Chrysler GT - 1955 - a photo on Flickriver

Chrysler GT - 1955

Coachwork by Ghia

The marriage between Chrysler and Ghia seemed a strange one: sturdy reliability from Detroit matched with daring innovation from Turin. Even so, the union was a successful one for the Americans.

In the 1930s, Chrysler had seen a promising future for its aerodynamic Airflow model. But the buyers were not taken with its bulbous shape and an investment of millions went down the drain. This disaster was followed by two more: the Second World War broke out and the company’s founder, Walter Chrysler, died. When peace returned, Chrysler adopted a cautious approach, turning out a series of conservative models. They even sold the famous Chrysler Building in New York. None of it worked. Sales continued to fall and Ford took over as America’s number two car manufacturer. A new wind was needed if Chrysler was ever to turn the corner. It arrived at the start of the 1950s in the shape of Virgil Exner, who designed new models with aggressive lines and shark-fin profiles. But the continuing need to cut costs meant that the cars remained inferior. For this reason, Chryslers began looking towards Italy for the coachwork of its more exclusive models. Ghia’s designers and craftsmen were both superior to and cheaper than their American counterparts. The result was a series of Ghia bodies for Chrysler chassis, with the ST Special as the most famous example. In 1954 and 1955 just a handful of these cars were produced at the workshops in Turin. Not even Chrysler knows exactly how many. The chassis came from the Chrysler New Yorker and the engine was Chrysler’s reliable Hemi V8, with hemispherical combustion chambers.

After various wanderings, one of the ST Specials eventually ended up in Brussels. When he saw it, Ivan Mahy knew he wanted to buy it, but patiently waited until the owner got fed up with paying the heavy tax on it. This moment arrived in 1970: Mahy bought the Ghia for just 15,000 Belgian francs. The car left the factory in blue, but the wife of the first owner preferred silver and so it was repainted, except for the roof. The Mahy Chrysler is still sometimes visited by other ST owners. One of them made an offer of 100,000 euros for the now dust-covered Ghia in Leuze. The offer fell on deaf ears.

5.400 cc
V8
250 pk

Expo : Mahy, a family of cars - The Barnfind Collection
07/07/2023 - 03/09/2023

Autoworld
www.autoworld.be
Brussels - Belgium
August 2023

Taken on: August 21, 2023

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Mahy, a family of cars

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Sets appears in: • Mahy, a Family of Cars : The Barnfind Collection - Autoworld 2023 • Chrysler

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Camera: Nikon D800, f/10.0, 1.3 sec, 46mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D800
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/10.0
Exposure Time:	1.3
Focal Length:	46mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.1 (Macintosh)
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