About Tough to Crack car puzzle #131: Momo Mirage

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It’s not always easy to choose the right puzzle cars for you. When we presented this fairly easy-to-find puzzle car to you some weeks ago, it seemed too difficult never the less and we received zero (0) answers. But now that we opted for another gem of which we were pretty sure you knew, we get messages that it’s too easy! B.J. van Spaendonck wrote: “This week's mystery car is so easy that even I could find it!” And he did, as the luxury GT seen here is indeed the 1971/’72 Momo Mirage designed by Gene Garfinkle, built by Carrozzeria Frua and commissioned by car collector extraordinaire Peter Kalikow, who’d teamed up with New York Jaguar dealer Alfredo Momo to do so. Just about all of you knew that. Several of you mentioned chassis numbers and Vittorio Stanguellini, who was involved with the car’s chassis, so this also was no real surprise. Hubertus Hansmann wrote the Mirage was inspired by the Lancia Marica and used Jaguar Mk2 front suspension, while Hugo Modderman added that the rear suspension followed the same Jaguar-principles but was designed specifically for the car. Like Gerd Klioba he also wrote that the Mirage’s chassis was originally planned to be constructed by Giulio Alfieri of Maserati fame before Vittorio Stanguellini stepped in. Just six Mirages were constructed, but Till Jauernig wrote that “One of the six cars built was destroyed by a fire and another never drove.” That’s interesting. Luk Martens: “It was an attempt to marry the sportiness of a Ferrari with the luxury of a Rolls-Royce”, but as Stuart Penketh put it: “When dollar exchange rate dropped, many of the suppliers were forced to double their prices. At this point Frua and Stanguellini charged a combined total of $20,000 for the Mirage which had a target price of $12,900. Kalikow pulled the plug on the $500,000 project, which had gone from fun to torture in a very short time.” Several of you knew that three of the cars still remain at Kalikows collection in a hidden Manhattan underground garage. Plenty of answers, so the question is: who wins? In this case it can only be our poetic Italian entrant Francesco, who waited until Monday to drop us his exact 100-word long lines: “MOnday arrived and here's my answer: MOretti may seem correct but it's not, it was styled by Frua. MOdena has something to do with it too: its chassis cames from Stanguellini. MOdel name is Mirage, and it went that far indeed. KArma was ready to repair the damage and its builder had his share of cars. LIned up in his garage are now some of the rarest exotic cars...he even had Pininfarina dress one for him. KOWtow to this man! 19 words left... 72 he was in 2013 when his net worth was reported at nearly $500 million…is there anything missing?"

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