1954 Chrysler ST Special (Ghia)

After Chrysler showed the original Special at the 1952 Paris Auto Show, Chrysler exporter C.B. Thomas not only had a second one built for himself, but also authorized Charles Ladouch, Chrysler’s importer in France, to have Ghia build about 16 more (other sources claim only a dozen more were built). Ladouch, reportedly the same man responsible for transferring the Special’s styling cues to the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, then followed that with the GS-1 Special in 1953 and the ST Special in 1954.

As with the GS Special and the Special before it, Ladouch had Ghia body the ST Special on the Chrysler New Yorker chassis and 331-cu.in. Hemi V-8 drivetrain and slightly modify Exner’s original design, altering headlamp placement and fender shape. According to the auction description for this ST Special, Ladouch had four Chrysler New Yorker chassis bodied by Ghia, two of them to be sold in France and two in Italy.

As with the GS Special and the Special before it, Ladouch had Ghia body the ST Special on the Chrysler New Yorker chassis and 331-cu.in. Hemi V-8 drivetrain and slightly modify Exner’s original design, altering headlamp placement and fender shape. According to the auction description for this ST Special, Ladouch had four Chrysler New Yorker chassis bodied by Ghia, two of them to be sold in France and two in Italy. This particular ST Special, chassis number 7275388 (from which we can tell that it originated in Chrysler’s Detroit factory in the latter part of the model year), emerged from Ghia’s works painted black with a dark red roof and then reportedly went on display at the Paris Auto Show that October. One of the two sold in Italy, it was later painted gold in the 1960s and then green in the 1990s before a French collector bought it in 2005 and treated it to a mechanical refurbishment.