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A Guide to the VW Karmann Ghia |
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For a few years after World War 2 Europe was struggling to rebuild itself and it's citizens required efficient, cheap, and functional motorcars such as the Beetle and 2CV to enable them to get on with their lives. By the end of the 40's and the early 50's however things were looking up and more prosperous folks began to look for a better class of vehicle to carry themselves in. Volkswagen could see this change and knew that the Beetle was never going to be attractive to the average dandy man about town. It was with this in mind that they contracted German coach builder Karmann to build their new flagship "image" model. However neither Karmann nor Volkswagen were too hot on the design front (c'mon - they were German after all!) so Karmann contacted Italian styling and design firm Ghia who as it happens had just been working on a few concept models for Chrysler. One of these concept models which had not been produced now got a little bending and tweaking and was made to fit a modified Beetle floorpan. VW executives liked the resulting design and in August 1955 the first Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (or the Type 14 as VW called it) rolled of the production like in Osnabruck.
So how did the public react to this beautiful car? Well they thought it was beautiful of course, however the 34HP Beetle engine did little to capture peoples imagination. This was not a true sports car by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that parts were cheap and it was well built made up for it and it the first year alone 10,000 were sold. When the convertible came out a couple of years later in 1958, sales jumped to around 18,000 cars per year. Sales climbed steadily until the late 1960's when they peaked in the neighborhood of 33,000 cars a year. The Karmann Ghia was last produced in 1974 to make way for the new VW Scirocco. Only 365,912 coupes and 79,326 convertibles were produced which make the Karmann Ghia a fairly rare car considering it was produced for nearly 20 years.
So how did a sports car that struggles to do 120kph become such a success? There were a number of reasons, including the low costs and the beauty of the car, but you have to give some credit to Volkswagens advertising of the period. They quiet simply made a joke of the lack of power and therefore made it part of the character of the vehicle. In one TV advert a Karmann Ghia is seen racing towards a giant sheet of paper with the obvious intention of ripping through it in great style. Instead it hits the paper and bounces off it!!!
Driving a Karmann Ghia today is as much of a joy as it was 40 years ago. They still turn heads more than most cars, and they are still great fun to drive. A well restored or maintained Karmann Ghia will keep up with modern traffic on all but the fastest of roads, and it handles and brakes nicely. Expect to pay over €10k for a good condition model, and more for a convertible. A word of warning - the KG has effectively no back seat, almost no luggage space, does less than 30mpg, and is completely impractical!! But then again these are all just more reasons to love it!
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Thanks to John Boylan for contributing the main article. |
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