James Sparks (76.89.182.248) - Thu Apr 9 20:56:52 2009

Subject: Looking for answers from the experts

1937 Packard Darrin Fact or Fantasy

As a person who has owned Packards in my life time, and has belonged to a family that also owned a number of Packards in my youth, I have a question that I need to resolve in my own mind hopefully exposing the Packard world to what I believe to be the true facts.

There is a person named Ralph Marano who is claming to own a 1937 Packard Darrin. He claims that it was once owned by Kenny Kercheval and also by Clark Gable. The claim is also made that it was built in Darrin’s shop on the Sunset Strip.

Well, if you are playing baseball and connect one third of the time, you’re not bad at baseball, but if your trying to defining history, you are not in the ball park.

Mr. Marano is right about be the owner of one of the original Packards and he is correct in believing that it was once owned by Ken Kercheval, also that it originated in the Sunset shop. He is not correct, however, in claiming that it is a 1937 and that it was once owned by Clark Gable. You can't make a 1938 into a 1937 by just changing the tail lights.

Point 1:

My research tells me that the first two examples, built at A1 Auto Body and sold to Chester Morris and Clark Gable, were structurally different from the remaining fourteen cars built at the Sunset Blvd. plant. They both included running boards and a standard coachbuilt cowl assembly (ash framed, aluminum covered), as Stoessel had not yet developed the three-piece aluminum cowl.

Some questionable structural changes were made including the removal of the radiator cradle in order to relocate the stock radiator three inches lower in the frame. The first few cars passenger compartments were almost completely surrounded by wood - wood-framed doors, wood framed cowl and the integral wood-framed rear seat

and convertible top crossmember. Also these cars suffered from significant front-end vibration, door alignment problems (they sometimes flew open when rounding a corner at speed) and ‘leaked like a sieve’ whenever it rained.

Point 1a

The Darrin that Mr. Marano possesses has a three pace aluminum cowl. Aluminum cowls were introduced after the move to the former Sunset Blvd. bottle factory , some time after January 1938. The stability issue improved somewhat when Stoessel’s cast aluminum cowl was introduced on cars built at the Sunset Blvd. workshop, with the distinctive Stoessel-engineered cast aluminum window frames and three-piece cowls which gave the car a distinctive appearance. The new cowl also necessitated lengthening the hood by nine inches, and the radiator shell and hood were sectioned by three, giving the car a long and low European stance.

This particular Darrin was relatively stable. When this car was owned by my father, on a number of occasions we would chase jack rabbits around the flight line at the Northrop facility in Ontario, Calif., when he worked the third shift. I don’t remember falling out because the door came open on sharp turns.

I’d like to chronologically present this Darrin’s history from the present back to the late forties, as I know it.

It is currently owned, I believe, by Mr. Ralph Marano, purchased from Ken Kercheval sometime after 1991.

Ken acquired the car July 2, 1987. from Courtney Manker, of Santa Barbara, who had placed an ad in the July issue of Hemmings Motor News. The ad read as fellows: Packard: 1938 Darrin, one of the original Hollywood Darrins, needs restoration, no trades $25, 000. Court, .

Courtney bought it from father in mid 1953, when he going to college in Claremont, and owned it almost 35 years.

Dad found it at a body shop in Pomona. The owner of the body shop, Charles MacArthur, had acquired the car a number of years before when it was painted Robin egg blue and had a saddle brown interior. Being in the paint and body shop business, he transformed it into a gorgeous maroon car with maroon interior and black top.

From conversations that I had with both Rudy and Bill Stoessel, about the time it was acquired by Ken Kercheval (1987) and from looking at Rudy’s scrap book of photos taken between 1937 and 1940, we came to the conclusion that this Darrin was probably the first Darrin built at the Sunset shop with the three piece cowl and the last one built with running boards. The scrap book shows a picture of Rudy doing detail work while sitting on the running board while in the Sunset shop.

One of the personal experiences of mine was to meet and talk extensively with Ken Kercheval after his purchase of the Darrin. He allowed me to document pictorially the restoration of the Darrin while at Bill Borze’s shop in Highland Park.

I have take ? of pictures of this Darrin during its dismantling and partial reconstruction in Borze’s shop. I believe the progress of work done at Borze’s was in direct correlation with Kercheval’s income stream from the Dallas TV series, which when it was canceled, so was the progress of the Darrin.

I began the documentation in July of 1987 up through September of 1991 when I was transferred from the Pasadena facility of the Unisys Corp. to the Mission Viejo plant. This made it difficult to take time off at lunch to check up on the Darrin and keep abreast of its progress. I was not informed by Ken of its change in ownership.

I do have some very interesting photos. One in particular is of the chassis. This is a picture of the front of the chassis forward of the firewall above the suspension on the passenger side. There is a date stenciled on the frame, the date being “11-5-37 32” with “PACK, 127 DOM” below the date. I believe this to be the date the chassis was assembled; correct me if I’m wrong.

I believe Packard introduced its new car in September, meaning any vehicle with a date after say late August would be considered a 1938 model. Also, correct me if I’m wrong.

The idea that Mr. Marano’s Darrin is a 1937 does not hold water.

One: its manufacture date was after the introduction date of the 1938s.

Two: there is a picture of the Darrin in the Sunset shop, which was not in existence until 1938.

Three: It has a three piece aluminum cowl which had not been developed until the move to the new shop.

If you could take a few minutes and enlighten me on this subject I would greatly appreciate it.

So back to my original question: Does anybody care?

Gratefully

Jim Sparks

Reply #1 Kenneth Dewing (208.19.61.121) - Wed Jul 29 18:30:51 2009

I was so surprized and delighted to find this imformation on this particular car, which I first saw, with Courtney driving it, through Ventura, April 16, 1955, my sixteenth birthday. My friend was taking me to Santa Barbara for a birthday dinner. I insisted he follow the car which wound up stopping at Courtney's mother's house in Santa Barbara.

Later, I returned to Santa Barbara and scoured the streets until I located it outside a cabinet shop. I went in and met Coutney and stayed in touch for several years, thinking maybe next year or shortly thereafter I could afford to perchase this very special Packard.

Alas, now 70 years old, I thought once again that perhaps I should try to reach Courtney and inquire about the Packard. An associate suggested that I try google, where, using Courtney Manker's name this imformation magically appeared.

Yes, indeed someone does care. I would go to alot of trouble to see the car again. And yes, according to Courtney, that car is a 1938 model, and it was, according to Courtney, purchased by Clark Gable.

Thank you for posting this fastinating imformation.

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