Gee thanks @Ryan for bringing yet another car to my attention that is unobtainable. Ha, ha. But in all seriousness love the car and the insight on Bill and Virgil. I do hope that you're able to release the rest of your interview with us in the future. I love this kind on stuff.
Amazing car. We talk about these men with reverence. I highly doubt there are any designers in Detroit that will reach that level again
It feels like an early AC Ace to me... which, of course, we all know as a Shelby Cobra with an underpowered motor. So much so, that I thought maybe John Toj (AC Ace designer) might have had something to do with Virgil's car. As it turns out, it's just a coincidence. Both cars were designed within weeks of each other... and Toj had nothing to do with Virgil's car. Both, however, seem influenced by early Ferraris and Alphas... and I guess that makes sense. But what's surprising to me is that I think Virgil's car is more graceful than an Ace or any Ferrari of the same period really. I mean... I love this thing. That being said, Virgil did design a Cobra that is.... uhhh... not my favorite... Introducing the 1965 Mercer Cobra that Virgil and his son did independently for the Copper Development Association:
Also... Lester told me that Virgil messed around with the 8V design for years after Ghia actually produced the body. "In his sketchbook, he possessed numerous iterations of the car, each progressively sleeker and more contemporary than the one before. He frequently engaged with Boano in Italy, sharing ideas, incorporating feedback, and constantly refining the design. He held onto that car concept with unwavering dedication. The last illustration I saw featured a lowered roofline, more graceful side contours, and outboard headlights - a mix between the original design, a Europa, and an SL." With those details, I tried my best AI skills to reproduce that last illustration and came up with this: This morning, I gotta response. "That's actually pretty good. Not too far off, but the trim is tacky."
Great article Ryan, glad you got to share 1 questions and snowier with us. I am sure I will spend an evening with google now. Thanks! BBC
The Ghia is a pretty car for sure, but I love Virgil Exner for his excessively space age designs of 1957-1961 the most. I really know nothing about the man, but I've always felt like his production car designs looked like they came right off of the sketchpad, without any "toning down" for the mass audience. Like the guy did one drawing, everyone looked once and said "Yup, make it just like that".
As a diehard Bill Mitchell guy, I always discounted Virgil's designs as either "designed by committee" because they didn't seem cohesive to me or over-the-top trendy and not at all timeless. After my conversation with Lester a few weeks ago and a whole bunch of studying, I realize how wrong my perspective was. Just because something doesn't hit my aesthetic spot doesn't mean it isn't perfect from the right perspective. That... and... man, I really love this design he did for Fiat. I'd kill to see the private sketchbooks of Virgil or Bill...
I like it. It really needed the wire wheels exposed, yes? When the full disc covers were used it lost a lot of it's GT character, like a background car in a low budget Euro mystery movie. Armchair quarterbacking is always easy and cheap, but I'd put the step in the side trim more forward. 1/3 the distance between the fender opening and the front edge of the door. Like I said, its' easy to opine after the fact as well as have the influences of decades after. While I always had a fondness for Exner's designs I think I stay in the Mitchell line. The one thing I always felt about his stuff, it took balls to put it out there. Some of them are almost heinous, which is right where the actual beauty lies. Sounds silly, I know, but is there anything as ugly as a 62 Dart? So ugly it's kool as all getout. My thoughts...
I don't know if it's ever been proven to be true, but I've heard that when the design folks at GM saw Exner's new for 1957 designs, they immediately scrapped their plans to facelift and re-use the 1958 designs for 1959, and pushed the design ideas for their 1960 models a year forward to what we all know now as the 1959 GM cars (which are also favorites of mine, even though I don't have one). If that is indeed true, that says volumes on Exner's influence not just at Chrysler, but on the entire US car industry. Sure, the '57 Chevy today is a design icon, I put 2600 miles on one this summer. But when they were new, Chevy lost out on it's "best selling" car title to Ford, and GM seems to have shifted their design plans hard afterward, whether entirely by Exner's influence or not. That's not to discount the work of Bill Mitchell (or Clare MacKichan, who I feel deserves a nod here), just an interesting thought to add to a conversation about these designers.
I don't see it... I don't think? My least favorite generation in Detroit is 59/60... But I think that's only because the wild became cliche in my own mind. I see a lot of the DB4 in this design... but the DB4 came almost 5 years later. As for Ferrari, I see a ton of it here... The Europa is obvious, but also the 195 and 212 Inter... Really any of those early road going Ferraris... and you gotta think they were the biggest influence. More than anything though, I see a whole lot of hints as to what was going to come out at Chrysler in the mid 1950's... just in a very subtle way...
I loves me some Exner designed cars…my ‘64 Chrysler is the last of the Exner designed forward look mopars, in all of its toned down glory. The glorious excess of the Forward look Chrysler products just speaks to me. Yeah I’ve been told I’m not right.
^^^ love that burgundy colored one. Suspect passenger door part open, sculpture side not match up over rear tire. Need lot more info on narrow angle 8v
Google it... I don't wanna cover mechanicals here and get called out by the dude's that get their beetles deleted... Bitchin' little all aluminum 2-liter V8.
No, door is not partially open, that's a design feature. Hard to tell, but the whole character line in bigger in the front area, takes a step down and has less "volume" in the rear ¼. Slick... Quick edit, and shagged from an image search. Not just slick, slick AF. Ok, it won't let me share open images so here ya go: https://www.google.com/search?clien...HYlWBuYQ0pQJegQICRAB&biw=339&bih=628&dpr=2.13
Yep, google got it for me. Have to say, step down to smaller character line after door & down ward slope spoils rear view for me. Many different body designs, some nice some not. Typical early 50s Italian design. No word on 70 degree 8v shake or balance.
There is/was an incredible amount of overlap in automotive design, but seeing an idea through to production is what makes the difference. Bill Mitchell was a huge fan of the Ferrari eggcrate grill too, as seen on the '55 Chevrolet, so Exner wasn't the only fan. Renwal's series of Revival (essentially neo-classic designs) model kits might be worth checking out for some, too: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/...ult-following/?do=findComment&comment=2463080 That "Mercer" looks familiar...
^ I remember one of my buddies bought one of those Renwal Stutz model cars. I liked it's looks but what did I know, I was a ten year old kid. As for Chrysler designers, I remember reading somewhere that the design chief prior to Exner demanded that there would be enough headroom inside the car for a man to wear a hat, which explained their awkward rooflines.
Side shot of the before mentioned body line I dig it. Pic from a FB page with the heading of “8 million” If so, someone really dug it.
Indeed. Love how headers reach out/up to exhaust through inner fender well - how else can you fit it in there? Bitchin' car.
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