1983 Lincoln Quicksilver Concept Car

The 1983 Lincoln Quicksilver is a little-known concept car that's noteworthy in that it still exists and escaped Ford Motor Company, being up for auction at least twice.

Ford previously used the Quicksilver name on a preliminary project for its 1960 redesign.   I showed two Quicksilver drawings in this post.

It seems that the concept car was designed as well as built by Ford's Carrozzeria Ghia subsidiary rather than at Dearborn, Michigan.  Besides that, it was based on components from an AC Cars vehicle, not Ford.

Yet another unusual detail is that the Quicksilver has been called a "mid-engine" car.  No, the motor isn't located between the front and rear seats.  It seems to be just in front of the rear axle line (and perhaps overlaps it).  A rear-engine car's motor is placed abaft of the axle line, so mid-engine seems to mean farther forward, but not at a car's front.  That said, by 1983 mid-engine cars were mostly sports cars or racing cars -- not passenger sedans.  And the rear weight bias usually makes for handling problems such as I encountered with my Porsche 914 on snowy roads in Upstate New York in the early '70s.

All this suggests that the Quicksilver, taken as a whole, was not a serious proposal for a production car.

Mecum Auction's Web page has more background regarding the Quicksilver.

Photos below are via Mecum and an undetermined site.

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The Quicksilver was designed when Ford was aggressively exploring aerodynamics, and it was once of several concept cars that were wind tunnel tested: its drag coefficient was 0.30, according to Mecum.

The wheelbase seems very long, though I don't have its length measurement.  On the other hand, the impression of length could well be due to the small wheels/tires.

Rear vision seems somewhat limited.

Given the motor's location, I wonder about the various openings at the front.  It could be that the radiator was there and long piping connected it to the motor.  The side air vents towards the rear seem to be intended for cooling the engine compartment.

Although the shape is aerodynamically efficient, the 1970s crisp, linear detailing found on three-box production sedans has been carried over to the Quicksilver.  Aside from its length and engine placement, the design is fairly attractive.

Ghia Designs with Covered Front Wheel Openings

A while ago I wrote about designs featuring covered front wheel openings.  This practice was not common, in that most of my examples had bodies designed and built by coachbuilding firms rather than being mass-produced.

Such covered wheel openings had to do with 1930s concepts of automobile aerodynamics, the idea being to create as smooth a body shape as possible so as to allow air to flow over it with minimal disruption when the vehicle was at speed.  Nowadays, most production car bodies are wind tunnel tested, and wheel opening covers are seldom seen.  Apparently, air flow disruption from those openings is not a serious problem when compared for the need to access tires and the desirability of shorter turn radiuses.

Today's post presents more images of early postwar designs by Carrozzeria Ghia, a major Italian coachbuilder in those days.   It seems that Ghia built few cars with spatted wheels, and by 1949, it was designing cars with openings exposing entire tires, front and rear.

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1946 Fiat 1500 Cabriolet Gran Sport by Ghia.  The flowing fender line is somewhat similar to that of 1950 C-body Buicks, though I wonder if Buick stylists were aware of this car .

Even the grille is suggestive of Buick (production Fiat 1500s had horizontal grille bars).

Note how low the ground clearance is.

1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Cabriolet by Ghia.  Two years later, Ghia was still pursuing the design theme. 

Publicity photo.

View from right front quarter.  I found no views of the car's rear.

Wheel spats were hinged to provide access to tires.  However, turning radius remained restricted.

1955 Chrysler Falcon Concept Car

After Virgil Exner became head of Chrysler Corporation styling, there soon appeared a stream of what we now call "concept cars" built in Italy by Corrozzeria Ghia.

One such design that Exner very much hoped to see in production was the 1955 Chrysler Falcon, the subject of this post.  The idea was that it would be Chrysler's answer to General Motors' Chevrolet Corvette and Ford's Thunderbird.  As it happened, only two or three were ever built.

Its wheelbase was 105 inches (2667 mm), compared to the Corvette's and Thunderbird's 102.0 inches (2591 mm).  According to the Wikipedia link above, much of the design has been credited to Exner's assistant Maury Baldwin, for whom I can find no biography on the Internet.   Sources say Exner's contribution was the car's front end.  He did use a Falcon as a personal vehicle for a while.

Some of the images below were taken by Chrysler or its agents, a few others are from sources I cannot identify.

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Color photo of one of the Falcons.  Note the slant of the A-pillar part of the panoramic windshield frame.  It slants backward, in the mode used on production Chrysler Corporation cars in 1955.

On the other hand, the car pictured here has a windshield A-pillar leaning forwards such as was found on 1954 GM B-body Oldsmobiles and Buicks.  This strongly suggests that at least two Falcons were built by Ghia.

Rear quarter view revealing rather sketchy protection.  Those vertical bars look strong, but I wonder if they were solidly backed.

