Gone but not forgotten: concept cars that met a sorry end | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

Very sadly however, the world’s only Probe I prototype didn’t make it very far from its temporary Pebble Beach venue. The vehicle trailer in which it was travelling caught fire, with the flames very quickly engulfing (and destroying) the unique Ghia-built Ford, meaning that the Probe I now no longer exists, although hopefully it will be recreated again at some future point.   

The loss of the Ford Probe I isn’t the first time a one-off concept prototype has disappeared or been destroyed, as the latter was surprisingly common practice in the 1950s and ‘60s once the vehicles had served their purpose on the motor show turn tables (similarly as with Enzo Ferrari’s orders to mercilessly crush some of his competitor cars once their racing careers were over). Here below is a trio of unique concept cars that ‘disappeared’ in strange and unfortunate circumstances.

1979 Ford Probe I by Ghia

As its title suggests, the Probe I was the first of ultimately five experimental Ford ‘show car’ prototypes that it designed and presented to the public to showcase its thinking with aerodynamic form over a decade or so. Commissioned by Ford from its Ghia design studio in Turin as a mockup prototype, to be presented as a non-runner at the 1979 IAA Frankfurt Show, by the Geneva Salon just six months later the Ford Probe I was a running concept car.

Created under Donald F. Kopka – Ford’s then new North American head of design – the sleek Probe I coupé boasted an aerodynamic Cd 0.25, with each subsequent Ford Probe concept also revealing an impressively low drag coefficient: Cd 0.30 for the five-door, two-box saloon Probe II of 1980, the 1981 Ford Sierra-anticipating Probe III a slippery Cd 0.22, the 1983 Probe IV an even smoother Cd 0.15, and the Probe V prototype of 1985-89 setting a record low Cd 0.137 coefficient of drag.

First revealed at Frankfurt with light silver metallic coachwork, the Probe I was repainted in red for the 1980 Geneva Salon, the colour it remained until it was ravaged by fire last month.

1970 BMW 2002 Garmisch by Bertone

One of the unexpected stars of the dedicated Marcello Gandini class at this year’s Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ concours as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, the Bertone BMW Garmisch was a Gandini-styled one-off show car prototype. It made its public debut at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, and was then planned to ‘do the rounds’ of the major European motor show circus for the remainder of 1970 and 1971, but the unique BMW Garmisch was never given the chance.

Bertone’s one and only Garmisch prototype mysteriously ‘vanished’ directly from outside of the Geneva exhibition centre while it was awaiting collection after the ten-day Salon had ended, never to be seen again and presumed stolen. The Garmisch on display on the Cartier Lawn this summer was therefore an all-new and highly accurate replacement ‘replica’ built by BMW Classic in 2022, more than 50 years after the original had disappeared. Using the latest 3D modelling technology, BMW helpfully had Gandini himself on-hand to help fabricate details such as the interior materials from memory. This final new ‘recreation’ model was built in Turin, just like the 1970 original.      

1956 Chrysler Norseman by Ghia

Although it was ultimately never to be seen in public, arguably the most well-known one-off prototype to have met with an unfortunate demise was the 1956 Chrysler Norseman, a large pillarless American coupé with a sweeping fastback. Styled by Chrysler’s flamboyant design head Virgil Exner as an ‘idea’ car, created in a typical mid-50s excessive American style popular at the time and built by Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, one of 24 such concept ‘idea’ cars built for Chrysler by Ghia between 1940 and 1961.

The main design innovation of the unique Chrysler Norseman was its long roof section that was cantilevered from the rear to give the impression of floating over the frontal section of the car, without the use of thick windscreen pillars, thus improving a driver’s forward disability. To support the glass and large roof section, the Norseman cleverly employed chromed steel rods in place of conventional pillars. It also featured innovative ‘hideaway’ concealed headlights and unusual taillights, incorporated into the then obligatory rear fins.

Set to be displayed at the main American Auto Shows for 1957 as Chrysler’s latest star idea car, in the summer of 1956, Ghia carefully placed the sole completed Norseman prototype into Cargo Hold 2 of the luxury Italian cruise ocean liner SS Andrea Doria to dispatch it the 4,000 miles from Italy over to New York.  Sailing just off the coast of Nantucket and only a few hours away from its safe arrival at New York Harbour, the graceful Andrea Doria was struck on its port side in night fog by the SS Stockholm, causing the top-heavy Doria to severely list to starboard. Although it remained afloat for over 11 hours – allowing enough time to enable all but 46 of Doria’s passengers and crew to escape – ultimately the vessel sunk with its cargo still aboard.

Thus, the Chrysler Norseman never made it to on to American soil, and the one-off car still remains submerged 250 feet below the ocean waves. After almost 70 years of living with the fish, it is unlikely that much will now remain of the Chrysler Norseman and that sadly it will never be seen in public. Here’s hoping that a better fate awaits the Ford Probe I.

Main image courtesy of Scott Grundfor Company via Instagram.