The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
Chrysler President K.T. Keller was in search of a more economical means of constructing prototype and experimental vehicles, and Italy’s struggling postwar economy and considerable pool of car-making expertise presented an opportunity.
The Plymouth XX-500 Ghia: In 1950, Chrysler President K.T. Keller commissioned two cars on Plymouth chassis, one from Carrozzeria Ghia and another from Pininfarina as a trial run for the prototyping process. While K.T. Keller was evidently pleased with Pininfarina’s work, it was determined that the workmanship from Carrozzeria Ghia was better overall, and all the work from then was awarded to Ghia. The body design was basically that of the 1949 Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este winner Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Berlina Ghia by Giovanni Michelotti. The Plymouth XX-500 was exhibited by Ghia at the 1950 Turin Auto Salon.
There are in the history of companies, just as in the history of nations, certain fateful episodes, which have an influence on the course of events well in excess of their actual importance. Chrysler’s request to Ghia to build for them, to their design, a special body on a Plymouth chassis, is one of these episodes.
The beginning In tracing the genealogy of coachbuilding firms, it turns out that they originated in the early years of the last century as…
