When it pertains to American cars and trucks of the 1950s, few developers are mentioned in the very same breath as Virgil Exner. As Chrysler Corporation’s chief developer from the 1950s, he drew the business from its stick-in-the-mud online reputation with 1955’s Forward Look, then followed it up with a 1957 revamp that turned the market on its side as well as, specifically, made General Motors envious to no end.
Chrysler’s style expertise additionally was shown by several Exner-designed show cars, particularly those originating from Carrozzeria Ghia. Many were one-offs, though a number of from the very early 1950s were integrated in extremely small numbers. Among those one-offs, a 1957 Chrysler Ghia Super Dart 400, will have the possibility to change caretakers at Bonhams in January 2023.
The Super Dart 400 was based upon the 1956 Chrysler Dart reveal car (which was subsequently reconfigured as the Diablo ). The following version year, a Chrysler 300-C framework was shipped to Turin to come to be the Super Dart 400, furnished with 400-horsepower 392 Hemi (ten greater than the leading engine readily available for the 300-C). The fascinating part of the history of this car really comes after that, as the vehicle was displayed about by Dual-Motors of Dual-Ghia fame. In 1958, the Super Dart 400 was after that offered to a rich private individual to the tune of $15,000, with this gentleman driving it for 38,000 miles over 19 years. Today, the Super Dart 400 preserves its original paint, chrome as well as furniture, a wonderful item of 1950s American design and Italian coachwork.
Dual-Motors, obviously, built a handful of luxury crossbreed convertibles based on the Dodge 1955 Firebomb by Ghia. Produced from 1956-58, the 117 vehicles(plus two coupes)were popular with the Jet Set, with an additional Ghia-based car adhering to for 1960-62: the Ghia L6.4, a sleek hybrid deluxe sports car that brought the design of the previous-generation automobile right into the 1960s. For $13,000, a customer would obtain a coach-built Italian sports car with a 335-horsepower Chrysler 383 V8 (rated 10 horses higher than the supply engine) and difference in spades. Remarkably, cooling was optional.
This specific instance includes the supply headlight/parking light configuration but, if you read on-line photos, you may capture among the 8 out of 26 autos changed by Barris Kustom Industries with European-style fronts lights.
The third Ghia car readied to hit the block at Bonhams is just one of those handful of Chrysler Ghia cars and trucks that were built in limited amounts, this one the 1954 GT-1 Coupé. Based upon a 125.5-inch wheelbase New Yorker chassis and powered by a 235-horsepower 331 Hemi and PowerFlite automatic. The tale goes that the 1952 Chrysler Special by Ghia motivated a one-off for C.B. Thomas, President of Chrysler’s export department. That subsequently resulted in the limited-edition variations of that and also the GS-1. This certain GS-1 is a triple Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance individual as well as it, along with the Ghia L6.4 and also the Super Dart 400 over, will be auctioned as component of the John White Ramshead Collection by Bonhams in January.
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