Kalikow is an American businessman involved in construction and real estate, while Momo was a master mechanic, European automobile importer, and former manager of Briggs Cunningham's racing team.

Kalikow and Momo talked about what they would like in a Grand Touring automobile, comparing the existing high-performance GTs and high-end luxury models with their ideal.

Unsuccessful there, they went south to Modena, where they met former Maserati chief engineer Giulio Alfieri, and over the course of three days in the summer of 1969 agreed upon the chassis' specifications.

Hugo Bragoni, a former Momo employee then working as an engineer at Fiat, was hired by Kalikow and given oversight of the chassis construction and parts supply.

When they returned to Italy late that year, little progress on the chassis had been made, so Momo suggested approaching Automobili Stanguellini.

Vittorio Stanguellini's company was a small Italian constructor of sports cars and Formula Junior racers whose products Momo had previously imported into the US.

[3] Still in need of a coachbuilder, Kalikow was in England to attend a motor show when he happened to meet Derek Hurlock, chairman and managing director of AC Cars.

Hurlock encouraged Kalikow to approach Pietro Frua, who had styled and built the AC Frua—a car generally similar in concept to the Mirage.

To source an powerplant for the car, Momo called Bill Mitchell at GM, who agreed to supply a version of the Chevrolet small block engine for Kalikow's coupe.

After reviewing a scale model of the design, Kalikow returned to Frua on 2 January 1971 to approve the full-size body buck's shape.

The first engine delivered by GM became a testbed for an in-house project to develop a fuel injection system for the car.

After an informal road test Kalikow thought that a taller (numerically lower) final drive ratio paired with the manual transmission would be a suitable configuration for cars sold in Europe.

Both Kalikow and Garfinkle had been impressed by the Lancia Marica coupe designed by Tom Tjaarda for Ghia and shown at the 1969 Turin Auto Show, and agreed to make this car the template for the Mirage.

[1] The final design was a conservatively styled two-door 2+2 coupe with a long hood and a large grille flanked by pairs of round headlamps.

[8] To give the engine a distinct look, Kalikow had the staff at the Momo Corporation begin development of a fuel injection system for the Mirage.