A one-off Packard Excellence pays tribute to an unrealized 1950s project where Packard nearly rebadged the Facel Vega Excellence
Detroit’s luxury automaker Packard may have bowed out in 1958, but the name still sparks ideas of what could have been. For one enthusiast with the determination and resources to act on that curiosity, it has taken shape as a modern-day revival in the shape of a one-off luxury sedan.
The creation, dubbed the Packard Excellence, was brought to life by JB Classic & Bespoke, a Dutch coachbuilder known for restorations and one-off commissions. Design and engineering came courtesy of local studio CinovarA, making the project a distinctly Netherlands effort.
Reviving A Lost Dream
The design isn’t a straight lift from a classic Packard or even the more recent 1999 Packard Twelve prototype. Instead, it takes inspiration from the Facel Vega Excellence, a French luxury sedan that nearly wore a Packard badge back in the late 1950s.
At the time, Studebaker-Packard explored rebadging the Vega with its own V8 under the hood, but Daimler-Benz, which had a distribution deal with Studebaker-Packard, pushed back. The plan was scrapped, and Packard history moved on.
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Fast forward to 2025, and the Packard Excellence has become a reality. Its foundations, however, are far removed from the original. The team used a second-generation Bentley Flying Spur (2013–2019) as the donor car, reworking the entire body and adding bespoke details. JB Classic & Bespoke says the build consumed 17,000 hours of work.
British Luxury Vibes
Despite its bespoke skin, the Bentley DNA is clear in the car’s proportions, greenhouse, and interior. The most striking changes are the vertical LED headlights, which bring a whiff of Cadillac, flanking a three-piece chrome grille. At its center sits a foldable “Goddess of Speed” mascot, a nod to Packard’s history.
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The profile has sharper dynamic lines and suicide doors similar to a Rolls-Royce. To make this happen, the company had to create a new hinge for the rear doors, together with custom door handles made of hand-formed stainless steel. The boxy rear end is more generic, with C-shaped LED taillights and a Packard emblem on the tailgate.
There’s no word on mechanical changes from the Bentley base. The second-generation Flying Spur was offered with either a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 or a twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12, though it’s unclear which of the two powers the Packard.
Costly Homage
JB Classic & Bespoke hasn’t revealed how much this reborn Packard cost to create, but given its one-off nature and the sheer labor involved, it’s safe to say the Excellence is as exclusive as it is expensive. A tribute not just to a lost brand, but to a project Packard itself never managed to see through.
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Thanos Pappas, a product design engineer by trade, has been wading through automotive journalism for… Read full bio

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