1961 Plymouth Asimmetrica Concept Could Be Your Oddball Dream Come True

Few collaborations have yielded the kind of beauty that Chrysler and Ghia’s did in the 1950s and ’60s. And if you’re sweet on putting one of its creations in your garage, RM Sotheby’s sale in Monterey will be the place to be this August.

Not only will the auctioneer be selling off a rare 1955 Chrysler ST Special at the Pebble Beach sale, but now it has consigned an even rarer specimen. It’s a 1961 Plymouth Asimmetrica Roadster – or rather the Plymouth Asimmetrica Roadster, we should say. Because it’s the only one of its kind ever made.

Over a decade before Ford took it over, Carrozzeria Ghia partnered with Chrysler over the course of 15 years to produce an array of show cars – based on Chrysler mechanicals and designed by its chief stylist Virgil Exner, but bodied by Ghia in Turin.

The Asimmetrica roadster was one of them, so named because of its unusually lopsided design, with an engine bulge and intake in front of the driver and a sort of short fin behind. It was powered by a 2.8-liter straight six producing all of 101 horsepower, and was based (at least stylistically) on the XNR show car that preceded it by two years, but was never put into production. Which may have been for the best, because it was hardly an elegant and well-resolved design. But it was certainly unique. And on that basis alone, we’re glad that it survived.

If you are as well, and have the money to put where your heart is, best show up at the Monterey Conference Center the weekend of August 24-25. There it will be sold to the highest bidder, with no reserve.

Photos by Josh Bryan, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s