My mother and father had been on the town over the weekend so we went to the Petersen Automotive Museum, which has at the moment has just a few superior new displays together with a showcase of Los Angeles lowrider tradition and a historical past of electrical automobiles. The very best exhibit options a variety of 2000s idea automobiles, the standouts of that are the Cadillac Cien, Chrysler ME-412 and Ford GT90, however my favourite was this weird-ass Chrysler idea that was by no means proven to the general public.
It’s referred to as the Chrysler Lugano, and it was designed in 1996 as a fixed-roof sports activities automotive utilizing the Plymouth Prowler platform. What you see right here is only a clay mannequin that was created at Chrysler’s Pacifica Superior Design Studio in Irvine, California. The undertaking by no means went previous the design stage, so the Lugano was by no means proven to the general public. That’s a disgrace, as I believe the Lugano is fairly ugly in a humorous means, but in addition I believe it might have been actually cool for Chrysler to construct it.
Chrysler had a whole lot of improbable sporty idea vehicles again within the Nineties, and just about none of them received constructed. There was the beautiful 1993 Thunderbolt and the outrageous 1995 Atlantic, each with two doorways, and the 1991 300 and 1998 Chronos, which had been extra like four-door coupes. It wasn’t till the Crossfire that Chrysler really put a coupe idea into manufacturing, and in some way it was the strangest out of the bunch. Out of all of these the Lugano might need been the more than likely to have an opportunity at success, a really cab-rearward two-door rear-wheel-drive coupe that was designed a decade earlier than the Dodge Challenger got here again.
Designer Kevin Verduyn used the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe as inspiration — the costliest automotive ever offered at $143 million — and I can undoubtedly see it. The Lugano has a grille practically similar to the basic Panamericana grille of the unique 300SL race vehicles, now utilized by the corporate’s AMG merchandise, plus a pair of huge aspect vents on the driving force’s aspect that echo those on the Uhlenhaut Coupe. (The passenger aspect has an easier single vent; this was seemingly the designers attempting out just a few totally different proposals within the clay stage.) It’s received fairly nice proportions too, with an identical greenhouse and trunk form to the SLR.
It’s the Lugano’s headlights that make it look particularly goofy. I imply, they’re kinda good on their very own, with cool flip alerts that sit like fins atop the entrance fenders. However mixed with the bluff entrance finish and massive grille, the Lugano seems to be like a shocked frog, and the dash-to-axle ratio and small cabin remind me of the Ambiguously Homosexual Duo’s machine. Then the rear finish, whereas fairly, is simply too generic and European.
Nonetheless, with the everyday concept-to-production design refinements I believe the Lugano might have ended up trying actually good, and it might’ve been superior to see Chrysler provide such an incredible efficiency car sort again then. Don’t get me unsuitable, I like the Plymouth Prowler, but it surely’s definitely not a automotive for everybody or each scenario. And being saddled with a naturally aspirated V6 and four-speed computerized in a automotive like that might suck. The Lugano’s coupe bodystyle would make that powertrain extra tolerable, however with its longer hood and quad exhaust suggestions, I wager Chrysler was picturing it might have a V8 as an alternative, which might be even higher.
Alas, the Crossfire stays the one Chrysler-branded coupe we’ve gotten in many years, until you embrace the Sebrings. I’m nonetheless bitter that the Firepower by no means occurred, particularly as a result of it was mere months away from a complete manufacturing automotive green-light and reveal. Rumors have swirled round for some time that Chrysler may get a model of the next-gen Charger, possibly branded ‘Cuda, however I believe it might be even higher for Chrysler to do massive cab-rearward electrical coupe just like the Lugano as an alternative of sticking with the muscle automotive retro design theme. At this level, with the Pacifica being the one Chrysler left on sale, I’ll actually take any new product that isn’t simply one other crossover.
The “Fashionable Ideas: Future Visions from the Current Previous” exhibit will probably be on the Petersen till July 2025, so you’ve got till then to go see this factor. There’s additionally a bunch of hypercars on show, together with some unimaginable coachbuilt classics and jet-age ideas. Should you’re in Los Angeles, it’s undoubtedly well worth the go to.
