MODEL DETAILS: The Chrysler Norseman was a four-seat fastback coupe built in 1956 as a concept car. Although designed by Chrysler’s stylists, actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Carrozzeria Ghia.
Virgil Exner was the designer of the Norseman. Exner wanted maximum all-around visibility from the car’s interior and he took the design of the Norseman to the limit. The dream car was named for Exner’s ancestry.
The Norseman was designed by the Chrysler Corporation Engineering Division and built by Ghia of Turin, Italy. Ghia had experience in the construction of low-volume vehicles and one-off prototypes. Chrysler wanted a fully drivable vehicle, not just a rolling mockup, so all normal systems for the powertrain, braking, suspension, were installed. Power was from a modified 331 cu in (5.4 L) Chrysler Hemi engine with a pushbutton-controlled Powerflite automatic transmission. The body panels on the car were made of aluminum with a sharply sloping hood, upswept tail fins and a covered, smooth underbody for aerodynamic efficiency. The Norseman combined a sweeping fastback rear end design and Chrysler’s own take on a tailfin and bumper treatment.
More difficult to fabricate was its unusual cantilevered roof, which was secured to the body only at the rear C-pillars. There were no side pillars, and at the front the roof rested only lightly on a fully frameless windshield. An advanced 12 square foot power sliding glass panel sunroof feature was difficult to integrate into a slender roof structure lacking A-pillar support at the front. The windshield and roof glass was specially made by PPG Industries to provide strength and be shatterproof. The door glass had no small vent windows at the front, a styling theme that would become popular some fifteen years later. The interior featured four bucket seats and the reel-type seatbelts were mounted in the door and fastened across the occupants to the full-length center console. Other features included concealed automatic headlights, door handles, and concealed trunk lid opening device.
Building the complicated car with advanced features took fifteen months.
WHY THIS MODEL IS FASCINATING: The car was to be a featured attraction of Chrysler’s auto show exhibit for 1957 and was shipped from Turin by Ghia to New York City in July 1956. The car was shipped on the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria, which was involved in a collision off the coast of Massachusetts on July 25, 1956 and sank, with the loss of fifty-one lives and all cargo, on July 26, 1956.
As a result, the car was never shown to the public and was never seen by most of the stylists who worked on it. It is known to automotive historians, however, via photographs and specifications. The photo seen below is a colorized photo based on the color specifications. Chrysler never used the cantilevered roof design in any subsequent vehicle.
Divers on the Andrea Doria subsequently found what is believed to be the Norseman, reduced to a nearly unrecognizable pile of rubble.
Automotive designer Richard A. Teague, who worked for Chrysler as a stylist during the mid-1950s, was responsible for many of American Motors vehicles and the Norseman’s resemblance to the 1965 Rambler Marlin fastback coupe, or vice versa, was uncanny.
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