Bobby Darin's 1960 Di Dia 150
The 1960
Di Dia 150 was a luxury, custom-designed iconic, handmade car also known as the "Dream Car". Built in
Detroit,
Michigan, clothing designer
Andrew "Andy" Di Dia designed this "unrestrained and unconventional" automobile. Only one example was ever built.
For seven years, from 1953 to 1960 the DiDia 150 was hand-built by four workers, at a cost of $93,647.29 but sold to Darin in 1961 at a cost of over $150,000 (1.5 million today). At the time the car was listed as most expensive "custom-made" car in the world by the
Guinness Book of Records. The body was hand-formed by Ron Clark and constructed by Bob Kaiser from Clark Kaiser Customs.
The car was originally powered by a 365 cubic inch Cadillac engine, later replaced by a 427 cubic inch high-performance Ford engine, and had a 125-inch wheelbase, with a tubular aluminum frame and a hand-fashioned soft aluminum body The car has Batmanesque set of rear fin dominating the bodyline and ruby red hubcaps on
whitewall tires. Writer Daniel Vaughan describes it as
...an exotic vehicle that is overdone in every detail and in every respect, an iconic dream car. Its metallic red paint was from 30 coats of paint with real ground diamonds for sparkle. ...The body is from hand-fashioned soft aluminum. There are hidden headlights and tail lights that swivel as the car turns. Inside, the seats each have their own ash tray, cigarette lighter, and radio speaker. On the dash are oversized levers that control the air conditioning, heater and defroster.
IIt has a glass cockpit in back, a squared steering wheel resembling a
superellipse (with n = 3⁄2, a = b = 1) and thermostatically controlled air conditioning system. The interior is rust colored in contrast to the ruby
paintwork. The design included the first backseat-mounted radio loudspeakers and hidden windshield wipers, which start themselves when it rains.
Other features include retractable headlamps, rear turn signals which swivel as the car turns, 'floating' bumpers and a trunk that was hinged from the driver's side. Each of the four bucket seats have their own thermostatically controlled air conditioning, individual cigarette lighters and ashtrays, as well as a radio loudspeaker. After publicity and film use, Darin donated his "Dream Car" to the
National Museum of Transportation in 1970 where it remains.