Anyone for a Dutch Bentley? Packard brand returns on a bespoke, super-luxe Flying Spur
The new Packard Excellence is a bespoke one-off design, based on the Bentley Flying Spur
One of America's most celebrated luxury car brands has been resurrected after languishing in obscurity for decades. Packard, a name once revered alongside Bentley and Rolls-Royce, has made a return with the unveiling of the coachbuilt Packard Excellence, a project by Netherlands-based firm JB Classic & Bespoke.
The last production Packard rolled off the line in 1958, but a determined enthusiast has single-handedly revived the brand with this bespoke creation. While a previous attempt to bring back the Packard marque in the nineties ultimately failed due to a lack of funding, the Excellence proves that with enough vision, anything is possible nowadays.
Based on a Bentley Flying Spur, the Excellence is the product of an incredible 17,000 hours of painstaking work. The Dutch coachbuilder and restoration specialist engineered an entirely bespoke body for the car, incorporating iconic Packard design cues such as the classic grille, ‘suicide’ doors, and the elegant Goddess of Speed hood ornament. Custom headlights and stainless steel trim finish off a striking final product.
If you can’t quite stretch to a Flying Spur, but fancy a Bentley on your drive, you can pick up a Continental GT from just £45,000 via our Buy A Car service.
For the design and engineering, JB Classic & Bespoke enlisted the help of another Dutch firm, Cinovara Design. It took further inspiration from a previous, short-lived attempt to revive Packard that involved rebadging the Facel Vega Excellence.
While Cinovara has clearly done a remarkable job of bestowing the Excellence with a unique character, the Bentley origins are still subtly visible from the rear three-quarter angle, where the Flying Spur’s squared-off haunches can be recognised.
While we never expected to see a reborn Packard this year, we certainly wouldn’t mind if JB Classic & Bespoke decided to build a few more examples of this stunning model.
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