The Ghia 450SS was the brainchild of Hollywood producer Burt Sugarman (producer of such noteworthy movies such as Children of a Lesser God and television shows that included The Newlywed Game ).

Sugarman had seen a Fiat-based Ghia GT on the 1960 European show circuit and encouraged the coachbuilder to create a production model.

Ghia had its promising young designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro, conceive a curvaceous steel body, however Sugarman being American had a fairly fixed view of the car's mechanical aspects.

The semi-monocoque body was mounted on steel-tube underpinnings and Plymouth Barracuda suspension, whilst under the bonnet was Chrysler’s venerable 273-cid, small-block ‘Commando’ V-8 with a Carter AFB four-barrel carburettor, delivering power to a TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

Introduced at the 1966 Turin show, the 450 SS had a lofty price tag of $13,000 and was retailed only through a single Beverly Hills dealership, limiting sales a bit, however, 57 did find homes and ap...