Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
Celebrating the Art of Italian Coachbuilding
The 1956 Chrysler Norseman by Ghia.
The Chrysler Norseman was a four-seat fastback coupe built in 1956 as a concept car. Although designed by Chrysler’s stylists, actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Carrozzeria Ghia. The concept car was lost during the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria. The Chrysler Norseman was to be a featured attraction of Chrysler’s auto show exhibit for 1957 and was shipped from Turin by partner Carrozzeria Ghia to New York City in July 1956. The car was shipped on the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria, which was involved in a collision off the coast of Massachusetts and sank, with the loss of fifty-one lives and all cargo. The beautiful, one-of-a-kind automobile was a “fascinating casualty” of the sinking of the Andrea Doria. As a result, the car was never shown to the public and was never seen by most of the stylists who worked on it. It is known to automotive historians, however, through photographs and specifications. Chrysler never used the cantilevered roof design in any subsequent vehicle.
There are in the history of companies, just as in the history of nations, certain fateful episodes, which have an influence on the course of events well in excess of their actual importance. Chrysler’s request to Ghia to build for them, to their design, a special body on a Plymouth chassis, is one of these episodes.
The Chrysler Norseman, a concept car born in 1956 and never appeared in any car show; the unfortunate prototype we will talk about in this story, was in fact involved on July 26th 1956 in the tragic sinking of the Italian transatlantic Andrea Doria.