The side exhaust pipes along the lower body covered by perforated heat-protection plates provide a serious sporting appearance.  I assume they're functional here, but doubt that would have been the case had Falcons actually entered production.  The louvre on the side of the front fender also seem to be functional.

The grille leans forward, creating an aggressive appearance.  But bumper protection is scanty.  The general feeling is similar to some other Exner concept cars of that time.

Note the hint of a tail fin atop the rear fender.  Exner was planning tail fins for Chrysler's 1956 models.

1953 DeSoto Adventurer Concept: a Virgil Exner Favorite

The 1953 DeSoto Adventurer show car was one of those attractive Ghia-built Chrysler Corporation show cars of the early 1950s.

It was designed by Virgil Exner, who later became head of Chrysler styling.  During the early 1950s he was greatly interested in the styling of sports and sport-touring cars by Italian coach builders such as Ghia, Pinin Farina, Vignale, Touring and Zagato.  He felt that Italian designs were closer to what automobiles should be than the jet fighter and spaceship design features that were starting to appear on American cars and that were evident in some dream car designs, especially those from Ford.

The Adventurer's design was a favorite car of Exner's, who drove the car for a few years following its car show duties.  It was based on a shortened DeSoto chassis and powered by the DeSoto Firedome V-8 motor.

Exner was at the top of his game in those days, so who am I to gainsay his belief that the Adventurer was a very fine example of the stylist's art.  However, even though I really like the design, a few quibbles are offered in the captions below.

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Front quarter view featuring a nicely shaped grill that combines classical verticality with practical 1950s horizontal elements.  Also practical for a show car is the massive bumper -- often show car bumpers are sculptural features with little ability to protect a car from damage.  Fenders are blended into the body, yet retain a hint of pre-1950 separateness.  That is, there is no flow-through side fender design as might be expected of an American car of this vintage.

New we begin a walkaround.  The exhaust/muffler system is about the only show car jazz item I can detect.  It provides a sporty feeling, but detracts from the overall design and when heated by exhaust gasses might give burns to people bumping a leg against it.  Also, I wonder how effective that sleeve heat-guard is.

This side view reveals a nice, long hood.  Almost too long, as the driver sits slightly abaft of the car's center.  The single side window makes for a clean passenger compartment exterior design, but backseat passengers' outside vision is restricted by the wide pillar.

The rear quarter view is also pleasing.  Again, a massive bumper.  It's probably needed here thanks to the delicate tuned-under aft end of the body.  Another impractical item is the lack of a trunk lid.  The only opening seems to be for access to the spare tire.

Here is the Adventurer with a lighter paint scheme.  White-painted cars reduce the visual effect of body sculpting because highlights are camouflaged.  Note how the fenders nearly disappear here.

Rear quarter view showing an open door and some interior features.

The Adventurer in a show-setting publicity photo.

1956 Chrysler Dart Concept

As I discussed here, the 1956 model year Chrysler Corporation line had small tail fins tacked onto the restyled 1955 bodies for the model year facelift.  Then for 1957 the line was redesigned again, this time with the incorporation of such fins as a major part of its styling theme.

During the lead-ups to the 1956 and '57 model introductions, Chrysler publicized the idea that tail fins were the way things were going in some advanced, high-performance machines other than automobiles.

Examples included delta-wing (and tail) jet fighters such as the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger, shown here in a Air Force museum photo.

Another example was Gold Cup hydroplane racers such as the famous world speed record setting Slo-mo-shun IV seen here on Seattle's Lake Washington in the early 1950s in a photo whose origin I do not know.  It too has a delta-shaped tail fin.

To further publicize the tail fin theme, Chrysler commissioned the Delta Dart show car from Gia in Italy, the subject of this post.  Some background information is here.

The link mentions that the body shape was tested in a European wind tunnel, which raises the question of whether the design was by Chrysler stylists or by Ghia designers working on a Chrysler-specified theme.  However, it should be mentioned that the 1955 Ghia-designed Gilda was an aerodynamic exercise with features carried over to the Delta Dart.  I am away from some of my reference material as I draft his post, and will add more detail on this matter if I find it.

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The windshield resembles that used on Imperials starting in 1957.

The grille-bumper design is logical considering the overall design theme.  However, it would not be practical (or even legal in the USA) for a production version.

An interesting feature is the chromed bar/bumper element that encircles the car.  The design is fastback, which, due to contrasting heights, serves to emphasize the tail fins even further.

But that fastback top was retractible, an interesting touch not strictly related to the finned, aerodynamic theme.

Profile view.  Pretty much in keeping with the F-102 and Slo-mo-shun shown above.  Later production Chrysler Corporation car with tail fins were less conceptually pure than this show car.

1955 Chrysler Streamline X / Ghia Gilda

Starting with the 1956 model year, Chrysler Corporation began adding tail fins to its cars.  According to this Motor Trend article, what inspired this styling feature was the 1955 Ghia Gilda, a car adopted by Chrysler as its Streamline X.  More background can be found here and here.

