Giacinto Ghia started building the wooden frames for car bodies in Turin in 1921, and progressed to doing whole bodies for Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, Isotta, Lancia. Ghia died in 1944 and his widow offered the operation to friends Giorgio Albert and Felice Mario Boano, and Boano was soon noticed for his stylish designs. There was collaboration with Chrysler throughout the 1950s, and Ghia often built one-off cars designed by others, preferring not to do mass production. In 1965 Giorgetto Giugiaro was made head designer and commissioned by De Tomaso for the Mangusta. De Tomaso bought Ghia in 1967, and Giugiaro left to form ItalDesign in 1968. In 1969 Ghia entered into a partnership with Ford and produced many prototypes for the Ford brands.