Crown Imperial Limousine by Ghia
Total Factory Produced = 7
One produced Post Factory by Ghia #3779 = 8 Total
VIN Number Sequence = M657100001 – M657101139
Chrysler made seven Imperial Limousines in 1959 and Ghia produced one post factory for King Suad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (See album #3779 below). They were subcontracted out to Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, Italy. The production was coordinated by Paul Farago, an Italo-American Chrysler Engineer who was a friend of both Virgil Exner and Luigi Segre (President of Ghia). The designs were created by Engineers in Detroit, all the custom body work was done by Ghia in Italy. Most of the Limousines had the 392 Hemi Engine instead of the 413 engine found in all other 59 Imperial Models (exception: the Sukarno Ghia Limo was made from a 1959 Crown Convertible 2 door with a 413 engine). It is believed that there were fifty 1957 Imperial Custom 2 Door Hardtops set aside for Ghia to make Limos for 1957, 1958 and 1959 but there were 74 made throughout those years (1957 = 36, 1958 = 31, 1959 = 7) leaving 24 to speculation as to what year and models were used. My hope is to find all seven 1959 Limos and identify what body styles and year chassis they were made from. I have found five of them, they are listed below.
Some famous people that owned Imperial Limousines, over the years, are Queen Elizabeth (1959), David Sarnoff of RCA, the novelist Pearl Buck, The King of Saudi Arabia, The Emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, Rafael Trujillo dictator of the Dominican Republic, Achmed Sukarno The first President of Indonesia (1959), Governor Pat Brown of California (1959), Governor Gerhard Mennen Williams of Michigan (1959) and Nelson Rockefeller (1959, 1960 and 1975).
There was a six month waiting list. Imperial Limousines were only built from 1957 through 1965 and only a few each year. The exception is, a few were built in 1972. Here’s an interesting side note, Out of the five Ghia Limo original owners that I’ve identified, I also have been able to find a picture of them next to JFK (See the below albums).
Virgil Exner (left) discussing the Chrysler K-310 with Luigi Segre (right)
Giovanni Savonuzzi (left) Paul Farago (right) discussing Chrysler Turbine car.
Assorted Ghia Limousine Picture
#131 New York Governor Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
Nelson Rockefeller born 7/8/1908 – Died 1/26/1979 was a Businessman, Philanthropist, Public Servant and Politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. The Car resides at the Kykuit’s Coach Barn at the Rockefeller Estate in Pocantico, New York. I spoke with the current museum’s curator Cynthia Caltman on 6/6/18 and I hope to get more information and pictures of the data plate, VIN tag, dash and rear of the car shortly. Katrina London from the museum sent me some great photos of the Limo on 7/11/18 including the 1960 Limo Rockefeller owned. Talked to the Curator of the museum and she will be sending a picture of the data plate and rear of the car soon 8/3/18. Received the pictures from Katrina on 8/21/18 and I’m in the process of decoding the data plate. You can view the results of the decoding of the data plate in the Rockefeller album below.
Owned by the Rockefeller family. The car is located in the Kykuit’s Coach Barn at the Rockefeller Estate in Pocantico Hills, New York.
Color – Formal Black
M657100131
#134 The California Governor Pat Brown Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
Originally owned by California Governor Pat Brown Father of Governor Jerry Brown. I reached out to Gov Jerry Brown on 5/28/18 via his web site asking to confirm his Dad owned the car and asked for any information he may have. I’m still awaiting a reply. At some point it was sold to Joe Bortz of the Bortz auto Collection. It received an award at the 1992 Gilmore Museum Circa. It was purchased in early 1993 by William H. Lauer. William and Robert McAtee showed the car at the California Imperial Meet that Spring in Paso Robles where it won Best in Show. It also trophied at the Desert Concours that May in Palm Springs. Later that year it was driven to Durango Colorado where it was one of the featured autos in the Grand Motorcar Collection Museum. It was sold in the year 2000 to the Atwell Collection in Kerrville, Texas. Mr. Atwell Sr had passed away but his son Richard Atwell still retains the car in the Private Atwell Auto Collection. The car has a 392 Hemi. The front driver seat is fixed, so if you were taller than six feet, it was uncomfortable to drive, and a tall person to get into the back was a bit of a twist. This according to former co-owner Robert McAtee, who also said, the car was well equipped with options like A/C, powered windows, powered antenna, division window, radio, heater, defroster, powered steering, power brakes, cruise control, etc., and drove and handled well.
Owned by Richard Atwell in the private Atwell Auto Collection in Kerrville, Texas
Color A – Formal Black
M657100134
#136 The Queen Elizabeth of England Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
In 1959 The big three American car manufactures were contracted to provide a Limousine for The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, to be used in her 1959 Tour of Canada. General Motors provided a Cadillac Limousine, Ford a Lincoln Limousine and Chrysler an Imperial Ghia Limousine. The three Limos were rotated for use during the tour of Canada.
