|
Carrozzeria Cousins..or, "Hey, haven't I
seen you before?"
Bespoke,
or custom, coachwork is not unique to Alfa 1900s, of course. Nor
was it a Fifties phenomenon. Since the first custom body was
created (maybe for Pharoah's chariots?), coachbuilders have applied features from one
job to another, sometimes over several years and makes. Below is a
sampling of some familiar Alfa 1900 shapes and some of the other
times we've seen that same "look". This list is just a
sampling.
|
| Unless
and until you see them together, you might have trouble discerning
the differences between Ghia Speciale *01742* and the similar
(Alfa) Abarth 2000. Seen together, though, the differences are much
more apparent. |
|
|
| The
familiar Savonuzzi Ghia shape was most-closely repeated on Ghia's
Jaguar XK-140. The roofline appeared on Ghia's Alfa Romeo, Fiat 8V
and Aston Martin Supersonicas, too. |
|
|
| I've
documented the Exner influence on Mario Boano and Ghia elsewhere,
but here again we clearly see "genetic" styling material
being applied contemporaneously to multiple makes. In addition to
several show Chrysler show cars, even Cadillac
got in on the action. The look survived all the way to the Dual-Ghias of Dual Motors, Inc. |
 |
|
| These two
Alfa 1900 Ghias are often confused. More than "cousins",
you might even call them "siblings". The SuperG is a 2-posti on
the 1900C chassis, while
the other, on the 1900L chassis, is a 4/5-posti. The
"America" designation was not official for the 1900L
version, but was
used as a caption on the earliest versions of this photo and helps
distinguish the two styles. |
 |
|
| Finally,
although not quite a "real" Alfa, the original Conrero-Alfa
1900 Ghia Supersonica also spawned similar bodies on other
chassis, most famously the Fiat 8V (Otto Vu). And I'm
pretty sure we can include the 1954 DeSoto Adventurer II show car
in this group, too. It certainly looks to have a heavy Savonuzzi
influence, even if that influence might be second- or third-hand. |
 |
|
