1940 Packard Darrin Custom 180 Super 8 Convertible Victoria

by Howard “Dutch” Darrin

Chassis No. 1806-2041

• A Howard “Dutch” Darrin design masterpiece; CCCA Full Classic
• This is the Best of all Darrin Customs built!
• One of 15 built
• Show Quality Restoration; Highly Drivable with Overdrive Transmission
• Classic Car Club of America National First, Senior, and Premier Award Winner #1699
• Equipped with all available accessories, Deluxe Steering wheel, Radio, and Heater, Back up lights, Rare truck rack, Fender Skirts, and Chrome V12 Dash (1 of only 3 equipped with this dash.)
• 356 cu in. Engine with Overdrive

The 1940 Custom Darrin was the last one completely designed and built by Dutch Darrin in Hollywood, CA, and Central Body Co, Connersville, IN. The officers at Packard Motor Car Co. liked the design so well that they bought the rights in full from Dutch Darrin toward the end of the 1940 run.

This Darrin Custom was delivered to the Earl C. Anthony Agency in Los Angeles, CA, and spent most of its life in California before joining a World-Class Collection in the Northwest for the past 14 years. This 1940 Custom Super 8 Convertible Victoria with Overdrive is ready for the next owner to drive anywhere at freeway speeds as it has completed many tours including CCCA Caravans without a problem. Everything works as it should with new radial wide whitewall tires and dual optima batteries.

With the demise of Packard’s Twelve in 1939, the 180 now took the place as the company’s top-line car for 1940. Even though its high-volume, medium-price “Junior” cars saved the company during the 1930s, Packard’s “Senior” models, especially the 180, still set the standard, both within the company and for the American fine-car industry. However, in several ways, 1940 and 1941 marked the curtain call for Packard’s “Senior” models, and similarly, the glorious coachbuilt era was drawing to a close. Most of the greatest names in the field had ceased to exist by the late-1930s, but one of the few exceptions was Howard “Dutch” Darrin, whose European-influenced design sensibilities begat some of the Classic Era’s finest automobiles.

Darrin’s favorite body style was the Convertible Victoria, and he excelled in its execution with an uncanny blend of elegance, formality, and sportiness. Soon after returning to America in 1937 and logically settling in Hollywood, Darrin worked his magic on a European-themed 1937 Ford Phaeton for Warner Brothers’ actor Dick Powell, followed by a similar design on a Packard 120 chassis for RKO actor Chester Morris. A few more cars followed in 1937, as Darrin established himself in Hollywood, and approximately 22 custom Darrins were built in 1938 and 1939 for such “A-List” actors and musicians as Errol Flynn, Gene Krupa, Al Jolson, and Carole Lombard for Clark Gable.