Packard Excellence: The Legendary Brand Revives With a One-Off Bentley-Based Creation

Packard may have disappeared 67 years ago, but it rises again through the Excellence, a bespoke creation from Dutch coachbuilder JB Classic & Bespoke.

• The Packard Excellence is built on a Bentley Flying Spur platform

• It’s a one-off vehicle

• More than 17,000 hours of work went into its construction

Detroit luxury automaker Packard may have bowed out in 1958, but the name still sparks ideas of what might have been. True to this day, Packard’s enlighten Concours d’Élégance all over the world. For one enthusiast with the determination and the resources to act on that curiosity, the dream has taken shape as a modern-day revival: a bespoke luxury sedan, the Packard Excellence.

This creation unique creation was brought to life by JB Classic & Bespoke, a Netherlands-based firm known for restorations and tailor-made commissions. Design and engineering support came from local studio CinovarA, making the project a distinctly Dutch collaboration.

After 17 000 hours of hard and precise work, the Packard Excellence has become a reality. Its foundations, however, are far removed from the original American vision. The team used a second-generation Bentley Flying Spur (2013–2019) as the donor car, reshaping the entire body and adding bespoke details throughout. The most noticeable attributes are the front grille with its two-stage frame design, a signature of the brand, along with the rear-hinged “suicide” doors.

Reviving a Lost Dream

The design isn’t a direct copy of a classic Packard, nor is it related to the more recent 1999 Packard Twelve prototype. Instead, it draws inspiration from the Facel Vega Excellence, a French luxury sedan that nearly carried a Packard badge in the late 1950s. Still to this day, the Facel Vega is regarded as one of the most striking cars in French automotive history.

At the time, Studebaker-Packard explored rebadging the Vega with its own V8 under the hood. But Daimler-Benz, then tied to Studebaker-Packard through a distribution deal, pushed back, and the plan was shelved. Packard’s history moved on.

The last true Packard was built in 1956, riding on the company’s own platform and powered by its in-house V8 engines paired with the Ultramatic transmission. From 1957 to 1958, the nameplate lived on through Studebaker-based Packards, models that many enthusiasts consider the brand’s final chapter. Among them, the 1958 Packard Hawk is often regarded as the very last Packard ever produced, a sporty coupe derived from the Studebaker Golden Hawk.