Wednesday, March 29, 2023

One-off Rita Hayworth's Cadillac Ghia Coupe of 1953

Gorgeous ONES Cross-oceanic automotive industry collaborations, especially between America and Italy, are known to have produced many beautiful automotive works. For example, the collaboration between Ford' power with De Tomaso' style from 1960, and many others.
The 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured the Petersen Automotive Museum's owned model) once owned by an American famous actrees, Rita Hayworth. (Picture from: StreetMuscleMag)
Besides that, many of them were initially just "trial and error," as can be seen in the figure of the Chrysler TC which is known as the result of a collaboration between Chrysler and Maserati which was carried out by Pininfarina stylists based on the Cadillac Allanté.
1953 Cadillac Series 62 by Ghia (in pictured the Petersen Automotive Museum's owned model) posed along with 1966 Ghia 450/SS Convertible (on the left), and 1961 Dual-Ghia 325 during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2002. (Picture from: ConceptCarz)
However, long before that, there was a beautiful creation of rebodying American car done by the skilled hands of Italian carrozzerie. And, it must be admit, the end result is the most beautiful vehicle of any that has ever been created. Here is a 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia.
Front three-quartered view of the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured model with VIN: 536253053). (Picture from: OtoBlitz)
It is known that Carrozzeria Ghia is a well-known Italian coachbuilder based in Turin who has built various car models for famous car brands in Europe, ranging from Alfa Romeo, Fiat to Lancia, and many others. However, not only European car brands, Ghia also built many American marques, and one of them was these Cadillac Series 62 Coupe in 1953, of which only two units were built.
Both the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured the Petersen Automotive Museum's owned model) is powered by a 331 cubic inch OHV V8 engine capable of producing around 210 bhp of power. (Picture from: StreetMuscleMag)
As quoted from Otoblitz, these two car models are still in existence today, and one of the units has been displayed in the Petersen Automotive Museum which is said, once owned by Rita Hayworth, a famous American actress, while the other one, once owned by John Perona, the owner of El Morocco, the famous Manhattan nightclub, who is also known as a long time customer of Ghia.
Both the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured model with VIN: 536253053) built based on the 3rd generation Cadillac Series 62 chassis with a wheelbase of 126-inches was introduced for the 1948 model year. (Picture from: OtoBlitz)
Even though Ghia only built two units of this car, both of them have different front-end designs, so if you own this car you will certainly never find the same car while on driving on the streets. Not only that, you also won't find the same cars like this in the garages of another classic car collectors. Let's see the details as follows;
The interior view of the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured the Petersen Automotive Museum's owned model). (Picture from: StreetMuscleMag)
As we already know that these two beautiful coupes are built on the 3rd generation Cadillac Series 62 chassis with a wheelbase of 126-inches, and both powered by a 331 cubic inch OHV V8 engine capable of producing around 210 bhp of power. Those engine is mated to a GM Hydra-Matic four-speed automatic transmission. Originally these two cars painted in different colors, where one finished on blue-white, while other in elegant maroon.
The 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured model with VIN: 536253053) has been sold for around $1,430,000 or equivalent to Rp.20,020 billions at an auction event held by RM Sotheby's in Scottsdale, Arizona back in the 2016. (Picture from: OtoBlitz)
As quoted from StreetMuscleMag, one of the cars now resides in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, it was originally finished in blue-white and was changed to the current color (maroon) to better exemplify the Ghia' body lines. Besides that the unit has parking lights, a slightly different styles of front-rear bumpers, along with rear fenders treatment and more of an egg-crate-designed grille compared than another one.
Rear three-quartered view of the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia (in pictured the Petersen Automotive Museum's owned model). (Picture from: StreetMuscleMag)
Then the Cadillac Series 62 has been fully restored by Mike Fennel Restoration, a Santa Clarita, California based autoworkshop and had attended in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance car expo in 1989 and 2002. 
The gorgeous second unit of the Cadillac Series 62 was auctioned was in 2016 at an auction event held by RM Sotheby's in Scottsdale, Arizona, which at the time reportedly sold for around $1,430,000 or equivalent to Rp.20,020 billions

That, decent price for a car as beautiful as this. However, this is not the only beautiful car produced by the American-Italian collaboration, here is one more that you may not have seen before, the 1955 Hudson Italia Coupe by Carrozzeria Touring... *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CONCEPTCARZ | SPORTSCARMARKET | RMSOTHEBYS | TOPSPEED | STREETMUSCLEMAG | ]
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