moved into Sunset Strip, it was created for actor Dick Powell. The chassis was from a 1938 Eight (aka One Twenty) and the body looked splendid, with sweeping fenders and a low beltline displaying the characteristic "Darrin dip" at the doors. But Dutch had cut up a business coupe to build it, and chassis for closed cars weren't as rigid as those for open models. The car leaked like a sieve and had too much body flex.

Darrin built two more five-passenger Packard Darrins at another body shop before the move to Sunset Strip, selling one to Clark Gable. Like the first example, these had wooden cowls, which contributed most of the shake, rattle, and roll. Once "production" got rolling at Sunset Strip, clever Rudy Stoessel designed a cast aluminum cowl, which made a huge difference on the 16-18 Darrin Packards built in 1938-1939.

Among their buyers were Rosalind Russell, Chester Morris, and Al Jolson, who each paid a cool $4200-5200, probably equivalent to six figures in today's money. (That was peanuts compared to some of the esoteric specials the movie crowd was buying at the time, supporting Dutch's idea of relying heavily on production car components.) For some of these customers, Packard Darrins were simply too special. Dick Powell sold car number one after a few months because people were noticing, waving, and chasing him for autographs.

These early Darrins were strictly freelance jobs with no factory sanction or blessing. Indeed, the sophisticated, old-line Packard Company back on Grand Boulevard in Detroit looked askance at Hollywood's custom body builder, producing svelte open four-seaters instead of square-edged Rollston limos or LeBaron town cars. Dutch, however, was determined to sell the Darrin to Packard as a catalogue offering.

Darrin actually preferred the chassis of the medium-priced Packard One Twenty to that of the Super Eight or Twelve for the design of his Packard Darrin. "For one thing, it was more up to date, and for another it was considerably lighter," he said. "By lowering the radiator I knew I could make a very beautiful custom-bodied Packard One Twenty with little change in its basic structure."

Like Loewy, Darrin believed that "Weight is the Enemy." There was also an economic side to his reasoning: a One Twenty was much cheaper than a senior Packard, and considerably easier to modify.

In 1938, he convinced the Detroit Packard dealer council to commission a Darrin for their annual show at the Packard Proving Grounds -- the company's home turf. It was another safari into what Dutch always called "my adventures in the American automotive jungle."

"Art Fitzpatrick, who achieved fame as a commercial artist for Pontiac, was working for me at the time," Dutch wrote in Automobile Quarterly in 1972. "He and a friend drove day and night to get there in time. They ran into a drunk driver who smashed one whole side of the car."

It was still driveable, so Darrin had his boys drive it (unauthorized) onto the Proving Grounds and park it off to one side with the undamaged side showing. "A great deal of enthusiasm was created," continued Dutch, but "Packard brass were furious and wouldn't speak to me for awhile." At first the Company refused to catalogue Darrins, but dealers finally raised so much clamor that Packard chairman Alvan Macauley called on Dutch to talk things over on one of his trips to California.

Dutch Darrin had an unorthodox method for getting his point across at times. On the next page read about how he got Packard to approve the Darrin Victoria for production in 1940.

Because the 1937-1938 Packard Darrin was creating such a buzz, packard Chairman Alvan Macauley took it upon himself to go to California and see the cars for himself.

When Macauley ventured that the Packard Darrins had a reputation for body flex, Dutch leaped up on the cowl of the nearest example in his shop. "Get off," yelled Macauley, "you'll ruin it for sure!" Dutch just grinned at him, jumping up and down. Unbeknown to Macauley, it was one of those with Rudy Stoessel's cast aluminum cowl. "I asked if he thought it was strong enough. That was how I got Packard to approve the Darrin Victoria for production." It appeared for the first time in Packard's 1940 catalogue.

There were strings attached to this deal: one was Alvan Macauley's stipulation that most Darrins be built on the Super Eight chassis, this for prestige purposes. He said Dutch could turn out a handful on the One Twenty chassis -- with a considerably reduced list price of $3800, f.o.b. -- but the majority had to be Super Eights. Packard also specified two additional body styles, a Convertible Sedan and a four-door Sport Sedan.

The late Warren Fitzgerald, an eminent Packard authority, held the Convertible Sedan the best design of the three: "It had the long 138-inch wheelbase, combined with the three-inch-longer hood, which made for stunning proportions." Dutch agreed with this view, but thought the Sport Sedan should not have been built at all: "It wasn't possible to alter it as dramatically as the open models." Yet it looks fabulous today, somewhat reminiscent of Bill Mitchell's pacesetting Cadillac Sixty Specials, but altogether sleeker, more flowing.

