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Good Morning all...I think that this is a nice creative design. It's not a stock Packard, but many people could drive it and enjoy it. Someone had a bit of talent to build this machine! Big Kev is working on a 37 with a Jag engine!...for me, any Packard that is kept on the road, stock or modified is cool. Just my humble opinion...Ernie in Arizona

I’m sorry, Ernie, but you are entirely wrong. Leeeedy and SuperDuperPooperOverdrive have it right. Someone who takes a perfectly authentic Packard from the factory and starts chopping it up, imposing his own lack of aesthetics on the body is a criminal (IMHO). Wholesale lowering windows, slicing God-given hood ornamentation in half, ripping out beautiful fluted plastic dashes and replacing them with swirly sheet metal from Ace Hardware, hot-rodding it with restomod suicide doors from Summit, well, I just don’t know what to say, Ernie. It just agonizes me to look at how Packards of the late ‘30s and ‘40s were ravaged by the likes of Dutch Darrin. It makes me puke, but I know you disagree. And some other people do, too. Some of them pay 2, 3, 4 times what an untouched, real factory model is worth.

And this guy who deflowered that ’47. Big sinner, totally out of keeping with the times, unless you consider that worthless ’48 Tucker, which if the back wasn’t enough boat-tail, the front was. There is no creativity or craftsmanship in desecrating the purist art deco lines of a ’47 Packard. Just shame.

And these more recent mongrel brands follow in that trash tradition like the Excalibur in my son’s collection. Studebaker frame, Chevy engine, Mercedes grille. OMG, straight pipes and noisy as hell. Pay no mind that Tony Curtis was stupid enough to buy one of these Heinz 57 contraptions, just like air-head Hollywood stars fell for Darrins. Or the fact that they are tons of fun to drive. Some people with too much money don’t have the knowledge to appreciate authenticity. Just to bolster my argument, here’s a photo of me with Tony Curtis on location for The Midnight Story in ’56. Ha ha, Ernie.

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I wouldn't mind owning one of Dutch Darrin's lead sleds.... the things probably weighed three tons though!

Quote:

Don, you took the words right outta my mouth! Let's support each other, not tear each other down.

The 1940 Darrin weighed 4121 lbs. and the 160 convertible weighed 3825 lbs.. Lot of the wt. difference being the wood used in the doors and quarter panels on the Darrin...