Celeste: the poor-man’s (yet practical) Espada

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Now that Lamborghini has decided that a souped-up version of the Audi Q7, certainly one of the world’s more unpleasant SUVs to look at, is the way to go, we thought it would be nice to have a look at what could have been. How about a miniature version of the great Espada, perhaps slightly less extravagant but much more practical. Hang on, something like the Mitsubishi Celeste that was also known as the Plymouth Arrow in the US. Yep. Chrysler had teamed up with the Japanese in the mid-1970s.

It’s like they did with Lamborghini later-on. In fact, it was on this very day in 1987 that the Chrysler Corporation took over Automobili F. Lamborghini, supposedly for the giveaway price of $25 million. When you read that Lamborghini ‘was experiencing financial difficulties’ back then, you may take that with a pinch of salt. Reportedly the cars were made in the dark as Lamborghini could not afford to illuminate the factory at the time, which must have had its influence on the build quality also...

Automobili Lamborghini had changed hands several times before within a short period of time but when Chrysler came in, the New York Times reported: “Chrysler officials have acknowledged in the past that an association with a high-priced European brand could give it credibility in the luxury end of the market, where the company has long been weak.” It wasn’t a very long lasting marriage, but they never came up with the miniature sportscar that would have been a lot cooler than those SUVs they come up with now. Not convinced? Nonsense? Perhaps. But please do have a look at these drawings here of the Celeste (top) and Espada (bottom) to see al least some design similarities.

(Words and archive pictures editor)

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