Carl Darling

Howard Gribble's 1961 Ford Starliner of Torrance, California was restyled by Carl Darling and Howard Gribble. The build was completed early in 1966. Unfortunately a truck smashed one side of the car shortly thereafter.

Carl Darling's 1961 Ford Starliner was built from the remains of Howard Gribble's wrecked Starliner. Photo courtesy of Howard Gribble.

Allen Duke's 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS of Wilmington, California. Allen's Impala received a pearl blue paint job with a light cobweb effect on the side panels by Carl during the summer of 1967.

Allen Duke's 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS, of Wilmington, California, as it appeared in 1968, after Carl Darling had given it a second and more radical paint job.

Howard Gribble's 1967 Chevrolet featured a full metalflake paintjob by Carl Darling. Photo courtesy of Howard Gribble.

Carl Darling's Ford F100, one of the first F100's to use hydraulic suspension. Photo courtesy of Howard Gribble.

Carl Darling was a custom car builder and painter from Torrance, California. In 1965 Carl and a friend rented a one car garage where they opened up their own custom body shop, while still working their day jobs. The shop didn't last long, maybe a couple of months, and one of the cars they started restyling in their short lived shop was Howard Gribble's 1961 Ford Starliner. After the shop closed, Carl continued restyling Howard's Starliner on his own. A couple of years later, in 1967, Carl and his old partner opened another shop, called C & J Custom, in Wilmington. As the previous shop, C & J Custom only lasted a couple of months too.

Doing most of the work himself, Carl continuously built new cars to suit his tastes, and moved on to other things like his lifted Ford F100 Pickup truck. Unfortunately, Carl died in 1976, but by that time he had built many cool and innovative customs.

Carl Darling's Cars

Carl Darling's Ford F100 Pickup
Carl Darling's 1956 Pontiac
Carl Darling's 1961 Ford Starliner

Cars Restyled by Carl Darling

Howard Gribble's 1961 Ford Starliner
Allen Duke's 1964 Chevrolet Impala
Howard Gribble's 1967 Chevrolet Impala