1957 Dual Ghia Sports Car Convertible Vehicle Profile

Dual Motors only existed for eight years, but in that time, the marque was able to combine the essence of Virgil Exner's uniquely American design with Ghia's hand built Italian coachwork. These flamboyant cars were based on a modified Dodge chassis with a 315 cubic-inch V8. Unfortunately, the cost to build a Dual Ghia exceeded the selling price, and less than 200 were built. Many were owned by celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

In the early 1950's, Chrysler designer Virgil Exner had created a series of striking 'Firearrow' concept cars crafted by Italian coachbuilder Ghia. Eugene Casaroll - who owned Dual Motors Corporation - bought the rights to the Firearrow design. By 1956, Casaroll's first car, the Dual-Ghia, was in production. Casaroll built about 100 Dual-Ghias through 1958 priced at $7,646.

Perforamnce was excellent, especially in the cars powered by the high performance, Dodge Hemi D-500, a 315 cubic-inch V8. Out of the cars produced, only 32 are believed to still exist. Over 1,500 man-hours were said to have been lavished on each car before it left the factory. Reportedly, Ronald Regan owned one, which he lost in a high-stakes poker game with then-President Lyndon Johnson.

The current owner acquired it with 44,557 miles on the odometer, then and began a complete restoration project that has taken 12 years to complete. The 2007 Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance marked its inaugural concours debut. It was also shown at the 2008 Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance.

117 examples were made and this is car number 37 of the production run.