A brief pleasure
The Carrozzeria Ghia, founded by Giacinto Ghia in Turin probably in 1916, is certainly one of the big names among Italian design studios. And Ghia has a great, but also very eventful, sometimes tragic history behind it. In the early years, the Turin-based company was a small, high-end manufacturer, creating beautiful clothes for the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500, but it was the sports coupé based on the Fiat 508 Balilla that really made it famous. In 1944, the company’s founder died of a heart attack while inspecting the ruins of his bombed factory. Mario Boano and Giorgio Alberti took over, and Luigi Segre joined them as managing director in 1951. Segre and Boano soon fell out over the direction of the company. Boano left, Segre took over, brought Pietro Frua into the company in 1957, then threw Frua out again – and when he died in 1963, he left behind a mess. In 1965 Ramfis Trujillo, son of the former dictator of the Dominican Republic, bought the company, then in 1967 Alejandro de Tomaso took it over, and finally in 1970 Ford.
As chaotic as it looks, it was probably just as chaotic in reality. Nevertheless, some of the most famous designers worked for and with Ghia, including Giovanni Savonuzzi, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Tom Tjaarda, in addition to Segre and Frua. And some famous vehicles came from this company, the Supersonic for example, the Dauphine and the Caravelle by Renault, but of course also the VW Karmann Ghia and those US-Italian ‘hybrids’, where Ghia was even in the brand name, the Dual Ghia and its successor, the Ghia L6.4.
Of all the creative minds at Ghia, Giovanni Savonuzzi was probably the wildest. Born in Ferrara in 1911, Savonuzzi studied in Turin and initially worked for Fiat’s aeronautical division. This may explain his penchant for aerodynamics. He joined Cisitalia as technical director after the war, and took up the same position at Carrozzeria Ghia in 1953 – where he created some extraordinary designs, including the aforementioned ‘Supersonic’ and the even more extreme ‘Gilda’ (we will tell you more about this car at some point) and various Alfa Romeo 1900s. It was at Ghia that he also came into contact with Chrysler, and in 1957 he crossed the pond to work on the Americans’ turbine programme, among other things. He remained in the USA until 1969. Savonuzzi then worked as head of the development department for Fiat until 1977.
At Ghia, a long series of the Alfa ‘Millenove’ was created (an overview can be found here), the best known of which are certainly the ‘Supergioiello’. But Giovanni Savonuzzi was also allowed to let off steam – but not everything seems to have been a real success. Probably eleven of the 1900s wore Savonuzzi dresses, ten on the short wheelbase, the vehicle here, AR1900L 01089, on the long wheelbase. Originally blue, the Alfa was delivered to a customer in New York, the rest of its history is unknown. Last summer, it was auctioned by RM Sotheby’s in Monterey for $184,800. Now it has to leave again, RM Sotheby’s, Miami 2025, estimated price $200,000–$250,000. Incidentally, it hasn’t been driven a metre.
You can find more beautiful vehicles in our archive.
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