Chrysler's history with Italy actually stretches a little beyond Fiat's recent purchase of the American car company.
Back in the 1950s, they hooked up with Ghia to produce magnificent concept cars including the GS-1 Chrysler Ghia (1953), the handsomely gorgeous
Dual-Ghia (1958 - pictured from
My Car Quest) and 'Thomas Special':
From Conceptcarz:
"After World War II many maruqee's saw their
production figures begin to rise while Chrysler's stayed stead but
falling behind the rest of the pack. Chrysler looked to Europe for
inspiration.
A war torn Europe was recovering from years of
battle. Many factories had been ruined and many intellectual knowledge
had been destroyed. Fiat invited Chrysler to Italy to aid in their
rebuilding and to train their technicians in the latest methods and
techniques of automotive production. This included teaching them
modernized ways of constructing cars and the most effective means of
assembly line techniques. Not only was Chrysler imparting knowledge to a
struggling economy, they were gaining knowledge on the art of
carrozziere, Italian meaning custom coach building. This was a dying
art but had been very popular in the early 1900s. A manufacturer would
supply a rolling chassis to a custom coachbuilder to complete. The
coachbuilder often corresponded with the customer to determine the exact
specifications, resulting in unique creations.
Chrysler began
discussions with one of the most famous coachbuilders of all time, Pinin
Farina. However, it would be Ghia in Turin who would be commissioned
to build a series of cars inspired by the designs of Virgil Exner,
Chryslers chief stylist. Ghia and Chrysler continued working together
for 15 years creating some of the most memorable Chryslers of all time."
Ghia's partnership with Chrysler was not exclusive over the years having also corroborated with Volkswagen, Plymouth and Ford.
