Barchetta -- A certain former Marine Corps jet pilot Ford executive drew Barchetta's concept on a napkin. Ghia built it on a Fiesta XR2 platform. Filippo Sapino later said, "'Marketing' killed the car. It was cost-based, then they wanted to base it on a Mazda 323, then bigger, then more luggage space ... the concept was betrayed...."

Lagonda Vignale -- Ghia acquired Alfredo Vignale's coachworks in 1969 and employed the name on this 1993 concept for a "lifetime car" to be built by Aston Martin. The exterior is impressive, but the interior is even more so, a gentleman's club on wheels.

Mach III -- A 1993 speedster show car, Mustang Mach III had a 450hp supercharged 4.6 liter modular V-8 and hints of the redesigned Mustang that would debut in 1994 while still being unique and very "Mustang".

Microsport -- "City Cars" were an important segment for exploration in the early Eighties when congestion and fuel economy were hot topics. Ghia built many, mostly in aluminum over lightweight tubing frameworks. One of the smallest was Microsport, nearly able to fit on a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

Saetta -- Ghia's PR says "saetta" means "fast as lightning," a term not found in Italian dictionaries. Its "New Edge" styling with jagged edges and juxtaposition of silver, matte grey and electric blue both outside and inside conveys the excitement of a thunderstorm.

Selene II -- Designed by Virgil Exner, Jr., Selene II is right out of "The Jetsons" even though Hanna-Barbera hadn't come up with the cartoon yet. How the driver reaches his seat over the front wheels is something of a mystery and it doesn't run, but it doesn't need to.

A.C. Ghia -- Built on the mechanical package of the clunky A.C. ME3000, the mid-engined A.C. Ghia is one of those, "If they'd built it ..." cars. Ghia also stretched the ME3000 and made Quicksilver, a 4-door, 4-seat mid-engined sedan that actually looks good.

IXG -- Designed by Tom Tjaarda -- was to set <1000cc drag racing records and incorporated undercar aerodynamics several years before Jim Hall and the Chaparral team brought them to Can-Am.

Christie's to Auction 27 Ghia Show and Concept Cars on June 16

June 4, 2002
by Rick Carey

Click on images for larger images.

Since the Sixties Ford has used Ghia, first as a contractor and later as a subsidiary, to construct concept and show cars. Ghia's cadre of calderai, the historic metalsmiths of the Turin area, were skilled not only at creating coachwork but also at the arcane task of building operating prototypes. For years Ford cycled young designers through Ghia to see how it's done and develop their talents. But Ford has recently shrunk the Torinese coachbuilder to a skeleton crew of administrators and a few designers. There will be no more Ghia-built concepts.

Fortunately for car lovers, J Mays, Ford's v.p. of Design, has the perception to prevent destruction of Ghia's legacy - and the corporate clout to implement it - and Ford will sell twenty-seven Ghia concepts along with twenty-four from Ford's Dearborn Design Center at a no-reserve auction on Father's Day, June 16, at the Dearborn Design Center with the net proceeds going to charity. The auction kicks off a year-long series of events celebrating Ford's Centennial.

I was fortunate enough to get a preview. Actually, I got more than a preview. I spent three days in Plymouth, Michigan last month while the catalog photos were being taken, then wrote the whole dang catalog - fifty-one concepts and eleven pieces of automobilia.

Ford and Christie's are at great pains to point out that these aren't "cars." They're objects. No chassis numbers. Long disclaimers. Elaborate waivers from bidders and buyers. None of the concepts were intended to be driven except onto and off the occasional show stand, if at all. Got that? Now, should someone buy one and try to drive it and the chassis breaks in half (which they very probably would) it's not Ford's fault, nor Christie's, nor mine.

Among the consignments are, however, some of the most wonderful, artful, delightful concepts ever assembled on four wheels.

Virgil Exner, Jr.'s Selene II, a futuristic teardrop-shaped impracticality that could have been created for "The Jetsons." Tom Tjaarda's IXG, a diminutive envelope-bodied dragster that ended up to be too small even for the 948cc Innocenti (i.e., Austin-Healey Sprite) engine it was supposed to run. Eight proposals for "city cars", some of them small enough to fit on top of a 4x8 sheet of plywood, powered by such exotica as a 250cc Vespa power wheel (the engine's in the middle of the drive wheel.)

There are some future Pebble Beach contenders. Things that are just so way cool we should all go out and buy a new Focus just to say "Thank you" to J Mays and Ford for not letting them be crushed. The A.C. Ghia, a 1982 proposal on A.C.'s ME3000 mid-engine chassis, and Quicksilver, a 4-door sedan on the same platform. Saetta, a mid-engined roadster liveried in angular chunks of Dark Grey, Silver and Electric Blue, looking like the lightning storm it's named after. Zig and Zag, a pair of concepts sharing a common chassis and lower body structure, one a roadster and the other a small van. Barchetta, an early Eighties roadster created at the behest of the then-head of Ford Europe, a former Marine Corps fighter pilot known for his "product" insights.

There is the Lagonda Vignale 4-door sedan. But the absolute pinnacle, at least in this observer's view, is Focus. Designed by Taru Lahti, it's based on an Escort RS Cosworth all-wheel-drive chassis (but it's not a "car") and is one of a select few automobile designs that transcends its four wheeled origin to become sculpture. Focus is sculpture in the same vein as the best work of Jean Bugatti, Joseph Figoni and Franco Scaglione.

Among the Ford concepts are one of two remaining prototypes of the 2002 Thunderbird (Ford is keeping the other one), the Mustang Mach III speedster, the Powerforce F-150 pickup and four Probes (I, two IVs and V.)

J Mays and Ford are making a stretch to place these concepts in the hands of collectors rather than taking the safe path of putting them through the crusher to be lost forever. It's a stand-up move, preserving important history of both Ford and Ghia.

Zig and Zag -- Opposite ends of a spectrum of designs based not only on a common platform but also a common lower body. Filippo Sapino, former Managing Director of Ghia, said, "Tom Scott in Ford Advanced Design developed the concept, then we developed the shape [at Ghia to achieve a low cost] expansion of the model range."

Focus -- The epitome of iconoclastic design, Focus featured organic materials and shapes from primordial ooze. The seats are covered in saddle cowhide. The dash trim, console and rear deck accent is hand-worked steel, still with the hammer marks of Ghia's artisans on it, grained with sandpaper and clear coated. The instruments live in similarly-treated steel nacelles, their connections bound in spiral wire. The shift lever resembles an old grape vine. Focus is living sculpture. Its platform, an all-wheel drive Escort RS Cosworth Turbo, lends life of its own.