The Chrysler Newport was created to demonstrate the company’s automotive prowess and to celebrate a vanishing body style, the dual cowl phaeton.

A while back at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we told the story of the Chrysler Thunderbolt, an advanced dream car of 1941 conceived by Ralph Roberts of LeBaron. (See the feature here). As we mentioned at the time, the Thunderbolt had a sibling, the Newport. Both idea cars were pitched at the same time by LeBaron, then a division of Briggs, to K.T. Keller and David Wallace of Chrysler. Briggs was then Chrysler’s largest supplier while Chrysler was Briggs’ biggest customer, and both dream cars were approved for very limited production.

While both the Thunderbolt and Newport were intended to represent the cutting edge of automotive design, the Newport also looked to the past. It’s said that Roberts, who’d earlier designed Lebaron-bodied Duesenbergs, wanted to revisit the fabulous dual cowl phaeton body style one more time. (He originated the Duesenberg’s signature sweep panel.) Originally called the Golden Arrow, the Newport was to be, in part, what a 1941 Duesenberg dual cowl  phaeton might look like if the Indiana automaker had not gone out of business several years earlier.

While the Newport was designed to seat no more than four, maybe five passengers, it was constructed on Chrysler’s longest chassis, the 145.5-in wheelbase Crown Imperial. The stretch platform was chosen, no doubt, to provide the sleekest profile possible for the streamlined aluminum body shell. Meanwhile, twin windscreens, a folding lap panel, and ample space between the front and rear cockpits accentuated the dual-cowl theme. Naturally, Chrysler’s largest and most powerful engine was installed, the Spitfire L-head straight eight with 323.5 cubic inches and rated at 143 hp, coupled to a Vacamatic semi-automatic transmission.

After a debut at the New York Auto Show in October of 1940, the Newport was sent off on a national tour, with a special showcase at the 1941 Indianapolis 500 in May. There, one Newport served as official pace car, while others performed duties as official event cars. How many were there? Most sources say five Newports were produced in all, others six, but the pace car is the only one with exposed headlamps. For a time, it was owned by Walter P. Chrysler Jr. The others feature headlamp covers that disappear into the voluptuous fenders.

Four of the hand-built cars are known to exist today, including the pace car and the brilliant red example shown here. Known as the Lana Turner Newport because it was once owned by the Hollywood star’s third husband, Bob Topping Jr., he had a Cadillac V8 installed along with some other modifications. Now restored to original, the Lana Turner Newport is part of the Chrysler historical collection.

Photo courtesy of RM Sotheby’s