Evaluation: One of nine built and five known to exist. Three showings at Pebble Beach over the years, first in 1995. The chrome is starting to show its age and there are a couple of paint chips behind the grille. There is a small chip at the back edge of the driver’s door also, but otherwise this car is without issue or excuse. Just an older concours restoration.
Bottom Line: American engineering underneath Italian style, it’s a combination that has produced some of the most memorable cars of the twentieth century. The fling between Chrysler in Detroit and Ghia in Turin in the 1950s was one of the most fruitful relationships of this type, and this was certainly evident in Scottsdale this year, where there were four of these Chrysler-Ghia collabs on offer between RM Sotheby’s and Bonhams. A couple of them were available at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction as well.
While not as distinctive as the one-off Dart 400 displayed next to it under the Bonhams tent, this aquamarine GS-1 is both prettier and cleaner, and they both sold for similar amounts, both strong numbers. It wouldn’t take much, relatively speaking, to get this car back to Pebble Beach ready, and ultimately that’s what the likely future is, since cars like this are more about art and design than they are about driving.
