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Darrin of Paris was an American
Darrin had been a US pilot serving in France in the last years of World War I when he met fellow countryman Thomas Hibbard. They were employed after the war as designers by
His first Hollywood designs, on a Packard 120 chassis, were in the European style and while they did bring in orders they also brought him to the attention of Packard's management. Building Packards would overstretch his Hollywood workshops so they were built by American Central Manufacturing in
coachbuilding
A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...
business.
Designer and coachbuilder Howard "Dutch" Darrin
Howard "Dutch" Darrin (1897–1982) was an American free-lance automotive stylist born in Cranford, New Jersey.
Darrin had been a US pilot serving in France in the last years of World War I when he met fellow countryman Thomas Hibbard. They were ...
(1897-1982) left France and set up a practice in Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
at the end of the 1930s and designed special automobile bodies on luxury chassis for Hollywood stars. He also developed an association with the Packard Motor Company
Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958.
One of the "Thr ...
and his designs for Packard were produced in relatively short runs by plants sited nearer Packard's own home. Production seems to have ended with the onset of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Custom bodies, Paris
Darrin had been a US pilot serving in France in the last years of World War I when he met fellow countryman Thomas Hibbard. They were employed after the war as designers by Brewster & Co
Brewster & Company was an American custom carriage-maker and automobile coachbuilder founded by James Brewster in 1810 and active for almost 130 years. Brewster began in New Haven, Connecticut and quickly established a reputation for building ...
which they left. Hibbard had helped to establish LeBaron and taking Darrin visited France to supervise construction of some LeBaron bodies in Paris.
They then stayed on in Paris and established first their own design practice, then set up their own factory in Paris: Hibbard & Darrin Carrosserie Hibbard et Darrin was a French coachbuilder which operated from 12 Rue de Berri, 75008, Paris, just off the Champs-Élysées. Owned by two Americans, Hibbard and Darrin it built bodies for the most luxurious chassis.
Hibbard and Dietri ...
at Puteaux.
Undercapitalised, they were forced to shut down by the financial crisis of 1929 which badly affected their American backer's resources. Hibbard took a design position back home in General Motors. After a second successful partnership in Paris, known as Carrosserie Fernandez et Darrin, Howard Darrin returned home in 1937 and settled in Hollywood.
Hollywood's Darrin of Paris
His first Hollywood designs, on a Packard 120 chassis, were in the European style and while they did bring in orders they also brought him to the attention of Packard's management. Building Packards would overstretch his Hollywood workshops so they were built by American Central Manufacturing in Connersville
Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in Fa ...
("Little Detroit"), Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. Darrin would travel back and forth between California and Indiana supervising construction. This work was shifted to Hess & Eisenhart in Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
to let American Central Manufacturing Company concentrate on Jeep bodies.
Howard Darrin continued to build special orders in his Hollywood shop. The bodies contracted out were convertible Victorias, four-seaters with a low profile but with wind-down windows in their doors.
References
External links
{{commons category, Packard Darrin Coachbuilders of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers American companies established in 1937 Manufacturing companies established in 1937 Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles