The Ghia as it was originally built. Photos: Ford Archive

Another chapter is about to be opened in our newly formed Flashback Friday segment. Derived from great points in automotive history that surround the world of racing. We search for the unusual, the rare and the ultra cool pieces of history that are bound to pop up where you least expect it. This segment may just fall into the unusual category as did a lot of experimental cars that the auto industry built over the last 50 years  but this one is just a bit different as it was constructed outside the grasp of the big three.

Check out the Jalopy Journal for all sorts off odd yet cool cars.

The 1960’s was a great era for the car market as some of the most memorable hot rods built by Detroit auto makers like the Mustang, Camaro and a slew of Mopars. But in Italy was a American designer who was pushing the envelope with a experimental car that had a flare of influence of the styling from Corvettes. Tom Tjaarda was working his styling techniques out of the Turin, Italy Ghia studio and came up with this streamline like dragster that lurks beneath the fine Italian built body.

The engine configuration is unknown but we can tell that it was configured with the engine out front and the driver sits centered behind the rear axle. As with most cars that have the prestige of a one off experimental status they tend to disappear into a small collection somewhere. Usually they pop up on the auction block somewhere but as far as we know this one was in the Ford collection until 2002 when it was sold. As for its where abouts we are unsure but just maybe one day it will stroll across the stage at Barrett Jackson.