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1953 Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia)

Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
The tastefully plush interior of the 1953 Thomas Special concept car was just one highlight of this one-of-a-kind Exner exercise.
The tastefully plush interior of the 1953 Thomas Special concept car was just one highlight of this one-of-a-kind Exner exercise.
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Engine
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Engine
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Interior
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Trunk space and spare wheel stowage received special attention in all Chrysler-Ghia models with the design teams always working to maximize style and functionality
Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 - Trunk space and spare wheel stowage received special attention in all Chrysler-Ghia models with the design teams always working to maximize style and functionality
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953
Images: VintageWeb, Chrysler Corporation, www.shorey.net
Rating:  39    -5    +44
The graceful 1953 Chrysler Thomas Special concept car had a European elegance. It was a modified version of the 1952 Chrysler Special concept car.
Concept cars have always been great attention-getters, with sales- and profit-boosting potential, so it makes sense that Virgil Exner got the nod to do the 1952, 1953, 1954 Chrysler Special and D’Elegance concept cars in the midst of Chrysler’s cash-flow crisis of the early 1950s.

First up was the Chrysler Special, which was built in two versions. The original premiered at the 1952 Paris Salon as a three-place fastback built on a cut-down New Yorker chassis (119-inch wheelbase).

As a follow-up to the K-310/C-200, it sported similar "elements of Continental styling" – long-hood/short-deck profile, big wire wheels within full cutouts – but differed most everywhere else.

Fenderlines were squared-up knife-edge types holding slim vertical bumperettes; headlights lived in prominent thrusting pods – the grille was an inverted trapezoid with horizontal bars.

Also, bodysides curved less and combined with a low roofline for a husky "masculine" air. Though handsome, the first Chrysler Special would remain one-of-a-kind.

So, too, the second version built in 1953 for C. B. Thomas, the head of Chrysler’s Export Division, thus prompting the nickname "Thomas Special."

Though similar to the 1952 car, this mounted a stock 125.5-inch New Yorker chassis and measured 10 inches longer overall (214 total). Exner used the extra length to provide what we’d now term a notchback profile, with a normal trunk and external lid, plus four/five-passenger seating. There were also various detail changes, such as outside door handles instead of solenoid-activated pushbuttons.

In one sense, the Chrysler Specials were not dead-ends, for positive public reception prompted some 400 copies of a third version in 1954. This was dubbed GS-1, likely for "Ghia Special," though the styling was again Exner’s.

Overall appearance was somewhere between the two Specials. The main differences involved a larger and squarer grille, reshaped roof and fenderlines, and stock 1954 New Yorker bumpers.

All GS-1s carried the by-then familiar 331 Hemi V-8, linked to Chrysler’s new fully automatic two-speed PowerFlite transmission. Sales were handled by Société France Motors, Chrysler’s French distributor.


Thomas Special, модифицированная версия Chrysler SS (Styling Special), впервые показанного в 1952 на Парижском салоне. Дизайнер - Вирджил Экснер. На Ghia было построено несколько экземпляров данного автомобиля.
Source: auto.howstuffworks.com
Coachbuilder: Ghia
1933 Fiat 508S Balilla Spider (Ghia), 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Cabriolet (Ghia), 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Coupe (Ghia), 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello (Ghia), 1950 Ferrari 195 Inter (Ghia), 1951 Chrysler K-310 (Ghia), 1951 Plymouth XX-500 (Ghia), 1951 Talbot-Lago T.26 Record Coupe (Ghia), 1952 Chrysler C-200 (Ghia), 1952 Chrysler Special (Ghia), 1953 Abarth Fiat 1100 (Ghia), 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint Supergioiello (Ghia), 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 Supersonic Conrero (Ghia), 1953 Cadillac Coupe (Ghia), 1953 Chrysler D’Elegance (Ghia), 1953 Chrysler GS-1 Special (Ghia), 1953 Chrysler Thomas Special (Ghia), 1953 Cisitalia 505 DF (Ghia), 1953 Dodge Firearrow I (Ghia), 1953 Fiat 8V Boano Coupe (Ghia), 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic Coupe (Ghia), 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 CS Speciale (Ghia), 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS (Ghia), 1954 Alfa Romeo 2000 Abarth (Ghia), 1954 Chrysler ST Special (Ghia), 1954 DeSoto Adventurer I (Ghia), 1954 Dodge Firearrow II (Ghia), 1954 Dodge Firearrow III (Ghia), 1954 Dodge Firebomb - 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