Concept Car of the Week: Ghia Streamline X 'Gilda' (1955)

In 1954 Virgil Exner, director of styling at Chrysler, created a scale clay-model to communicate to his team his vision of futuristic and aerodynamic shapes. The sculpture was then painted black and was left on display in Exner's Office. There it caught the eye of Luigi Segre, director of Ghia who expressed his intentions to create a car inspired by the forms of the model. He took a few pictures, brought them back to Italy and handed them over to Giovanni Savonuzzi, engineer and chief stylist at Ghia.

Nicknamed 'Gilda' after the 1946 movie starring Rita Hayworth, the 1955 Ghia Streamline X was not quite as curvy as the actress but definitely had a similar level of appeal.

Strongly influenced by jet airplanes, the Streamline X was shaped like a missile, with a pointy nosecone, extravert tail fins, boomerang tail lights and semi-covered wheels tucked under the body.

The wings were not there solely for dramatic effect, they were purposeful aerodynamic aids, rigorously tested on a scale model in the Turin Polytechnic wind tunnel. Gilda's pointy fins are often referred to as the ones that started the tailfin wars in the late fifties, inspired not only Chrysler's brands but also General Motors, with Cadillac leading the pack.

The color scheme was as remarkable as the design. The silver body was covered by an orange stripe on the bonnet running along the cabin and on top of the rear engine cover. Finally the lower half was painted dark prussian blue which not only made the car visually thinner, it also appears to be hovering above the ground.

Just like the designers, its engineers were also very keen to apply aircraft technology to cars and believed that gas turbines could slowly replace internal combustion engines. Although the car was designed with a large exhaust at the rear, the engine bay remained sadly empty for the biggest part of its life. It eventually landed in the Henry Ford Museum, then went for sale on auction in 2005 when it was purchased by renowned Pebble Beach judge and Mercedes restorer Scott Grundfor.

He had the car fully restored following Ghia's initial blueprints. This included installation of a AIRresearch turbine which the rear end was distinctively styled for. Despite all the noise, the unit produces just 70bhp and idles at 54,000rpm.

"In my mind Gilda seemed unfinished," says Grundfor. "She was a beautiful three-dimensional sculpture but lacked the animation that could only be created with sound and motion."

Since the restoration, Gilda is back under the spotlights, showing off her fancy fins between Pebble Beach, Villa d'Este and more recently at the Dream Cars exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

First seen 1955 Turin Motor Show
Designer Giovanni Savonuzzi
Engine AIRresearch gas turbine
Power 70 bhp

Your author, Flavien Dachet, is a UK-based, French-born car designer. You may know him as the purveyor of KarzNshit, a photo blog that if isn't already in your bookmarks, certainly should be.

By Flavien Dachet