Ghia Chrysler–Ghia Show Cars History

From 1951 to the mid-1960s, Chrysler's chief designer Virgil Exner and Ghia's Luigi Segre forged one of the most productive relationships in automotive history. Exner's team in Detroit sketched the ideas; Ghia's craftsmen in Turin built the cars — by hand, in aluminum, to a quality that American factories could not match in prototype quantities. Of the 28 vehicles Chrysler identified as postwar 'Idea Cars,' 24 were built at Via Tomassi Grossi.

The programme produced landmarks across the decade: the K-310 (1951), which introduced Exner's 'Forward Look' fins; the Chrysler Special series of eighteen bespoke cars delivered to private clients (1951–1953); the Thomas Special, Norseman (1956), and others. The Chrysler Norseman — featuring a cantilevered roof with no B-pillar — was destroyed before its public debut when it went down with the Italian liner Andrea Doria on July 26, 1956.

Imperial Crown limousines built by Ghia served heads of state and dignitaries including the White House and European royalty through the late 1950s and early 1960s. The collaboration wound down as Exner's influence at Chrysler faded and Luigi Segre died in 1963, though individual commissions continued through the mid-1960s.