A fourth type, never catalogued, was a magnificent Model 1806 (1940) Coupe de Ville, its elegant landau bars complementing the curve of Darrin's beltline. This car was built as an auto show special, but several others followed in 1941; at least one has survived.

The Convertible Sedan was judged the best-looking of the three Packard Darrin models listed for 1940 by Packard authority Warren Fitzgerald.

The 1940 Darrin Convertible Sedan was judged the best-looking of the three Packard Darrin models listed for the year by Packard authority Warren Fitzgerald.

The Super Eight Darrins were priced at $4570 for the Convertible Victoria, around $6100 for the Sport Sedan, and $6300 for the Convertible Sedan -- the latter two were more expensive than any other model in the 1940 catalogue by nearly $2000. Even at these prices, demand would be brisk, however, and Darrin knew he'd need more cars than he could produce at Sunset Strip. So he arranged with Roy Faulkner, president of the almost defunct Auburn Motor Car Company, to produce 1940 Packard Darrins at the Auburn plant in Connersville, Indiana.

Production estimates vary. The Sport Sedan was dropped after a reported two were built; figures of five Convertible Sedans and 40 Victorias are commonly quoted. New serial/body number analysis by Charles Blackman of the Packard Club may alter these numbers.

Whatever the actual figures, production was inevitably limited. Packard must have soon wished there were more to go around. Showroom floor traffic increased 300 percent when a Darrin was on display, and a dealer was allocated a Darrin only if he'd promise to keep it on the floor for a month whether it was sold or not.

 

The 1941-1942 Packard Darrin

Back in Hollywood, Dutch Darrin was promoting the 1940 Packard Darrin with his usual flair: "One of the stunts we did was to leave one of the cars in front of Romanoff's where many of the Hollywood personalities had lunch. We'd bribe the doorman to keep an empty space right by the door, so anyone alighting couldn't help but notice it. We also got a lot of free publicity, and made a little side money by renting our cars to the studios for movies."

Dutch was riding high: "I figured I'd hit the big time. Packard was the most prestigious luxury car manufacturer in the country, and they would certainly take every Darrin I could hand them. We were soon hopelessly backlogged and I went to Detroit looking for more production facilities."

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The 1941 One Eighty Convertible Victoria rode the 127-inch wheelbase and retailed for $4595.
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Dutch was unable to arrange any production in Detroit, and Auburn closed its automotive division at the end of 1940. Darrin then transferred the operation to the hearse and flower car builder Sayers and Scoville in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Their directors were all on hand to watch the first 1941 Packard Darrin come off the line -- followed closely by a hearse!" Dutch said. "It was quite a sight."

Quoted production figures for the Cincinnati Darrins, all Super Eight Convertible Victorias, were 35 for 1941 and 15 for 1942. A Sport Sedan was catalogued for 1941, but there is no record of any production. In design, the Cincinnati cars followed established Darrin lines, with trim shuffles to coincide with model year face-lifts: fender-top parking lights for 1941, low horizontal flanking grilles on each side of the main grille for 1942.

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A dark color is perfect for showing off the bright chrome trim of the 1941 Packard Darrin One Eighty Convertible Victoria.
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Some Packard followers have wondered why the company itself never took on Darrin production. There are many good reasons, the primary one being the transfer of Packard body production from its own Grand Boulevard plant to Briggs commencing in 1940.

Other factors included the strong emphasis on medium- and low-medium priced models by 1940, and the relatively limited market for Darrins; had Packard made the cars available in unlimited quantity, buyers for such esoteric models would have eventually petered out because there simply weren't that many to go around, even with the Depression ending.

Finally, Packard never entirely got over its doubt about the structural rigidity of the Darrin, Rudy Stoessel's aluminum cowls notwithstanding. P.S. de Beaumont, a prewar Packard engineer, said the company actually produced kits to improve front-end strength, because Dutch had removed the radiator cradle to lower the grille. The Darrins looked fantastic, management may have reasoned, but they still weren't up to Packard body standards.

Because of World War II, Dutch switched his focus to other pursuits.

World War II and the advent of the envelope-body Clipper brought the final end to Packard Darrin production. (A double irony: Dutch claimed that he largely designed the Clipper, but that Packard never paid him for it.) Darrin stopped playing with cars and went off to help train pilots for the air war, continuing to associate with exalted figures, notably flier/industrialist Howard Hughes.

