car auto blaas

Three Scimitar vehicles were designed and developed to suggest functional and decorative applications for aluminum use in automobiles. The Scimitar project was sponsored by the Olin Matheson Chemical Corporation and was designed by Brook Stevens Associates and Reutter & Company.

A two-door Scimitar convertible was representative boulevard-type sports car, having a hard top that retracted automatically into the luggage area. A four-door Scimitar town car phaeton could be driven as a fully enclosed formal sedan, a town car with partially retracted roof, or an open convertible with both roofs retracted into the luggage area. The Scimitar station wagon shown here has an automatic sliding roof.

All three models were derived from the same basic design and tooling, using a 1959 Chrysler New Yorker chassis. The body utilized removable aluminum anodized quarter panels for aesthetics and reduced maintenance. The grille bumpers, trim, wheel discs, and many interior treatments are of brushed and anodized aluminum, substantially reducing vehicle weight. The car´s name was derived from the shape of a scimitar, a saber with a curved blade.

The three Scimitar models were exhibited first at the 1959 Geneva Auto Show, then at the 1961 International Automobile Show in New York.