No questions asked, the best thing I found perusing eBay last year was a 1967 OSI 20M TS that was built to the nines, sexy as hell, and in the middle of the bidding war that normally ensues when there’s only a few minutes left on the auction. Prior to finding the car, I’d never heard of Officine Stampaggi Industriali (Industrial Stampings Workshops, translated), the short-lived independent arm of famed Italian coachbuilder Ghia that focused on niche products and efforts. There’s good reason for that: the company only lasted for eight years before folding up in 1968. The 20M TS was, for the most part, a reskinned and reworked Ford Taunus 20M, and what a restyling it was…instead of looking like a 7/8ths scale Ford Galaxie with European touches, the 20M looked something like what you would expect from Ferrari, Jensen or TVR. But no stock 20M TS looked like the one we found last August, and with it’s small-block Ford powerplant, none ran like this one would either.
Tasty, isn’t it? Many of you agreed, but there was a hitch if you had interest. First off, before I had finished writing up my piece on the car, it had sold, which was a shame. There was one other problem: OSI 20Ms are a rare breed. As in “less than two hundred anywhere, ever” rare. And that maybe five were in the United States total. And we all know where prices go when the word “rare” is used legitimately. But while hunting down something less rare on the auction block, we found two more cars up for sale in the same auction, with notes about parts being available, and even an offer to build a car just like the one above. Fun fact: the same guy who built the V8 20M is the guy selling the two roller cars! The guy’s name is Travis Escalante, and he is the builder of the “Black Mamba” above. He is apparently itching to build a car for SEMA this year and is offering up two complete roller shells, his extensive collection of parts, and for a fee, he will even build the car for you. Take another look at the picture above, and check out the link to the story we did on it for more pictures. Yeah, we’d have no trouble letting him build it. None whatsoever.
That doesn’t mean that the build will be a walk in the park. Both rollers have bodywork that needs to be addressed, and we’d strongly recommend taking the small-block route with them, which means adaptations and customizations. We’d also want the interior detailing and design that the Black Mamba car had, simply because it was the most eye-catching part of a car that had our eye from the word “go”. The day we win the lottery, we’d let Mr. Escalante go absolutely bezerk with his creative talents on both of these cars, but since we live off of the Dollar Menu, the next best thing we can do is hope that someone else appreciates what this rare Italian/German hybrid is and what it can be.
eBay Link: (2) 1967 OSI 20M TS
The LS squad will buy them in fury that the seller’s car is Ford powered – which makes sense as Taunus was the German wing of Ford. Taunus had the knack of making cars that in some cases were unique and much better looking than their UK counterparts. But none of them were as nice as the OSIs, especially a cool V8 on wide wires!