1957 Dual Ghia Sports Car

In the post-World War II era, with manufacturing in full swing and businesses blossoming, the infrastructure and roadways greatly improved, including a growing number of highways. Eugene Casaroll took notice of Detroit's problem of shipping new cars to their final destinations and knew that it would soon become viable to ship cars over the road instead of by rail. He came up with the idea of what is now known as the modern car carrier and this concept would reward him with wealth, prosperity, and the ability to move into new manufacturing arenas. He called his company 'Automobile Shippers,' and at its height, a fleet of over 130 truck-transport rigs serviced his main client, the Chrysler Corporation. Casaroll even sponsored an entry in the Indianapolis 500 from 1946-1954, with his best team finish coming in 1954 with Troy Ruttman driving to 4th place in the Automobile Shippers Special number 34 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser and Duane Carter finishing 15th in the number 16 car. Reinventing the way Detroit delivered its production and racing fast cars was not enough for Casaroll, and soon he had moved on, creating a car company that became renowned for its luxury, style, and exclusivity.

Virgil Exner, the chief designer at Chrysler, teamed with Ghia to build a number of concept cars on the Dodge chassis. Among these were four Dodge Firearrow show cars that were engineered as road-going models. They were shown all across America but were never put into production. Eugene Casaroll finally bought the designs and built the car himself. He first bought Dual Motors in Michigan, which was the starting point for the Dual-Ghias. Combining a chassis from Chrysler and contracting the bodywork to Ghia in Turin, the cars were expensive and exclusive and were bought by suitably rich and exclusive people - Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Eddie Fisher, Glenn Ford, and Desi Arnaz were all owners. Built as both coupes and convertibles, around 117 Dual Ghias were made from 1957 onwards.

The stock frames were sent to Ghia to have the body created and then were shipped back to Detroit for engine and interior fitting. Instead of following the trends of the time, which evolved around excessive amounts of chrome and tall tailfins, the Dual Ghia was restrained with minimal brightwork and finely sculptured body lines. The large oval air intake was flanked on either side by single round headlamps, and a thin trim spear traversed the entire bodyside ending at the rear where there were small but elegant tail fins. Large chrome bumpers protected the vehicle in the front and rear. The interior featured a jet-inspired theme, with a wraparound dashboard that contained large twin pods in an engine-turned cluster that held the tachometer and speedometer.

Chrysler's 315 cubic-inch Hemi V8 engine delivered 230 horsepower and was backed by a Chrysler Powerflite two-speed transmission. In the front was an independent suspension with coil springs while the rear used semi-elliptic springs. Drum brakes were placed at all four corners and kept the 115-inch wheelbase vehicle in the driver's control.

First-series production lasted from 1956 to 1958 with 117 examples built during that time. All but two were Convertibles. In 1961, Eugene Casaroll revived the concept with a new series. Built entirely in Italy, the second-series Dual-Ghia L6.4 used its own bespoke chassis as Chrysler had gone to unitary construction on all its models except the Imperial. Chrysler's 383 CID V8 engine was used to provide power. Just 26 of these cars were made before production ceased in 1963.

by Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2019