page_title: Packard 180
section_title: Darrin-bodied cars
hierarchical_section_title: Packard 180 / Darrin-bodied cars
caption_attribution_description: English: A 1940 Packard 180 Convertible Victoria by Darrin in the show area at Hershey 2019. 48 (some say 44) of these were built.
context_page_description: The Packard 180 was introduced for the 1940 model year by the Packard Motor Car Company to replace the discontinued Packard Twelve as their top-of-the-line luxury model. The correct name of the model was Custom Super Eight One-Eighty. The car was derived from the Packard Super Eight One-Sixty with which it shared the complete running gear including the in-line eight-cylinder, 356-cubic-inch engine that developed 160 horsepower. It was advertised as the most powerful eight-cylinder engine offered by any automobile manufacturer in 1940. It was complemented and gradually replaced by the more modern looking and expensive Packard Clipper in 1941 and fully replaced by the Custom Eight after the war.
  Packards of all series shared similar body styling in 1940, using the same bodies with hoods and front fenders of different length to meet their respective chassis. Thus the 160 and 180 got identical bodies. However, the 180s featured finer interior detailing with the best fabrics, leather and carpeting available. Packard used a special woolen ceiling in these cars only which was sewn longitudinally.
context_section_description: Designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin had made a few special bodies on Packard-basis, beginning in 1937. He tried to sell Packard on the idea of Darrin-bodied cars being offered directly by Packard, and finally got his way after parking one if his creations outside the Packard dealers' annual conference. For the 1940 model year, three Darrin bodystyles were available: the closed four-door Sport Sedan, the four-door Convertible Sedan, and the two-door Convertible Victoria. About 100 Packard Darrins were built until 1942, when production of private cars ended because of the war. This was much fewer than planned.
  Building even this number of cars would have overstretched Darrin's Hollywood workshops so they were built by American Central Manufacturing - one of the last remnants of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg conglomerate - in Connersville ("Little Detroit") Indiana instead. Darrin would travel back and forth between California and Indiana supervising construction. This work was shifted to Sayers & Scovill in Cincinnati (the company became Hess & Eisenhardt in 1942) to let ACM concentrate on building Jeep bodies. Between 59 and 72 Packard Darrins were built in 1940, of which 44 (or 48) were One-Eightys and the remainder One-Twentys. For the 1941 and 1942 model years the four-door Darrins were discontinued, leaving only the Convertible Victoria.
caption: 1940 Packard One Eighty Convertible Victoria by Darrin
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