Ghia 450 SS

Sugar Daddy

There are so many wonderful stories about the collaboration between Chrysler and Ghia, which began in the early 1950s with the so-called ‘idea cars’. Then, in 1956, there was a second attempt, the Dual-Ghia, of which there were two series, neither of which sold particularly well; this is also where we first encounter a man named Paul Farago. And then there’s the Ghia 450 SS, whose creation followed a very similar pattern to the Dual-Ghia, just ten years later – and which suffered the same fate.

So there was Burton Roy Sugarman. He’s still quite a character today, now 86, married many times, preferably to actresses, and a TV and film producer. As a young man, he also raced cars – and apparently read Road & Track. On the cover of the March 1965 issue, he saw the Ghia 230 S (as a coupé), the model with which the Italians wanted to do business with Fiat for a successor to the Fiat 2300 Coupé. Sugarman, then 26, got on a plane, travelled to Turin, presented himself at Ghia – and expressed the perhaps somewhat peculiar wish to have a small series built. Ghia, never averse to a deal and quite experienced in how to rip off Americans, told the young man that he should first think about what technology he wanted to equip ‘his’ car with – and sent him home.

There, Sugarman first turned to John DeLorean, whom he knew from various parties and who had just been appointed head of Pontiac. But DeLorean waved him away and sent him to the competition, specifically to Bon Anders, then head of Plymouth. He knew the game, including the long history of Chrysler and Ghia, promised Sugarman engines and components for 100 vehicles, and immediately had a Plymouth Barracuda transported to Turin. He also made Paul Farago available to him, the man who had already played a decisive role in the Dual-Ghia project. Farago, born in Italy, a former racing driver and, like Sugarman, not averse to the finer things in life, first designed a new chassis, but otherwise took everything from the Barracuda, including the operating instructions, but above all the 4.5-litre V8 and the ToqueFlyte automatic transmission. The first vehicle was photographed in November 1965. Its shape was very similar to the Ghia 230 S (now a convertible) designed by Sergio Sartorelli, with Ghia’s new head of design, Giorgetto Giugiaro, changing a few details.

Sugarman now had his car, which he named the Ghia 450 SS. He had also organised distribution and rented a beautiful showroom in chic Beverly Hills. The car was first shown in Turin in November 1965 and then officially unveiled in Geneva in 1966, but a few models had already been flown to the USA by air freight. But Sugarman also had a few problems: with a list price of $11,800 (later even $13,200), the Ghia 450 SS was around four times as expensive as the Plymouth Barracuda, with which it shared its technology – for the same money, you could almost buy a Ferrari. And even though the ‘Italian Barracuda’, 4.57 metres long, 1.75 metres wide and (with hardtop) 1.25 metres high, looked pretty chic, it wasn’t really that sporty with its 1,300 kilos and just under 240 hp. Road & Track, to close the circle, criticised the indifferent steering.

And then it was just the way it was: the second half of the 1960s was the heyday of American muscle cars, with the really mean Corvette and Camaro, Chrysler’s magnificent Hemi and the much cheaper Mustang – the Ghia 450 SS looked old in comparison. After only 52, perhaps 57, examples, Sugarman pulled the plug; 37 of them are said to still exist today. The white vehicle above has the chassis number BS4049, will be auctioned online by Broad Arrow at the end of January 2026 and is estimated at 80,000 to 120,000 euros; The red vehicle below is BS4012 and will go under the hammer at Artcurial in Paris in 2026, with an estimated price of €100,000 to €130,000.