The Imperial Ghia Limousine had three rear seating roof options. One was open air (roof removed) or a bubble dome, or with an optional snap on vinyl cover over the bubble dome providing some shade and privacy. The original vinyl cover was silver with no windows but the photos show a black snap on cover that has windows. All three versions are shown in the below album of the car (except the original silver snap on vinyl cover) . The Cadillac and Lincoln are shown, in the below album, as well as the transport plane used to fly them to Canada. The tour of Canada and parts of the US was a fifteen thousand mile 45 day tour.
According to a phone conversation I had with Kevin McCabe Vice President of the WPC Club Inc. Great Lakes Division on 6/5/2018, the car was sold after the Queen’s tour to a Jewelry Store owner Mel Lastman in Toronto Canada. The Jewelry store had an offer that if you bought an engagement ring from them you could use the Limo at the wedding. The car was kept outside so the Plexiglas bubble deteriorated rapidly. After some time the leaky roof did damage to the interior and the car was taken to a local trim shop. The trim shop was asked to redo the interior with inexpensive materials and the trim shop refused to do anything outside of restoring the car to original condition. This was do to the fact that they were Italian craftsman and after disassembling some of the interior and finding signatures of other Italian craftsman from Ghia in Italy, they realized how special the car was and could not ruin it by doing a cheap job. About this time the owner Mel Lastman had lost interest in the car and sold it to the trim shop. The person they sold it to got too far over his head with restoration costs and The Guild restoration shop was brought in to finish the job. From there it somehow ended up in a private collection in Kuwait. I don’t know that story yet, but have tried contacting the owner of The Guild David Grainger several times. Season one episode nine of Restoration Garage features a quick scene of the Queen’s limo in the museum in Kuwait. Here is the link. Copy and paste it to your web browser. The scene is at 31:37 into the episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mmrNybeG0M
Kevin McCabe also told me that they made two bubble top Ghia Limousines and one went to Chrysler in Manhattan in New York and the other was the Queen’s touring car. The Manhattan car was lost as far as he recalls, hopefully not. The bubble tops were made with a process called Slush Molding. Kevin states that Chrysler paid Ghia in Italy $11,000.00 to build the cars and $13,000.00 to an American based company to do the Custom Bubble tops. Kevin informed me that Chrysler set aside fifty 1957 Imperial Crown 2 Door Hardtops to be made into the Ghia Limousines for 1957, 1958 and 1959. The President Sukarno Ghia Limousine was made from a 1959 Crown Convertible and was stretched and changed from a 2 door to a 4 door.
Ironically, I had called Kevin to get info on the WPC Club’s President Susan Simonson’s Imperial Ghia Limousine and he told me he had written an interview with Paul Farago the Chrysler liaison to Ghia several years ago. What a wealth of knowledge, and what a small world.
Here is an article from Classic Car Magazine on the Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
1959 Chrysler Imperial – Royal Tour Vehicle
The big three auto makers supplied the Canadian government with three limousines as a gift for Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Canadian Tour.
The Imperial’s rear seats were tailor-made for the Queen and her husband. Each of the three cars had a royal plaque and had anchors on the leading edge of the roof for the royal standard. During the tour each of the three cars was air-lifted by the RCAF. Each car was used on a rotation basis.
Brief History of Ghia Imperial Limousines
In the mid-1950’s Chrysler was looking to break into the Cadillac dominated limousine market. In 1956 a financial study was done by Chrysler to see the economic viability of constructing such an Imperial model. It was concluded that to produce the limousine in-house was not cost effective, so they began to look at other options such as having an outside firm produce the car. They found the answer with the partnership between Chrysler and Ghia of Italy. Ghia could produce the cars at a fraction of the tooling costs. Therefore in November 1956 Chrysler placed its first order for 25 Imperial Limousines.
The Chrysler Imperial Limousine started off as a standard 2-door Imperial hardtop on a 129 inch convertible chassis. The convertible chassis was used due to its additional X-member for strength. The roof was then removed and the floor pan was cut into two pieces and extended 20.5 inches. The modifications were extensive to produce such a large car. Longer propeller shaft and fuel, brake, and exhaust lines also had to be fitted. The rear quarter panels were reworked to fit the new roof and rear door. Roof rails, panel, and canopy were then formed and installed, along with sedan center pillars which were sent with the vehicle. Extensive modification and fabrication had to be done to the interior as well, such as rear air and heat ducts that had to be run along the roof of the car. In addition, all trim including door panels, partition structure, seats, armrests, shelf panel, and other parts were fabricated.
This particular limo was built in 1957, and modified for the 1959 Tour.
Information on car:
Serial #: M657100136
Weight: 5960 pounds
Quantity: One of only seven Ghia Limousines built in 1959.
Paint: Black
Interior: Gray
Engine: V8, 392 Hemi
Doors: Four
Additional Features:
Removable dome rear Window
Rear air and heat ducts and controls Royal plaque Very rare
Built for Queen Elizabeth of England for her 1959 tour of Canada.
