Darrin To Be Different

I pedaled my bike past the edge of our main street and down the Santa Monica canyon road toward the Pacific Coast Highway. This was as far as I was allowed to ride my bike, but I was 10, adventure was more important than following rules. Heading down the canyon road, I coasted past suburban homes, glancing down the driveways. Then I saw it—an open garage decorated with one-fifth scale automotive clay models. I stopped and gazed down the driveway. I’d read about car design, but I’d never seen it up close. An older man noticed me, motioning me to come in. I walked my bike down the driveway and spent the next hour talking to Howard Dutch Darrin, fascinated by the design process and his mentoring presence. He would become my introduction to car design—one that I remember vividly to this day. Years later, I would buy my own Darrin for a whopping $700. But that is another story.

By the time I met him, the sun was setting on his distinguished design career, first as a freelance designer and later as a coachbuilder, both in Paris and, later, Los Angeles. His career included prolific partnerships with Hibbard and Darrin, and Fernandez and Darrin, multiple automotive patents and, of course, the stunning Packard Darrin. In total, Darrin’s efforts resulted in some of the most elegant pre-war cars ever built. His pre-war career would have been remarkable enough, but he continued to produce well after the war. Darrin was particularly clever at low-cost design changes that could visually transform a car. In his post-war work, Darrin almost singularly extended the life of Kaiser-Frazier for years with his innovative redesigns. Darrin, however, wanted to do a car very much his own, a sports car featuring elegant open coachwork, with performance traits. Being in Los Angeles, Darrin could see the growing interest in fiberglass manufacturing and custom car construction. Convinced that conservative Henry Kaiser would never approve a sports car or tooling for an all-steel model, Darrin self-funded the prototype, engaging Bill Tritt of Glasspar with the task of making a rolling body shell. When presented to Kaiser, Darrin was shocked and pleased to find his advocate, Henry Kaiser’s fashion-forward wife, who insisted this car had a market.