At war's end, he went back to body building, and played a major role in both design generations of Kaiser-Frazer, contributed to the Jeep Wagoneer, and ran off stillborn proposals for Crosley, DKW, Ilian of Israel, and Kaiser-Argentina.

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The 1942 Packard Darrin was virtually identical to the 1941 Convertible Victoria shown here.

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>One of his last projects was a Darrin version of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, in which he transformed a boxy, Volvo-like affair into a curvaceous sedan along familiar lines, with his patented beltline dip and jutting, rounded fenders. He never worked again for Packard, though he did conceive an intriguing four-seat convertible with two-way sliding doors allowing entry to the front or rear compartment. The idea was utterly impractical, but it featured one of the most beautiful modern adaptations of the traditional Packard grille ever conceived.

Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin had very firm ideas about how such projects should be handled. He sailed confidently forward, and once arrived in his port of conclusion, no attack by land or sea was sufficient to dislodge him. He was a great joker and a wonderful needler, but there was a serious side to him too, and nobody was more loyal to a friend.

If there was one quality which set Dutch off from most comparable automotive figures, it was his characteristic way of standing back and looking at himself, as he believed history would: "How will I look if I do this or that?" Or: "What must I do now so that the verdict of history will be favorable?" Like Churchill, he was always searching for finest hours, and if one was not immediately available, his impulse was to create one.

He was, of course, above all, supremely fortunate. Time and again, as with the immortal Packard Darrins, history placed him in a role that he was ideally qualified to fill. Dutch was superbly lucky. And perhaps the warmest thing about him was that he never ceased to say so -- as for example in 1972: "Whoever thought that a dumb kid like me would fall into a strawberry patch?"

Among the many car collectors who knew him in his later years, each recalls some little incident -- many of them, a kind action graced with the courtesy of past generations, going far beyond the normal calls of polite communication. Each collector has his own memory, for in the wealth of the tributes Dutch received at his death all of them at least know the epitaph he would have chosen himself: "He was a good automobile man."

 

Not to brag but my Henry J has the "Darrin Dip". Hard to see in this pic.

 

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This Packard Darrin Sport Sedan
was Dutch Darrin's least favorite -- only two were built.







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The distinctive grille on this 1940 Packard Darrin Sports Sedan was one of the many reasons why Darrins were so popular with the Hollywood elite.

 

The 1940 Packard Darrin had individual headlights, in this case riding in the front fender catwalks.

 

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The 1940 Darrin Convertible Sedan was judged the best-looking of the three Packard Darrin models listed for the year by Packard authority Warren Fitzgerald.
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That would make a lot of sense according to this paragraph.

At war's end, he went back to body building, and played a major role in both design generations of Kaiser-Frazer, contributed to the Jeep Wagoneer, and ran off stillborn proposals for Crosley, DKW, Ilian of Israel, and Kaiser-Argentina.

 

In Indiana there were 25- manufacturers of automobiles in the early days,...Studebaker, Stutz, Auburn, Cord, Duesenburg,...to name a few...
all highly sought after, rare, expensive automobiles

 

Love him, or hate him. But Dutch Darrin had style! I can't say I liked every Darrin design, anymore than I liked all of those by Lowey, Tremulis, Earle, Teague, Exner or Tjarda (though, it's hard to fault Northrup or Buehrig!). BUT, ALL their styling was BOLD.

I must say, for Darrin to call Buehrig a "genius" was SOME compliment!

 

There are a number of 'obsolete' "Coach-Builders" that built the bodies for the more expensive, high-end cars as well,..

 

The blower would have been very nice in the Caribbean. That and a floor mounted 4 speed .

I saw the speedster when it sold in Arizona few years back. The back end is a bit long for my tastes. The pan american was much better looking imo.

 

HJ, RE Post 934, before we leave odd & unsual bodies of the 1950-era, does anybody have any info on the DeSoto "Sedamulance" ???? I don't know if that was the official model name or just a sort of generic term for the body config. I've only seen pictures in the past, so I can't really imagine WHOM they were targeting and for WHAT FUNCTION (?).

 

Surely looks to me as though Teague one-upped the early Barracuda AND had the jump on Mustang's fastback, too. These "SHOULD-A-BEEN" cars just break your heart, don't they??? (Especially when we know -- after the fact -- that they would have HELPED their companies!)
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If history had played out different, Indiana could of very well been the Automobile capitol of the world rather then Detroit. The following were all Indiana built.

