Only 15 Packard “Darrins,” with bodywork bearing the imprint of designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin, were made in the last season of production.

The example offered here was the 13th of this brief and glorious run.

Darrin historian Don Figone notes that it was first restored in the early 1950s by then-owner Glen Sheppard of Piedmont, California.

In Mr.

Sheppard’s ownership, it was featured in the September 1953 issue of Road & Track magazine, showing just how special these Packards had already become, scarcely a decade after production ended.

The article notes that the car had been restored with the assistance of the Earle C.

Anthony Packard dealership in San Francisco in sourcing hard-to-find parts and that the passion project had cost Mr.

Sheppard some $6,000—about the same as a new Cadillac limousine in 1953.

Mr.

Sheppard eventually sold the car to Wendell Hawkins, actually a dealer of new Packards in Houston, Texas.

In the early 1970s it is believed to have passed to a gentlem...