Description
Compiled by R.M.Clarke, Softbound, 160 Pages, A-VWKGGP, ISBN: 9781855207189, with a foreword from Australia's own Gavin Farmer
The following paragraph was written in 1981 and was my motivation for publishing our first book on the Karmann Ghia. This our 3rd edition runs to twice as many pages with some, where possible, in colour.
About six months ago whilst driving on the freeway from Los Angeles to San Diego, I was impressed by a beautifully preserved yellow Karmann-Ghia coupe that leisurely overtook me, a few minutes later a black convertible slid by and this started me counting. In all some seventeen K-G were spotted that day. This subsequently inspired me to search through some four thousand magazines and the distilled essence of my reading will be found on the following pages.
Brooklands Books has been publishing compilation road test books on a wide range of makes and models for 50 years and today is the world's largest publisher of such material. For this our thanks go to the group of international authors, photographers and publishers who have supported our reference series by allowing us to include their road tests and other stories.
In this case Auto Age, Autocar, Autosport, Canada Track & Traffic, Car and Driver, Car South Africa, Cars Illustrated, Classic & Sports Cat; Foreign Car Guide, Hot Rod, Karmann GMBH, Modern Motor, Motor Trend, Motoring Life, NZ Classic Car, Popular -Imported Cars, Practical Classics, Road & Track, Road Test, Sports Car Graphic, Sports Car World, Sports Cars Illustrated, Wheels, World Car Catalogue and the World Car Guide.
R.M. Clarke
The association between the once family-owned company Karmann GmbH in Osnabruck, north Germany and the Volkswagenwerke in Wolfsburg has become legendary. It stretches to half a century, from 1955 to 2005, when designer Mario Boano and owner of Ghia, Luigi Segre, showed a coupe concept they had developed in their Turin studios to Wilhelm Karmann. He liked it and so a viewing was arranged with Heinz Nordhoff, the chief of Volkswagen. Nordhoff, too, liked the design and an historic agreement was soon signed between the three businessmen.
At the Kasino Hotel in Georgsmarienhutte in 1955 the definitive Volkswagen Karmann Ghia coupe was released to the world's media. At that moment the pretty coupe walked onto the world stage and into the motoring Hall of Fame. Its actual road performance was no better than the humble VW Beetle but that seemed to be irrelevant to the many happy KG owners. It was the coupe's captivating styling rather than any actual performance that induced buyers to willingly part with their money. Top speed was around 75mph from the 34hp 1.2-litre VW engine, hardly figures to get excited about but it did not matter to the many who bought them.
The world's motoring media asked why owners were happily paying over the odds for the KG 1200, rival car companies struggled to understand the mystique behind the KG; many buyers were divided in their opinion towards the KG: and yet with little or nothing by way of an advertising campaign or any other form of promotion the ubiquitous Karmann Ghia continued on its merry way unhindered by the controversy it was creating.
In late 1961 Karmann introduced a second coupe. The Karmann 1500 was based on the Type 3 VW 1500 platform and running gear. It was exactly the same in concept to the original K-G but it lacked the original's timeless beauty and again was not a performance machine. It was discontinued in 1969, long before its older sibling.
When someone says the words "Karmann Ghia" today it is invariably the original to which they are referring such is its international profile after more than 30 years since the last one rolled off the Osnabriick assembly line.
Gavin Farmer