Albany Albany Automobile Co. Albany 1907-08
Allied Allied Cab Mfg. Co. Elkhart 1932-34
American American Motors Co. Indianapolis 1906-14
American American Automobile Mfg. Co. New Albany 1911-12
American Junior American Motor Vehicle Co. Lafayette 1916-20
American Simplex Simplex Motor Car Co. Mishawaka 1906-10
American Underslung American Motors Co. Indianapolis 1906-14
Amplex Simplex Motor Car Co. Mishawaka 1910-13
Anderson Anderson Carriage Mfg. Co. Anderson 1907-10
Anderson Steam Anderson Steam Carriage Co. Anderson 1901-02
Ansted Lexington Motor Car Co. Connersville 1921,1926
Apperson Apperson Bros. Automobile Co. Kokomo 1902-26
Auburn Auburn Automobile Co. Auburn 1900-36
Auburn Auburn Automobile Co. Connersville 1929-36
Auburn Motor Chassis Auburn Motor Chassis Co. Auburn 1912-15
Auto Red Bug American Motor Vehicle Co. Lafayette 1916-20
Avanti Studebaker Corp. South Bend 1962-63
Avanti II Avanti Motor Corp. South Bend 1965-85
Bendix Bendix Co. Logansport 1908-09
Black C.H. Black Mfg. Co. Indianapolis 1896-1900
Black Crow Crow Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1909-11
Blackhawk Stutz Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1929-30
Bour-Davis Shadburne Bros. Co. Frankfort 1918
Brook Spacke Machine & Tool Co. Indianapolis 1920-21
Bryan Steamer Bryan Boiler Co. Peru 1918-23
Butler High Wheel Butler Co. Butler 1908
Casady W.S. Casady Mfg. Co. South Bend 1905
Champion Champion Auto Equipment Co. Wabash 1916
Chevrolet Truck General Motors Truck & Bus Grp. Fort Wayne 1986-present
Clark Clark Motor Car Co. Shelbyville 1910-12
Cole Cole Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1909-25
Cole Solid Tire Cole Carriage Co. Indianapolis 1908-09
Comet Comet Cyclecar Co. Indianapolis 1914
Comet Racer Marion Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1904
Continental Indian Motor & Mfg. Co. Franklin 1910-13
Cord Cord Corp. Auburn 1929-32
Cord Cord Corp. Connersville 1936-37
Crosley Crosley Motors Inc. Marion 1946-52
Crosley Crosley Motors Inc. Richmond 1939-42
Crow Crow Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1911
Crow-Elkhart Crow Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1911-23
Cyclop L. Porter Smith & Bros. Indianapolis 1910
Davis George W. Davis Motor Car Co. Richmond 1908-29
De Soto Zimmerman Mfg. Co. Auburn 1913-14
De Tamble De Tamble Motor Co. Anderson 1908-13
Dearborn J & M Motor Car Co. Lawrenceburg 1911
Decatur Decatur Motor Car Co. Decatur 1908-11
DeWitt DeWitt Motor Vehicle Co. North Manchester 1909-10
Dixie Dixie Mfg. Co. Vincennes 1916
Duesenberg Duesenberg Motors Corp. Indianapolis 1920-37
Duplex Bendix Co. Logansport 1908-09
Durant Durant Motors, Inc. Muncie 1922-28
El-Fay Elkhart Motor Co. Elkhart 1931-35
Elcar Elkhart Motor Co. Elkhart 1916-31
Electrobile National Vehicle Co. Indianapolis 1901-06
Elgin Elgin Motors Inc. Indianapolis 1923-24
Empire Empire Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1909-19
Empire Empire Motor Car Co. Connersville 1912-15
Erie Erie Cycle & Motor Carriage Co. Anderson 1899-1902
Erskine Studebaker Corp. South Bend 1927-30
Evansville Evansville Automobile Co. Evansville 1907-09
Excellent Six Rider-Lewis Motor Car Co. Anderson 1908-11
Ford Ford Motor Co. Indianapolis 1914-32
Gary Six Gary Automobile Mfg. Co. Gary 1914
Graham-Paige Graham-Paige Evansville 1929-30
Great Western Great Western Automobile Co. Peru1909-14
H.C.S. H.C.S. Motor Co. Indianapolis 1920-25
H.C.S. Cab H.C.S. Cab Mfg. Co. Indianapolis 1924-27
