1953 Chrysler Thomas Special took top price at RM Meadow Brook Auction with the concept's top bid reaching $858,000.
Concept cars just keep getting hotter and hotter in the marketplace. Chrysler's 1953 Thomas Special well exceeded its pre-sale estimates of $350,000 to $500,000 by approximately doubling it to reach $858,000.
The Thomas Special was one of a series of strikingly beautiful concept cars designed by Chrysler's styling chief Virgil Exner and built by Ghia in Italy. These elegantly sporty cars share a classic look that's proven timeless, influencing Chrysler design themes to this day. The current Chrysler 300's grille is strongly reminiscent of themes explored by what Exner called his "idea cars." Exner's concepts differed from those produced by George Walker at Ford and Harley Earl at General Motors in that they were producible, real world automobiles for the most part. Ford and GM design studios produced wild blue sky concepts that would have been all but impossible to produce for sale.
Named for C.B. Thomas, president of Chrysler's export division, the Thomas Special was considered special, even amongst Exner's parade of stunners. So special that it was slightly modified for road use and put into limited production by Ghia for sales in Europe as the Chrysler GS-1 Ghia coupe.
The sky-high price that the Thomas Special brought underscores the continual price rise for concept cars. The collector market has finally awoken to the unique place in automotive history occupied by these one-of-a-kind exercises of pure automotive art.
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