My mother and father had been on the town over the weekend so we went to the Petersen Automotive Museum, which has at present has a number of superior new reveals together with a showcase of Los Angeles lowrider tradition and a historical past of electrical autos. One of the best exhibit options various 2000s idea autos, 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 automobile 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 feel the Lugano is fairly ugly in a humorous manner, but additionally I feel it might have been actually cool for Chrysler to construct it.
Chrysler had lots of improbable sporty idea vehicles again within the Nineteen Nineties, and just about none of them acquired constructed. There was the gorgeous 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 truly put a coupe idea into manufacturing, and by some means it was the strangest out of the bunch. Out of all of these the Lugano might need been the almost definitely to have an opportunity at success, a very 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 automobile ever bought at $143 million — and I can positively see it. The Lugano has a grille practically similar to the traditional Panamericana grille of the unique 300SL race vehicles, now utilized by the corporate’s AMG merchandise, plus a pair of enormous facet vents on the driving force’s facet that echo those on the Uhlenhaut Coupe. (The passenger facet has an easier single vent; this was probably the designers attempting out a number of totally different proposals within the clay stage.) It’s acquired fairly nice proportions too, with the same 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 large grille, the Lugano appears 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 feel the Lugano might have ended up trying actually good, and it might’ve been superior to see Chrysler provide such a fantastic efficiency automobile kind again then. Don’t get me unsuitable, I really like the Plymouth Prowler, however it’s definitely not a automobile for everybody or each state of affairs. And being saddled with a naturally aspirated V6 and four-speed automated in a automobile like that may suck. The Lugano’s coupe bodystyle would make that powertrain extra tolerable, however with its longer hood and quad exhaust suggestions, I guess 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 a long time, except 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 automobile green-light and reveal. Rumors have swirled round for some time that Chrysler would possibly get a model of the next-gen Charger, possibly branded ‘Cuda, however I feel it might be even higher for Chrysler to do large cab-rearward electrical coupe just like the Lugano as an alternative of sticking with the muscle automobile 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 Latest Previous” exhibit shall be on the Petersen till July 2025, so you have got till then to go see this factor. There’s additionally a bunch of hypercars on show, together with some unbelievable coachbuilt classics and jet-age ideas. If you happen to’re in Los Angeles, it’s positively definitely worth the go to.