Currently resides in a private collection in Kuwait
Color A – Formal Black
M657100136
#569 The Michigan Governor Gerhard Meenen Williams Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
Governor Gerhard Mennen Soapy Williams was Governor of Michigan from 1949 – 1961 and Ambassador to the Philippines from 1968 – 1969. He was born 2/23/11 and died 2/2/1988. Gerhard’s Grandfather was the founder of Mennen Men’s personal care products.
I found this Limo while looking at the WPC Great Lakes Division Car club. The car is owned by Susan and Wayne Simonson of Great Lakes, Michigan. I also contacted Kevin McCabe through the WPC car club. Kevin has given me a bunch of great information on the Queen Elizabeth Ghia Limousine and is a wealth of knowledge in Mopar history. In an e-mail conversation with Kevin on 8/15/18 he said he has not seen the car in person but knows that it needs a fair amount of work. I was contacted via email by the owner Susan Simonson and she explained who the original owners was, Governor G. Mennen Williams of Michigan. Her and her husband Wayne have been gathering parts to fix it. It has no divider window, as people who remember this car when it came to the Chelsea Proving Ground for maintenance, said he wanted to be able to talk to his driver.
I hope to get more pictures, the data plate info, and some history of the car this fall when Susan is not so busy with the WPC car club obligations.
Owned by Susan and Wayne Simonson in Great Lakes, Michigan
Color A – Formal Black
M657100569
#3779 The Achmed Sukarno 1st President of Indonesia Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine
This Limo was a gift from King Suad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to Achmed Sukarno the first President of Indonesia. This is a Post Factory Ghia Limousine, making it the 8th 1959 Ghia Limousine. The car was made form a 1959 Crown 2 Door Convertible with a 413 engine, and converted to be a Ghia 4 Door Convertible Limousine by Ghia of Italy. This is the only known Ghia Limousine made from an actual 1959 Imperial. The car was auctioned off in 1988 to current owner Hartawan Setjodiningrat (Hauwke) and became part of the Hauwke’s Auto Gallery in Cipete, South Jakarta when it opened in 2008 and is where it is today. Here is a link to Hauwke’s web site.
https://www.hauwkeautogallery.com/
A few fun facts:
1 – Notice the pull out running boards and outside handles for security personnel to ride in the event of an emergency.
2 – Their are a couple of pictures in the below album of President Sukarno with JFK, Joan Crawford and the Sukarno family with Hauwke.
3 – President Kusno Sosrodihadjo Sukarno was born 6/6/01 and died 6/21/70. He was The first President of Indonesia from 1945 – 1967.
4 – This is one of the only Ghia limousines with a refrigerator.
5 – The only known Ghia Limousine made from a 1959 Crown 2 Door Convertible converted into a 4 Door Limousine.
6 – The car originally had fins with 1956 type brake lights on top of them, President Sukarno had the fins cut off and modified to have 1959 tail lights placed lower on the quarter panel.
I spoke with Hauwke’s Son Laurent on 6/6/18 and he will be forwarding my contact information to his Dad. Hopefully I will be able to get more history of the car and better pictures in the near future. There is a 13 hour time difference between South Jakarta and Northern California so it was fun calling a day ahead on the other side of the planet.
I just e-mailed Laurent to check if he was effected by the Indonesian earthquake. He said they were Ok and sent me some great pictures of the Limo and the data plate on 8/8/2018. Thanks Laurent, glad to hear you are all OK.
Owned by Hartawan (Hauwke) Setjodiningrat. The car resides in the Hauwke’s Auto Gallery in Cipete, South Jakarta
Is the only known Crown Imperial Ghia limousine that was made from a 1959 Imperial Crown Convertible. All others were made from a 1957 Custom 2 Door Hardtop.
This was a gift from King Suad Bin Abdueziz Al Suad of Saudi Arabia to President Sukarno of Indonesia
Color – Factory color was X – Ivory White, possibly changed to Deep Ruby or Burgundy by Ghia during conversion to a Limousine
M637103779
2018-04-25C Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine (Photo)
Pictures found on Google. Photographer has no information on the picture
Color A – Formal Black
Custom built model of Ghia Limousine
Made from a regular car model some unbelievable work done here
Lead to another Ghia Limousine
Member Don Schwanke knew of the man that founded M. Katch amp Co. Inc in Topeka, Kansas decades ago. Mr Katch was known not for driving but had a chauffeur driven 1959 Imperial Limousine. I called that company on 4/26/21 and the girl that answered the phone said, the company was bought out a few years ago and they fired everyone that originally worked there. She did say some relatives of the owner may still be in the area and would forward my information to anyone that may know something. I reached out to a woman on Facebook that may be a granddaughter to him that now lives in Ohio, but nothing yet. If anyone lives near Topeka, Kansas and can find a relative or someone that worked there, please ask questions about the Limousine. Any new information would be great.
Their still could be three 1959 Imperial Limousines out there waiting to be found.
2018-05-30C Crown Imperial Ghia Limousine (Rough condition)
Pictures found on The Forward Look Network web page
