In the Lost and Found section in the issue of Hemmings Classic Car that should be landing in subscribers’ hands shortly (#74), I included a photo from Guy Cassaday of the full-size prototype of the car that Dutch Darrin designed for Israel-based Illian, a company that previously assembled Kaiser-Frazers there. I also noted that the photo may have been flipped, so I thought I’d also show it the other way ’round, as it was sent to me by former SIA scribe Leon Dixon. Benni Haspel, who lives in Israel, confirmed for me that Israelis have always driven on the right side of the road, which should make this version of the photo the correct one. By the way, does anybody know whatever became of this prototype?
In my exchanges with Guy, he also related to me that Darrin worked on a design proposal for GM for the 1961 Pontiac Tempest and same year Buick Skylark that used a very similar front end to the Illian proposal, and sent along a photo of two full-size prototypes that resulted from that exercise. What do you think: Was it an improvement over what GM sent in to production?