AFTER Dodge decided not to pursue its striking, Ghia-bodied Firearrow concepts, Eugene Casaroll – proprietor of specialty vehicle manufacturer Dual Motors Corporation, as well as owner of a Detroit-based new car-shipping company and an Indianapolis 500 car sponsor – acquired the rights to the design.
In 1955, he unveiled an evolution of the Firearrow IV, which he dubbed the Firebomb.
The production car that arrived the following year lost none of the Firebomb’s appeal, nor its winning combination of a Dodge chassis and V-8 running gear topped by Carrozzeria Ghia coachwork, but was named the Dual-Ghia.
Casaroll always intended for his creation to be ultra-exclusive, and a startling price tag of nearly $7500 ensured that it would be exactly that.
Marque experts believe as few as 100 Dual-Ghia convertibles were produced from 1956 through 1958. Customers were said to be hand-picked by Casaroll himself, with examples famously going to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Desi Arnaz and Richard Nixon.
The Dual-Ghia here, the 74th, was originally delivered to Arthur Metcalf of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Memorably summarised in his 1997 New York Times obituary as “a flight engineer, pilot, scientist, inventor, professor, philanthropist, and proponent of a strong national defense”, he founded the Electronics Corporation of America and led it to immense success as a major manufacturer of automated controls.
He more than had the means and status to acquire a Dual-Ghia but nonetheless seems to have hedged his bets.
Correspondence indicates that he visited the Dual Motors facility in person, meeting Casaroll in the company of their mutual friend Fred Zeder II, son of the famed Chrysler engineer.
Mr Metcalf secured himself a car at a $1000 “friend of the house” discount and seems to have enjoyed it immensely. It remained in his ownership until 1988, when he sold it to the collection of the present owner
Source: rmsothebys.com/auctions/hf25/lots/r0080-1958-dualghia-convertible
