Chrysler Diablo Concept

Cars

It’s a while since we ran a Jetsons inspired American land-yacht.

Here’s one of the best.

The Chrysler Diablo is the result of an unholy match between Detroit and styling house Ghia – via the famous penmanship of designer Virgil Exner who moulded a Dodge Dart body into an altogether more spectacular shape redolent of the Sputnik obsessed late 1950s.

Of course, there would have been the torque flight transmission (sounding vaguely space-ship like) that was so important to the Chrysler corporation at the time – and of course the requisite burly Hemi under the hood – and a wealth of aspirational expectations in any consumer willing to take the plunge into Diablo ownership.

chrysler_diablo_concept_car_1
The design was pure Virgil Exner craftsmanship with the coachwork performed by the legendary craftsman at Carrozzeria Ghia. Interestingly, the drag coefficient of 0.17 was even lower than the super slippery BAT concept cars produced by Bertone for Alfa at the time. The BAT concepts were also way out there in the futurist stakes – but not nearly as practical as the Diablo, which had a far greater chance of making into full production.

We think it’s be lovely if the future was reintroduced into production car design…



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