Industrial designer Brooks Stevens (1911-1995) might be best remembered today for the clever, low-cost product makeovers he performed for the independent automakers, including the Willys Jeepster and the Studebaker Hawk Grand Turismo. But every now and then, Stevens allowed his talents to run free with more wide-open and speculative projects. One of his wilder creations was the Scimitar—actually, a series of three cars he produced in 1959 for the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, a mining and chemical company. All three vehicles were built on 1959 Chrysler New Yorker chassis with 413 CID V8 engines and Torqueflite automatic transmissions, in three distinctive body styles: A two-door Hardtop Convertible, a Town Car Phaeton, and a sliding-roof station wagon called the All-Purpose Sedan.

The bodies, crafted for Stevens by Karosseriewerk Reutter of Stuttgart, Germany, each boasted eye-catching transformable properties. The three Scimitars made their debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 1959, then did the grand tour of the American car show circuit for the next few years. All three dream cars still exist today.