Dual-Ghia is a rare, short-lived,

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

make, produced in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

between 1956 and 1958. The idea for a sporty limited production car came from Eugene Casaroll, who controlled specialized vehicle builder Dual-Motors Corporation based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

; the name Dual-Ghia is representative of the collaborative efforts between the builder and Carrozzeria Ghia.

Design

The design for a luxurious sports car was to be a modified version of the Ghia-built 1954 and 1955 Dodge-based concept cars known as the Firearrow I, II, III, IV and the nearly production-ready Firebomb; which had all been designed by Luigi Segre with some possible influence from Virgil Exner. With so many cars designed along the same theme, Chrysler may well have intended to produce the Firebomb and/or the

Chrysler Falcon The Chrysler Falcon is a two-seat roadster concept car commissioned by Chrysler and built by Carrozzeria Ghia for the 1955 model year. The car was never put into production, but some of its features reappeared on later Chrysler designs. Histor ...

as a response to the Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Corvette; for whatever reason neither made it to production. After gaining rights to the Firearrow/Firebomb design, Casaroll asked Ghia's U.S. representative (and eventual Dual-Motors VP) Paul Farago to further develop the Firebomb into a production-friendly vehicle. The series-produced design utilized an even greater number of standard production MoPar fittings, the (road-legal) Firebomb two headlamp configuration, incorporated modest tail fins and was somewhat more slab-sided and square-edged in comparison to the Firearrow/Firebomb series. While a four-place convertible was the only official body type at least one coupe was built. The "world's longest assembly line" involved transporting a Dodge frame and drivetrain to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where the bodywork and interior was fabricated by the coachbuilders at

Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Tu ...

; once the partially completed vehicles were back in the U.S. Dual-Motors handled the rest. Performance was excellent, due to the cars being powered by the Dodge hemispherical-head short-stroke V-8 engine. Not all were built with the 315 CID Dodge hemispherical head engine. Some 1957's were built with the Dodge D-500 dual quad carburetor. File:1957 Dual-Ghia D-500 in Red, front right.jpg, 1957 Dual-Ghia D-500 File:SC06 1958 Chrysler Dual-Ghia Coupe Prototype.jpg, 1958 Chrysler Dual-Ghia D-400 Coupe Prototype

Rarity

With a retail price close to $7,500 ($ in dollars ), the Dual-Ghia D-500 was about $200 more expensive than most American production luxury cars. It cost, for example, about $200 more than Cadillac's Eldorado Biarritz convertible. However, its price did not even come close to that of the ultra-luxurious 1956 Continental Mark II at $10,400, or the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham at $13,074, ($ in dollars ). Of the 117 cars produced, 32 still existed as of July 2006. The cars were mostly bought by American celebrities, such as Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. Desi Arnaz owned one, but he wrecked it. Dean Martin had one at one point as well, according to his son Ricci. Dean Martin can be seen driving his Dual-Ghia in the film ''

Kiss Me, Stupid ''Kiss Me, Stupid'' is a 1964 American sex comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder and starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the play ''L'ora della fantasia'' (' ...

''. Musician Rick Danko from 1958 owned one, which was auctioned by Sotheby's for close to $350,000 in 2015.

References

External links

* * * *{{cite web , title=1954 Dodge Firearrow Sport Coupe , first=Brooks , last=Brierly , date=December 15, 2005 , work=AutoWeek , url=http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051226/FREE/51214012/1027 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct companies based in Michigan Cars introduced in 1956

Design

Rarity

See also

References

External links