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So a few weeks ago, I posted some interview excerpts I got from a long-time Detroit designer named Lester Montgomery. The interview was part of another project that I am merely helping with and I didn’t have permission to use much more than what I did. This whole scenario, however, wasn’t explained well to Mr. Montgomery and he took light offense to me seemingly leaving out the 1954 Dodge Firearrow from our discussion of Virgil Exner’s work.
“Virgil was 0n the front lines of avant guard design work in Detroit. He was working diligently to bring sophistication to American Automobiles using Italian coach workers as his main inspiration. The Firearrow was designed by Virgil, built by Ghia, and the prototype was production ready – something none of his other early Italian themed efforts could boast.”
“Had Chrysler not been so damned conservative… Had they not cancelled a beautiful car that was literally ready for production… Well, there’s a good chance that Chrysler might not have taken a back seat to the other Big 2 throughout the 1950’s.”
As the name suggests, the Firearrow IV was the fourth in a styling exercise of four cars. The previous three were more or less concept mockups finished with different level of roadability. But interestingly, there wasn’t a whole lot of custom parts on any of them other than the custom coach work by Ghia.
The chassis was the stock 119″ wheelbase foundation as found in Chrysler’s convertible offering at the time and the motor was a stock 241-inch Red Ram Hemi mated to a Dodge’s Gyro-Torque 4-speed semi-auto. Even so, driving dynamics of the car were said to be excellent and before the car was cancelled, Chrysler planned to pit the Firearrow against both the Corvette and the Thunderbird.
In any case, it’s hard to argue against its beauty… And apologies to Mr. Montgomery for not mentioning it earlier. This car, after all, is his favorite Exner design.
Editor’s Note: The red car is the Firearrow IV, the yellow car is the Firearrow II, and the black car is the Dodge Firebomb – a semi-custom sold by Gene Casaroll after he bought the rights to the design from Chrysler.
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