1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Concept by Carrozzeria Boano Torino – The ICE ST. Moritz 2023

During The ICE at St. Moritz, Switzerland I have filmed this 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Concept by Carrozzeria Boano Torino. Carrozzeria Boano Torino was comprised in part by father and son team Felice Mario Boano and Gian Carlo Boano, who also worked with Ghia. One aim of the Boanos was to cultivate an ongoing relationship between design house and manufacturer similar to the one enjoyed by Ghia and the Chrysler Corporation. Through connections at Ford, Boano the elder procured a Lincoln chassis and drivetrain sans body, which was the basis for this concept car. The Indianapolis made its debut at the 1955 Turin Automobile Salon as a proof of concept built atop a Lincoln chassis with 255-horsepower Lincoln V-8 and four-speed automatic transmission. The coupe represents the intersection of classic Italian design and the influence of the modern Jet Age on a then 20-something Gian Carlo Boano, entrusted by his father to lead up the exclusive study. The Indianapolis features a checkered flag emblem on the front fender that says everything about victory and the ethos of the famous race. The influence of jets is lucid yet conceptual. The exhaust pipes aft of the front fender as well as the dual rear nacelle mounted pipes are non-functional. The jet intake and exhaust design element are used repeatedly on the study from front to rear. The front stacked headlamps suggest a jet intake, the fender pipes exhaust, the rear fenders present another intake at the vertical, and the dual rear taillamp housings are yet another take on the jet engine nacelle. The car presents a different take from every angle, simultaneously appearing as a sexy Italian coupe and a menacing Fifties North American F-100 Super Sabre tearing at the sky with its afterburner on. Even the interior is modern in every detail, depending on the touch of a button. The gauges are normally hidden behind a sleek cover, which slides under the dash for access to controls and instrumentation. Insight into Italian coachbuilding relates directly to the artistic process. The cars were literally sculpted by hand using wood and metal. In the book A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design, Cliff Voss recalled seeing another car made via this process at Ghia while he was working with Chrysler. The bare wooden model was pushed into a courtyard surrounded by various shaped tree stumps, every one of which had a specific shape. "All around it, maybe 30 feet away were a bunch of wooden tree stumps. The tops of these tree stumps had been shaved to different curvatures. Some were round, some spherical, hemispheres, flat, slightly domed, peaked, all different shapes. These kids would take 10 x 10-inch squares of aluminum and their hammers and they'd eyeball, they would look at the wooden model, and then start to hammer. They'd walk over, put in the piece of metal, and it fit! I mean the fit was phenomenal," said Voss. The 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Exclusive Study was originally constructed in this coachbuilt tradition. The car came to North America after its Turin debut and fell into stasis after a fire. The car was fully restored in the early part of this century, and stands as such a clear example of automotive artistic significance that it was included in the Art of the Automobile RM Auction held in conjunction with Sotheby's on November 21, 2013, in New York, New York. The one-of-a-kind concept car was expected to sell for over $2 million. Join my Notification Squad: click the Bell ? Make sure you like and comment the video, but also subscribe to the channel! *Michael - Automotive Mike* Socials: ?? https://www.facebook.com/AutomotiveMike ?? https://www.instagram.com/automotive_mike