THE RAT PACK

The influence of the Rat Pack in America in the early Sixties was huge. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop were the undisputed kings of cool, filling the whole of Las Vegas with adoring admirers. Sinatra had more Top 50 albums than Elvis Presley. The gang worked together on films like Ocean’s Eleven and when one was performing on stage at The Sands, the others would turn up unannounced to join in.

Stories of their high life captivated America. Sinatra gave away $50,000-worth of solid gold cigarette lighters before he was 30. They even had enough influence to help JFK (Peter Lawford’s brother-in-law) get elected by publically supporting him.

And they loved their cars. Sinatra had a Dual-ghia Convertible, one of the first Thunderbird roadsters, a Continental MKII and a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Martin had a Facel Vega HK500 and Davis Jnr a Rolls Silver Cloud convertible. Sinatra’s, Lawford’s and Martin’s patronage of the Ghia L6.4 gave it such a cachet of exclusivity that in 1961 Motor

Trend included in their road test the prophetic lines: ‘Since there are likely to be more persons with the price than there are Ghia L6.4s there will surely be other qualifications for purchase than mere money. The new Ghia may well be a prestige car that picks its own buyers on their prestige.’

Those words directly referenced the Rat Pack – America’s coolest customers.