The concept car that never was

...off the coast of Massachusetts, USA.

How did it get there? Built in 1956 it was a four-seat, two door hard top coupe. It was destined to be Chrysler's featured attraction at American auto shows in 1957, headlining the arrival of the Virgil Exner styled new, low, lean line of cars.

Although designed by Chrysler's stylists, the actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Ghia. Exner liked Ghia's ability to produce low-volume vehicles and one-off prototypes, and they done a couple of previous show cars for him.

Chrysler wanted a fully drivable vehicle, not just a rolling mock-up, so all normal systems for the power train, braking, suspension, were installed. What made this car really different was its revolutionary cantilevered roof, which was secured to the body only at the rear C pillars. There were no "A" pillars on this car. Quite simply, the windscreen supported the roof at the front.

There was a power sunroof as well, an advanced feature at the time, which was difficult to integrate into a slender roof structure with no structural support at the front. The door glass was ventless, a styling theme that would become popular some ten years later. Because of the complexity of the Norseman it took Ghia a full year to construct the car.

When the car completed it was shipped by Ghia to New York City in July 1956 on the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria, which was involved in a collision off the coast of Massachusetts with the MS Stockholm heading the in the other direction and sank, with the loss of forty-six lives and all cargo.

Compounding the loss of the car and lives on the ship was that Xner had been admitted to hospital having suffered a heart attack days before the ship sank. When told of the situation he was philosophical and more concerned for the lives lost than for his car.

Divers have been exploring the Andrea Doria since it sank. It lies on only 150 meters of water not far off the Nantucket coast, and some have claimed to have seen the Norseman in the ship's car hold, rusted to a hulk.