Handy Wagon Auburn Motor Chassis Co. Auburn 1912-15
Harper Harper Buggy Co. Columbia City 1907-08
Haynes Haynes Automobile Co. Kokomo 1904-25
Haynes-Apperson Haynes-Apperson Automobile Co. Kokomo 1898-1904
Henderson Henderson Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1912-14
Hercules Hercules Motor Car Co. New Albany 1914-15
Herff-Brooks Herff-Brooks Corp. Indianapolis 1915-16
Honda Passport Subaru Isuzu Automotive, Inc. Lafayette 1994-present
Hoosier Scout Warren Electric & Machine Co. Indianapolis 1914
Howard Lexington-Howard Co. Connersville 1913-14
Huffman Huffman Bros. Motor Co. Elkhart 1920-25
Hummer AM General Mishawaka 1984-present
Huntingburg Huntingburg Wagon Works Huntingburg 1902-03
Ideal Ideal Motor Co. Indianapolis 1911-12
Ideal-Commercial Ideal Auto Co. Fort Wayne 1910-14
Imp W. H. McIntyre Co. Auburn 1913-14
Indiana Indiana Motor & Vehicle Co. Indianapolis 1901
Interstate Interstate Motor Co. Muncie 1908-19
Isuzu Trooper Subaru Isuzu Automotive, Inc. Lafayette 1989-present
Jack Rabbit Apperson Bros. Automobile Co. Kokomo 1911-13
James J & M Motor Car Co. Lawrenceburg 1909-11
Jonz American Automobile Mfg. Co. New Albany 1910-12
Kenworthy Kenworthy Motors Corp. Mishawaka 1920-21
Kiblinger W. H. Kiblinger Co. Auburn 1907-08
Komet Elkhart Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1911
Lafayette Lafayette Motors Co. Indianapolis 1921-22
Lambert Buckeye Mfg. Co. Anderson 1906-17
Laurel Laurel Motors Corp. Anderson 1917-20
Laurel Laurel Motor Car Co. Richmond 1916-17
Lawter Safety Shredder Co. New Castle 1909
Leader Leader Mfg. Co. Knightstown 1907-12
Leader Leader Mfg. Co. McCordsville 1905-07
Lexington Lexington Motor Co. Connersville 1910-27
Lindsay T.J. Lindsay Automobile Parts Co. Indianapolis 1902-03
Lorraine Lorraine Car Co. Richmond 1920-21
Lyons-Knight Lyons-Atlas Co. Indianapolis 1913-15
Madison Madison Motors Corp. Anderson 1915-19
Mais Mais Motor Truck Co. Indianapolis 1911-14
Marathon Herff-Brooks Corp. Indianapolis 1915-16
Marion Marion Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1904-14
Marmon Nordyke & Marmon Co. Indianapolis 1902-33
Martel Elkhart Motor Co. Elkhart 1925-27
Martindale & Millikan Indian Motor & Mfg. Co. Franklin 1914
Maxwell Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Co. New Castle 1906-16
McFarlan McFarlan Motor Car Co. Connersville 1910-28
McGill McGee Mfg. Co. Indianapolis 1917-28
McIntyre W. H. McIntyre Co. Auburn 1909-15
McIntyre Special W. H. McIntyre Co. Auburn 1911-15
Metz Metz Cyclecar Co. Indianapolis 1914
Mier Mier Carriage & Buggy Co. Ligonier 1908-09
Mills Electric Mills Electric Co. Lafayette 1917
Model Model Gas Engine Works Auburn 1903-06
Model Model Automobile Co. Peru 1906-09
Mohawk Mohawk Cycle & Automobile Co. Indianapolis 1903-05
Monroe William Small Co. Indianapolis 1918-23
Morriss-London Century Motors Co. Elkhart 1919-25
Muntz Jet Muntz Car Co. Evansville 1950-51
National National Motor Vehicle Co. Indianapolis 1904-24
National Electric National Automobile & Electric Co. Indianapolis 1900-04
New Parry Parry Auto Co. Indianapolis 1911-12
New York Six Automotive Corp. of America Richmond 1927-28
Niagara Four Crow Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1915-16
Nyberg Nyberg Automobile Works Anderson 1911-13
Ohio Falls Ohio Falls Motor Car Co. New Albany 1913-14
Overland Standard Wheel Works Indianapolis 1905-06
Overland Overland Auto Co. Indianapolis 1906-09
