One of these cases is that of Ghia GTK from 1979, which was made on a platform Ford Fiesta elongated. Despite this, he could not hide that the front overhang was disproportionate. Viewed from the side, the front wheel was out of place, shifted back a quarter of where it really should have been.
GTK came from Grand Touring Kombi, which in itself was wanting to give too much importance to a small car. Large was not. As Touring It's not that it stood out either. And as for the word Combo, denotes that it corresponds to a Ford Europe model and specifically from Cologne, because of its German connotation. And it is that it was applied to the models called family members or Caravan, which neither
It was about an average utility vehicle with a rather sharp bodywork at the front, including retractable headlights and a front spoiler, almost copied from the Toyota Celica, with an inclined plane. As a special feature, it featured a curious window mounted on the B-pillar, which was very narrow and went from roof to sill. From behind, the pilots had more surface to the side than to the rear, as if they were mounted upside down.
A wide front windshield ended on the sides with two separate integrated exterior rear-view mirrors and at its base it presented the last remnants of the grilles that were popular in 70s cars. In turn, it incorporated some five-spoke tires and short diameter, worthy of riding on a buggy beach of the time
OUTLANDISH
At Ghia GTK interior We also find a mixture that indicates the precariousness of the means with which these prototypes were made. The dashboard wants to be ultra modernist, with a kind of inverted 'L' in front of the driver and falling towards the center console, rounded and riddled with strips of indicators that try to tend to something digital. The steering wheel is nothing but the standard Ford Fiesta L, with its turn signal levers, steering column and starter key to use.
Although the seats want to appear more cared for, they maintain the upholstery used in the Fiesta and that avant-garde console falls apart into a cheap leather bellows from which the gear lever of the small utility that it hides protrudes without modesty.
However, it offered a piece of equipment practically unknown at the time that included electric windows and trip computer. Of course, I would have liked to know what data the latter gave exactly.
TWO EXAMPLES OF THE GHIA GTK
There was two distinct units. One was the subject of a photographic session in a stable of trotting racehorses, where they situate him next to those curious carts they pull, which are barely a seat and two wheels. A second, later, in which the B-pillar now simulates a kind of rollover archBecause the front and back of the roof are painted black to give it a targa-like look.
Although the stated intention was always to make a spacious car with good habitability to transport a family, once the prototype has been released, this idea seems to remain in limbo. And it is that, in none of the available images, the slightest graphic reference is made to the space for passengers or their luggage.
Nor does the final approach indicate that usefulness. Rather, it resembles a sportsman who can take advantage of a very scarce 53 hp engine from its chassis donor, thanks to its aerodynamics, to give it a certain grace.
IN CONCLUSION
They were the last throes of bodybuilders, almost all of them Italian, who proposed models to brands, many of which they were desperately looking for that car that would come to save their battered coffers. Some, like Volkswagen with its Golf, succeeded.
Ghia, specifically, already I had stopped being an independent designer when in 1970 Alejandro De Tomaso sold his shares to Ford Motor Company. From that moment on, he became part of the brand's style department, one of whose successes was the Ford Fiesta 1976, by the hand of the great Tom tjaarda.