Chrysler GS-1 Ghia

The Chrysler GS-1 was a limited-production coupé built by Ghia in Turin in 1954, combining Chrysler mechanical foundations with a body designed by Virgil Exner. Chrysler supplied the chassis and powertrain, while Ghia undertook the hand-built coachwork. The GS-1 belonged to a sequence of Chrysler-Ghia specials and was offered through the French Chrysler distribution network.

The collaboration developed through Exner’s work at Chrysler and his relationship with Luigi Segre at Ghia. Chrysler management, under K. T. Keller, had commissioned a succession of experimental and exhibition designs. The 1952 Chrysler Special associated with export executive C. B. Thomas preceded the small series of Ghia Specials, followed by the GS-1 in 1954 and the ST in 1955. These names describe successive stages of the programme, rather than interchangeable designations for one model year.

The GS-1 combined a substantial American mechanical package with a close-coupled coupé cabin and a lower, more tightly drawn body. Its design used restrained brightwork and a relatively compact glazed upper section above the long chassis. The underlying Chrysler New Yorker mechanical family included a V8 engine, but detailed equipment and later alterations require reference to the individual car. Exner’s responsibility for the design remained distinct from Ghia’s work constructing and finishing the body in Italy.

Completed cars were marketed through Société French Motors. Accounts of the wider programme describe ambitious plans for several hundred cars, followed by much smaller realised production. The frequently quoted totals concern more than one version and model year; they do not establish the number of GS-1s built in 1954. The same caution applies to a dollar price repeated in programme histories without a securely identified version, sales market or date.

Four distinct GS-1 chassis are documented: 7252367, 7252368, 7253351 and 7256662. Their ownership, concours appearances and later sale histories remain individual. A concours award attached to one of those cars does not describe the other three, nor does the existence of four documented chassis establish the final production total. The earlier 1953 date found in some descriptions belongs to the preceding Ghia Special phase. The GS-1’s place in the documented sequence is the 1954 model, before the subsequent ST programme.