"Ghia Flashback" is a little "head-turner!"

It's a small luxury sports two-seater that Ford Motor Company designers have created by combining the lines of classic cars of the past with features of a lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicle.

The development of the car was the result of collaboration between Ford's Design Center in Dearborn, Mich., and the Ghia Operations of Ford in Turin, Italy. The car is a metal, non-driveable design exploration, rather than a production prototype.

"Beginning with the concept of a very small car, designers added proportions and visual features of sports and classic automobiles," said Gene Bordinat, vice president - Design. "The result is a very compact two-seater with special appeal to sports and classic car buffs.

"Ford designers and engineers are making our current products smaller and lighter and are developing more efficient future vehicles. Ghia Flashback is one such alternative, with a variety of usable ideas that could be incorporated into future production cars."

Although the vehicle borrows ideas from the past, it is thoroughly modern in its overall design, Mr. Bordinat said.

Ghia Flashback has crisp lines, hard edges, large glass areas and a tinted glass roof, and is spacious inside for a car of its size. With one of the Ford family of four-cylinder engines installed, the car could weigh less than 2,000 pounds.

The pearlscent apple green car is 134 inches long, about three feet shorter than a Mustang II. It is built on an 84-inch wheelbase, with an overall height of 48.6 inches and an overall width of 55 inches. The front tread is 49 inches, the rear tread 48 inches.

According to Mr, Bordinat, maximum interior space was considered an essential.

Interior dimensions are head room, 37.2 inches; leg room, 42.7 inches; shoulder room, 42.7 inches, and hip room 47.3 inches.

”An effort was made to keep all of the exterior lines long, reaching and continuous," Mr. Bordinat said, "much as on the early Ford V-8 roadsters, the custom-built bodies of the Lincols of the '40's, and the 1955-1957 two-seater Thunderbirds.

Lines of the long, sculptured hood extend into the vehicle’s interior, with the instrument panel matching the hood surface. Front fenders are carved clearly away from the hood.

Also reminiscent of classic automobiles are the large-diameter wire spoke wheels, hood and side louvers, protruding headlamps with chrome rings, and brown leather luggage straps on the rear end.

Ghia Flashback becomes a convertible when the back window slides into the rear end, and when the tinted glass roof is removed and stored behind the seat. A heavy black cloth cover can be fitted over the glass roof.

Black-and-white is the color theme for the leather and vinyl interior. White bucket seats and door trim panels are accented by black carpeting and black instrument panel.