For a number of more than comprehensible reasons, young Exner was a protege of Luigi Segre, who of course was pleased to see him come to Ghia. Inevitably there was some friction with Tjaarda, only superficial at first but increasingly serious.

The dissent between Segre and Tjaarda became so profound that the American architect could only leave: it was 1961. Tom Tjaarda only stayed three years at Ghia, but they were three very formative years for him, and he still recognises their importance today. It was a painful parting, but not definitive. Tom Tjaarda went back eight years later to Ghia after this first short period, when he was a well-established designer, to take the place of no less a person than the great Giorgetto Giugiaro, who in turn was leaving his post as artistic director at Carrozzeria Ghia to set up on his own.

Tom Tjaarda's departure left the field free for the young Exner. It was generally believed, and is confirmed by Filippo Sapino, who joined Ghia in 1961 and so witnessed the episode, that it was only a question of days before Exner Jr. was offered the post of head of the design office. But against all the odds, he never held the post.

There are several reasons for this, but the main one was the sudden death of Luigi Segre which modified the conditions favourable to Exner Jr. joining Ghia. Furthermore, after a short time his father left Chrysler to set up as a freelance, and obviously this opened up a brand new and certainly more interesting future than one at Ghia.

Virgil Exner, father and son, with the degree thesis car designed by the young Exner and built on a Simca chassis.

However, even though he was never formally employed there, the younger Exner definitely left his mark at Ghia. After graduating he had been sent to Germany to do his military service. His thesis was a sports car, with a Simca engine but bearing the Talbot marque, which incorporated many of the ideas already expressed in the Chrysler-Ghia idea cars designed by his father, including the outside exhaust pipe, like the Chrysler Falcon A480. He was able, every now and again, to visit Turin from his base, and to follow the work on the body.

In that period at Ghia there were two parallel structures, virtually independent from each other, but working as they did in a rather small space, there were frequent contacts and exchanges of ideas.

There was the team headed by Sergio Coggiola, which worked on the prototypes and especially on developing the Chrysler jobs. The cars arrived already stylized from America, accompanied by a model in 1:4 scale, and the preliminary designs. Coggiola transformed the material he received into a life-size model and then built the car. Tjaarda recalls, "There was little to do in the way of style, because it all arrived from America, but it was a very important practical school, because it was necessary to find the necessary solutions to carry out the drawings ...". Then there was Sergio Sartorelli's team which looked after prototypes for the European manufacturers, principal amongst which were Renault and Volvo, customer relations and the production of the "proposals" for Motor Shows, although in those years the only show that counted was the one in Turin. Virgil Exner Jr. did not belong to either of these groups. However, during his whirlwind visits to Turin he was able to make a contribution to some projects too.

Fiat 2300S Coupe

His most important contribution, the most widely- diffused one, was his work on for the Fiat 2300S coupe, a design done by Sergio Sartorelli.

The final evolution of the Fiat 1800/2100 saloon which finally took Fiat back into the high-class sector of the market as the Fiat 2300. It was from this model that Aurelio Lampredi was given the job of creating a sports version, a real Gran Turismo.

The ex Grand Prix designer from Ferrari had joined Fiat in 1955 when the Maranello firm had managed to overcome one of its periodical technical and economic crises only thanks to the unhoped-for gift of the Lancia competition material, something which took place under Fiat's aegis. Although it was Lampredi himself who designed the singleseater with which Ferrari won the first two world championships (1952-1953), and achieved other unforgettable successes, when the Lancia material arrived the designer had virtually been shown the door at Ferrari, overnight..

It was therefore. quite natural that Lampredi should nurture ambitions for revenge, to demonstrate his unaltered design skills before everyone. His role as an engine designer at Fiat gave him continued professional satisfaction, but did not assuage his taste for the vendetta he was still pursuing: the 2300S project might have been made for him.

From a technical point of view, the new Fiat was in the classical Lampredi mould, . and the more general Ferrari philosophy: an excellent 6-cylinder engine, big-hearted and pliant, fitted to a rather too traditional frame. But as we know, at Ferrari they were rather used to thinking in terms of engine output, and even though in a few years the English constructors would have demonstrated the opposite case, Lampredi was still firmly convinced he had made the right choice ...

The car's lines had been designed by the office head, Sergio Sartorelli, with the worthy contribution of Virgil Jr. Naturally enough, there were various references to other Ghia models, Segre himself imposed this, especially the roof of the new car. Virgil Jr. was responsible for the rear window of the Fiat 2300S, which closely resembled the one in the contemporary Chrysler LG.4, and Sergio Sartorelli was definitely the author of the characteristic radiator grill.

Tom Tjaarda worked on some of this project's details, although strangely he today attributes exclusive paternity to Virgil Jr., completely ignoring the role of Sergio Sartorelli. This is obviously an echo of the disagreement of so long ago which has not yet disappeared: "The Fiat 300 coupe was designed by Virgil Exner, although I worked on the finalising of many details but the line is definitely his"...

Unfortunately the Fiat coupe did not sell as successfully as one might rightly have assumed such a special model would: it boasted excellent performance figures and very elegant lines, and above all it bore the signature of good designers, whether they were Sartorelli, Tjaarda or Exner. It definitely suffered, as was to be the case a few years later with the splendid Fiat 130 coupe, from belonging to a family which was not particularly noted for high- class cars. During that period Fiat specialised mainly in popular, economic cars.

What seems surprising today is that in a climate of insane passion for everything to do with Ferrari, when even a modest Fiat Dino is pursued to the beat of millions, this splendid 6-cylinder masterpiece by Aurelio Lampredi is completely ignored by enthusiasts ...

Ghia also did a cabriolet, of which only a small number were sold, and proposed a four-door version to Fiat, a model which could worthily have replaced the production model.

The suggestion came too late, mass production of the model was not feasible, but Fiat did not totally ignore the Ghia proposal. The front of the 2300S, for example, was used in one of the Centro Stile Fiat designs for the new production saloon car, the 1300/ 1500.

Although Segre's excessive protection of Exner could have made their personal relationship difficult, there was always great mutual esteem and cordiality between Virgil Jr. and Tom Tjaarda.

The fanciful Selene II Concept from 1962. This car was last known to reside at the Ford Product Development Center. It was placed for auction at Christie's in 2002. It's current location is unknown.

It was only after Tom Tjaarda left Ghia that Virgil Jr. gave into the temptation to design a dream car of his own, and he produced "his" Selene II, almost as if to measure himself against Tom Tjaarda's Selene I. His preliminary sketches were of definite interest and were developed by Sergio Sartorelli.

It would be unkind to judge a dreamcar according to its practicality, but perhaps Exner went a little too far towards a total lack of rationality with the Selene II: suffice it to say that to reach the driving seat from the single door at the back of the car, it was necessary literally to climb over the passengers!