The Gilda was designed by Ghia under the direction of Giovanni Savonuzzi.  Given its late-April debut at the 1955 Turin automobile show, it might be unlikely that it inspired the addition of fins to Chrysler's 1956 line that was launched not many months later.  However, given the close relationship between Chrysler and Ghia in those days, it is likely that Chrysler's styling boss Virgil Exner was kept abreast of the Gilda project as it matured and that his staff might have provided input for details.

The Gilda seems to have been essentially an aerodynamic exercise, given its wind tunnel testing.  Its tail fins are not prominent, so it is possible that their origin was more for styling purposes than for high speed aerodynamic stability.

Color photos below of the Gilda are via Barrett-Jackson auctions.

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The Gilda as seen in a museum.  It had no engine, so the front air intake is notional.  Apparently the hood was shaped so that a motor of some kind could be added, though it is still pretty low.

The windshield looks similar to those on some 1955 Chrysler Corporation models -- a moderate wraparound with a backwards-slanting A-pillar.

Wheel openings are small.  The fender line rises, blending into the fail fin.  Rising fender lines were rare then, common today.

The Gilda's rear aspect is more show car fluff than aerodynamic engineering.  The dummy rear grille suggests that a rear-engine configuration was possible, though the room for such a motor is limited.  There's a small central fin that serves no apparent functional purpose.

Side view from the same setting: likely that 1955 Turin show.

The Gilda still exists, though its paint scheme is now two-tone.

Side view emphasizing how little room there is for motors.

1956 Chrysler Norseman Concept, Lost at Sea

It was built by Ghia in Italy, but didn't have the Italian-influenced styling of many Chrysler concept cars of the early to mid 1950s.  Rather, it had the look of a potential American production car.

I'm referring to the 1956 Chrysler Norseman that was lost when the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank following a collision.

According to some accounts I've read, it was intended to test the concept of a roof cantilevered from a robust C-pillar -- there was only a "hardtop" type stub B-pillar and no structural A-pillar.  This was probably not a realistic idea even in 1956 and something that would strike today's safety-conscious bureaucrats, engineers and car buyers with horror.

That said, the Norseman -- why was it given that name? -- was a very attractive mid-1950s work of styling.

Due to its brief lifespan, few images of the Norseman exist.

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Styling staff rendering.

Front quarter view.  The bumper-grille ensemble is more show jazz than practical.  Semi-ditto the clamshell headlight covers.  The body-color section of the roof is likely the cantilever structural element, the light colored panel probably being normal roof cladding.

Rear quarter.  Interesting that the car is a fastback and not a conventional bustle-back design.  Fastbacks were phased out of American production a few years earlier, so this aspect of the design was not practical from a potential marketing standpoint.  Nevertheless, it looks good.  The rear bumper set is more car show jazz.  Plus there are low tail fins suggestive of forthcoming redesigned 1957 Chrysler Corporation line styling.

Ghia's 1950 Plymouth XX-500 Concept Car

Once the post- World War 2 sellers market was fading, American automobile manufacturers began looking for ways to attract the interest of potential buyers.  One tactic was the "dream car," a flashy custom-built machine to be displayed at car shows, designed with perhaps several purposes in mind.  One purpose was to enhance the image of a car brand as being forward-looking.  Another might be to accustom potential buyers to styling features planned for future production.  Also, features under consideration for production might be shown so that buyer response could be evaluated.  Finally, some dream cars were built simply to let young stylists blow off some creative steam.  Nowadays, all such are termed "concept cars."

Chrysler Corporation's first postwar concept was a Plymouth, at the time the corporation's low-priced division. The story goes that 1950 Plymouths were shipped off to Italy so that coachbuilding firms could build show cars from Chrysler styling staff designs. Pininfarina built its car as ordered, but it was never shown.  Ghia, on the other hand, requested that it ignore the Chrysler design and build a Plymouth to its own design.  Chrysler agreed, and the resulting Plymouth XX-500 was designed, constructed, shipped to the USA and displayed at automobile shows starting in 1951.

(Idle thought: the "XX" can be interpreted to mean "double-cross," referring to treason or making false promises.  Why did Chrysler people approve it as part of the car's name?)

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1950 Plymouth - sales photo
This is what Ghia had to start with.

Plymouth XX-500 - front 3/4 view

Plymouth XX-500 - rear 3/4 view

Plymouth XX-500 - side
Sorry, but this was the largest image of this photo that I could locate.

Thanks to its tall, boxy Plymouth heritage, Ghia did its best to make the XX-500 look sleek and Italian, but the result was nevertheless ponderous.  About the best that could be said is that it was an improvement over the design of production Plymouths.  Ghia was successful in that the high quality it delivered for around $10,000 1950 American dollars opened the door to building a number of Chrysler Corporation concept cars during the 1950s.