Among historic automotive alliances, that in the 1950s between Chrysler Corporation and Italian coachbuilder Ghia is among the most significant. In Chrysler, Ghia found a ready source of post-war work, that would use its creations for highly public displays all over the world—thus providing an important stream of both attention and American dollars to the firm’s coffers. In Ghia, Chrysler found a skilled shop that would add European elan to its products and happily carry out the dramatic styling whims of Virgil Exner and his team, at relatively low cost. It was a true win-win arrangement, and for much of the decade the Chrysler-Ghia dream cars were something that auto showgoers eagerly awaited with each new season.

The most influential of these cars was that offered here, the Chrysler Styling Special, styled by Exner, built by Ghia, and debuted at the 1952 Paris Motor Show. What it lacked in the grace of its nomenclature, it made up for in being a genuinely rakish automobile. The Styling Special looked nothing like a 1952 Chrysler, but rather like an upsized Fiat 8V, which was perhaps the intention. It incorporated modern slab-sided design with a relatively close-coupled but glassy greenhouse, tucked down between the round curves of the rear fenders; radiused front fenders; and a bold chrome trapezoidal grille/bumper combination. A rear-mounted spare was concealed in a drawer below the cargo floor. That it had a lean, crouching look compared to production MoPars was no coincidence; it was, in fact, built on a specially shortened chassis, of about 119 inches in wheelbase. Chrome wire wheels and wide whitewall tires were the finishing touches.

For Chrysler and Ghia, the Styling Special was a face that launched a thousand ships. It soon gave way to a convertible version, the K-310, and a near-duplicate of the Styling Special constructed for Chrysler export manager C.B. Thomas, known as the “Thomas Special,” built on a standard-length chassis for more interior room. The latter would in turn inspire a short run of Chrysler Specials, built to a similar design for customers of Chrysler’s French distributor and Ghia themselves, and then a modified version of the Special called the GS-1, also produced in small numbers for a largely European clientele. However, the original short-wheelbase Styling Special was and remained unique among this run, and, then as now, could be easily told apart from its brethren by its fastback roofline, shorter rear quarter windows, and push-button exterior door handles.

Color photographs survive of the car in-period, still finished in a light color with dark lower moldings and a now-absent Ghia crest at the center of its grille. It was at one point refinished in two-tone green, then later returned to the original colors and photographed wearing California “black plates.” Like several other Ghia dream cars, it appears to have had its drivetrain updated, probably at an early period, receiving a 1955 “hemi” V-8 which remains in place today.

At some point the Styling Special became part of the well-known Blackhawk Collection, in whose care it was refinished in the present two-tone green livery. Around the turn of the century, it was sold from their auspices to prominent collector Richard Scott of Sidney, Ohio, and then by Mr. Scott in 2006 to Michael Schudroff, who would occasionally exhibit the car at concours d’elegance before selling it to the present owner. The restoration has overall remained in good order, with some texturing visible to the paint but otherwise in solid and very attractive condition. Having been on display within the present collection for some time, it would benefit from careful sorting prior to extended use.

Today the Styling Special is offered with considerable pride, as a groundbreaking design whose influence has lasted well into the present day—most prominently serving as a source for the last generation of the Chrysler 300. It remains a genuinely one-of-a-kind Chrysler-Ghia dream car, capable of stirring the imagination.