Born in the same year of 1957, the ’57 Chevy and the elusive Gibson Moderne have a lot in common.

Over the years, one of our ad sales reps, Mark Dewey, has had a fascination with electric guitars and rock ‘n’ roll. As it so happens, so do I. If you read PHR’s competing magazine based out of our LA office (Hot Rod), you may have noticed Gibson's ads for some Hot Rod Magazine commemorative Les Paul guitars. That’s because Mark has gotten to know the higher ups at Gibson over the years, and convinced Gibson to build those Hot Rod Edition guitars.

As a long-time Gibson guitar fan (I own a Gibson Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” and several Epiphones, including a Les Paul Standard), I knew about the Gibson Moderne, a prototype guitar introduced by Gibson in 1957 at the NAMM music trade show. That same year, it was introduced with two other prototypes which we know as the Flying V and the Explorer (originally called the Futura). Both of those turned into very popular models that are still being made today. The Moderne, however, never made the cut. Supposedly, none were every produced by Gibson, but some “reissue” tribute models were made in very limited quantities in later years. Some rumors say that Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top (also a car nut) actually has the only real Gibson Moderne, but he isn’t making that claim publicly.

So where am I going with this? The other day, I was staring at Premier Guitar magazine (one of my favorites), which had a Gibson Moderne on the cover. I also happen to have a picture of Project X—our famous ’57 Chevy project car—on my desk. That’s when I realized that the shape of the Moderne completely mimics Project X’s tailfin and wheel arch. Not only that, they came out the same year, and draw on the same styling lexicon of that era. What a coincidence.

That’s when I emailed Mark Dewey, and said, “Why can’t Gibson also build a Collector Edition Moderne with a Project X theme?” I wrote a quick proposal for a PHR Commemorative Edition Moderne, sent it to Mark, and he sent it to Rick Gembar, his friend and the head honcho at the Gibson Custom Shop. We’re still waiting to hear back on that. In the meantime, take a look at the photos and judge for yourself. What do you think? Can you see the resemblance too?