Eugene Casaroll’s vision to create a Ghia-bodied, ultra-luxury car with modern American running gear that catered to the world’s wealthy and famous is a well-known success story. The 117 Dual-Ghia convertibles built were the very definition of style and exclusivity. Following the successful run of the convertibles, noted for their association with Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, an all-new model was developed for 1960. The new coupe would again utilize Chrysler’s underpinnings and a sublime body, once more crafted by Ghia. The lavishly appointed L6.4 was updated with Chrysler’s Torsion-Aire front suspension, and the all-new 383 Wedge V-8 engine.

The Ghia L6.4 featured a bright cabin with a large greenhouse, showing off its four leather seats set within a polished and anodized-aluminum, jet-age-style environment. Outside, the hand-formed body had distinctively tapered wheel-well openings, a sparing use of chrome, and a dynamic, slanted swage line that terminated at the rear of the door, encircling the coachbuilder’s familiar cloisonné badge. With a base price of $13,000, FOB (Freight on Board) Torino, the L6.4 was about twice the price of a new Cadillac, and more than the median cost of a single family home.

According to the Ghia L6.4 Roster, compiled by historians Dr. Paul Sable and Dyke Ridgley, the L6.4 offered here – the ninth example built – was originally sold in Switzerland and finished in a shade of green. By 1995, its second recorded Swiss owner, Peter Rau, had restored the car in black, but retained its green leather interior, and in 2005, it was shipped to its new owner, John Huggins of Colorado. Soon thereafter, the Ghia was entrusted to the renowned Clayton Restoration of Castle Rock, Colorado. The car was refinished in an astonishing deep-pigment black, accented by a black and bright white leather interior. A custom four-piece set of fitted luggage was also constructed in the original pattern, trimmed in black leather.

Once completed, this L6.4 was enthusiastically received at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey in 2014, where it was awarded Best in Class and was a finalist for Best of Show. It was also a Best in Class winner at the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, California, that same year. In 2015, the consignor purchased the Ghia and has enjoyed it as a centerpiece of his eclectic postwar automobile collection, each maintained by his automotive management staff. Taken altogether, the L6.4 embodies the chic design ethos of its time, an extension of the larger-than-life personalities of all who drove them. Grand in their design and execution, production came to an end after just 26 L6.4s were built. Gleaming from stem to stern, this Ghia L6.4 is an automotive pinnacle of an enviably stylish period, with performance to match.