Overland Standard Wheel Works Terre Haute 1903-05
Packard Studebaker-Packard Corp. South Bend 1954-58
Packard Darrin Packard Motor Car Co. Connersville 1940-41
Pak-Age-Car Auburn Automobile Co. Connersville 1938-41
Pak-Age-Car Stutz Motor Co. Indianapolis 1930-38
Parry Parry Auto Co. Indianapolis 1910
Pathfinder Motor Car Mfg. Co. Indianapolis 1912-17
Pilgrim Ohio Falls Motor Car Co. New Albany 1913-14
Pilot Pilot Motor Car Co. Richmond 1909-24
Plymouth Chrysler Corp. Evansville 1935-56
Pope-Waverley Pope Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1904-08
Postal Postal Auto. & Engineering Co. Bedford 1906-08
Pratt Pratt Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1911-15
Pratt-Elkhart Elkhart Carriage/Harness Mfg. Co. Elkhart 1909-11
Premier Premier Motor Mfg. Co. Indianapolis 1903-26
Premier Taxicab Premier Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1923-26
Prosperity Allied Cab Mfg. Co. Elkhart 1933
R.A.C. Ricketts Automobile Co. South Bend 1910-11
Red Ball-Taxi Red Ball Transit Co. Frankfort 1924
Reeves Reeves Pulley Co. Columbus 1896-98, 1905
ReVere ReVere Motor Car Corp. Logansport 1918-26
Richmond Wayne Works Richmond 1904-17
Ricketts Ricketts Automobile Co. South Bend 1909-11
Rider-Lewis Rider-Lewis Motor Car Co. Anderson 1908-11
Rider-Lewis Rider-Lewis Motor Car Co. Muncie 1908
Rockne Studebaker Corp. South Bend 1932-33
Rodefeld Rodefeld Co. Richmond 1909-17
Roosevelt Marmon Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1929-30
Royal Royal Motor Co. Elkhart 1913
Royal Martel Elkhart Motor Co. Elkhart 1925-27
Scout International Harvester Co. Fort Wayne 1961-80
Seidel Seidel Buggy Co. Richmond 1908-09
Senator Victor Automobile Co. Ridgeville 1907-10
Sheridan Sheridan Motor Car Co. Muncie 1920-21
Shoemaker Shoemaker Automobile Co. Elkhart 1907-08
Simplicity Evansville Automobile Co. Evansville 1907-11
Single-Center Single-Center Buggy Co. Evansville 1906-08
South Bend South Bend Motor Car Works South Bend 1913-16
Spacke Spacke Machine & Tool Co. Indianapolis 1919
Standard Six Standard Auto. Co. of America Wabash 1910-11
Star Durant Motors, Inc. Muncie 1923
Star Model Automobile Co. Peru 1908
Sterling Elkhart Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1909-11
Studebaker Studebaker Corp. South Bend 1904-63
Studebaker Electric Studebaker Bros. Mfg. Co. South Bend 1902-12
Stutz Stutz Motor Car Co. Indianapolis 1912-35
Subaru Legacy Subaru Isuzu Automotive, Inc. Lafayette 1989-present
Sun Sun Motor Car Co. Elkhart 1916-17
Super Allied Allied Cab Mfg. Co. Elkhart 1935
Tincher Tincher Motor Car Co. South Bend 1907-09
Traveler Traveler Automobile Co. Evansville 1910-11
Tricolet Pokorney/Richards Auto. & Gas. Indianapolis 1904-06
Union Union Automobile Co. Auburn 1916
Union Buckeye Mfg. Co. Anderson 1905
Union Union Automobile Co. Union City 1902-04
Union City Six Union City Carriage Mfg. Co. Union City 1916
United United Engineering Co. Greensburg 1919-20
Van Auken Electric Connersville Buggy Co. Connersville 1913
W.A.C. Woodburn Auto Co. Woodburn 1905-12
Waverley Waverley Co. Indianapolis 1909-16
Waverley Electric Indiana Bicycle Co. Indianapolis 1898-1903
Westcott Westcott Motor Car Co. Richmond 1909-16
Woodburn Woodburn Auto Co. Woodburn 1905-12

 

You can read about all those coachbuilders here;

www.coachbuilt.com

 

This one????

http://www.emsclassics.com/columndetails.php?Number=15&Photo=84

The whole story

http://www.emsclassics.com/columndetails.php?Number=15&