Howard “Dutch” Darrin hand shaping clay model of Kaiser Darrin sports car, 1952. Photo from kaiserpermanentehistory.org.

Dutch Darrin came from the design studio of Brewster & Company, one of the more successful horse carriage turned car coachbuilders in the early years of the automotive industry. Shortly after the first world war, Darrin joined another alum of Brewster’s design studio, Tom Hibbard, to form their own auto design company called Hibbard & Darrin in Paris. Hibbard would later become the design chief at Ford.

Darrin’s designs would be represented world-wide from Renault to Packard. Joining with Hibbard in Paris, France, the pair worked as agents for the Belgium luxury car maker Minerva, whose quality was compared to Rolls-Royce except less expensive. When the car company was forced into re-organization, Darrin and Hibbard opened their own custom shop in France.

Darrin and the infamous Kaiser Darrin sportscar. Photo from www.flickr.com.

After winning several awards for car design in Europe, Darrin’s star was on the rise. The duo designed cars for Duesenberg, and earned the respect of Harley Earl, who hired Darrin and Hibbard to create many of the GM concept cars. Hibbard left the partnership to become one of Earl’s staff at GM.

Darrin brought in a new partner, most for the finances, and focused his expertise in the creative side of the business. The new company, Fernandez and Darrin, built several chassis and rebodied them, winning more accolades and high profile customers along the way. Sinking sales force Darrin to close shop in 1937 and return to the U.S.

Opening another custom shop on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, called Darrin of Paris, he began building customs for the stars. In short order Alvan Macauley, the President of Packard, convinced Darrin to join the company as the Chief Aesthetic Designer. This was the beginning of the Packard Darrins.

World War II halted car designing as Darrin became a contracted flight instructor teaching pilot candidates the ins-and-outs of flying. After the war he joined Kaiser-Fraiser as a consultant, almost singlehandedly handling all of Kaiser-Fraiser’s body work designs in 1947.

Photo from www.findagrave.com.

His next major project became the car that made everyone take notice. The 1951 Kaiser Manhattan was very polarizing with it’s rounded roofline, concave waterfall grille and bold lines. Kaiser was on the downhill slide by this point however, and the success of Darrin’s Manhattan design gave the company enough encouragement to allow the designer to create his next project, and his namesake; the Kaiser Darrin sports car.

Using the Henry J chassis and powertrain, Darrin designed a fiberglass body that was unlike anything else at the time. The Darrin sportscar even had sliding doors, which are still an oddity, even by today’s standards. It was a last ditch effort by Kaiser to stay afloat but dismal sales couldn’t keep the company alive.

Photo from www.findagrave.com.

Darrin continued to work as a designer in the industry until his passing in 1992. His grave marker says: Howard “Dutch” Darrin, Automotive Architect. Darrin had built and modified cars for studio executives and film stars, including Clark Gable, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Chester Morris, Al Jolson, Greta Garbo, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Ros­alind Russell, Ruby Keeler, Preston Foster, Ann Sheridan, Constance Bennett and Gene Krupa. These cars made him the first “Auto Designer To The Stars,” a title that has been used many times since. Despite the failure of the Kaiser Darrin sportscar, he is considered one of the superstars in automotive design.