I know, it’s a pity this couldn’t be a little older. Those stupid big bumpers and oversized rear lights are kind of disgraceful. As is the interior, frankly. But despite all those outrages, catching one of the timeless Type 14s is still cause for celebration, particularly in stock form and in a nice colour. They tried, but the design was not ruined. Well done, Ghia. And you as well, Karmann.
I encountered this lovely K-G in the south of France last summer. It would be hard to imagine a better vehicle to putter about the rural roads of Provence than this. Imagine wafting about the winding mountain roads, basking in the warm air, the familiar thrum of the 1.6 litre flat-4 in your wake. No worries, no hustle.
The German expression “Leben wie Gott in Frankreich” (living like God in France) captures this sentiment pretty aptly. It conveys the idea of a carefree life lived in a place of abundance and fair weather. Quite the idiom, isn’t it? Whatever sayings any country has regarding a neighbouring nation is usually negative. German culture bucks the trend.
Volkswagen also pleasantly surprised everyone with the K-G, dressing up their proletarian Beetle to mingle with the coachbuilt crowd. With its genius blend of Italian design and German engineering, the Karmann-Ghia is a potent cocktail of grace and solidity. Hard to resist.
OK, as mentioned in the first paragraph, this very late model does lose a few points on the grace front due to the extra bits VW saw fit to slap on that gorgeous mid-‘50s design. Luckily, this unfortunate uglification took place in the early ‘70s and did not go further. Imagine what the poor K-G would have looked like by 1980 with blacked out chrome and plastic wheel covers…
If I could wave a magic wand to turn something back to the earlier cars, it would have to be the interior. What a drab and dark décor for such a bright and happy automobile. The steering wheel looks especially wrong. The inevitable march of “progress”…
By the early ‘70s, the Karmann-Ghia was a 20-year-old design, so the fact that it sailed through two decades with very few changes was a feat in itself. The first coupés were made in 1955, with the convertible joining the fray two years later. I never realized until I looked into production numbers for this post, but the coupé outsold the drop-top four to one.
It makes sense – the coupé is undeniably gorgeous, and convertibles are more niche by their very nature. Still, over 80k units of the cabriolet were made until 1974. And they weren’t exactly giving these away.
The undeniable bonus point about these final edition Karmann-Ghias is their 50hp motor. Being that they are a bit heavier than Beetle cabriolets, I can’t imagine the early cars, pretty though they are, to be very user-friendly in present-day traffic – even in a place where 2CVs and Renault 4s still roam the network in decent numbers.
“Living like God in France driving a Karmann-Ghia cabriolet” has a certain ring to it.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1970 Karmann Ghia – The Fairest Volkswagen Of Them All, by PN
CC Capsule: 1967 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia – The Perfect Curbside Classic for the Crunchy Granola Set?, by Jim Grey
In-Motion Outtakes: 1970 – ’71 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia – Grape Creamsicle, by Joseph Dennis
COAL: My Karmann-Ghia Obsession, Part 1 and Part 2, by RetroJerry
At least steering wheels are easy to change!
Yes, beautiful automobile if you can look past those hideous bumpers & overkill tail lights
I forgot all about these – even as a college student in Germany – I never saw any. (Never saw any Beetles there either, btw.) Not quite sure what the fuss was all about, but then, I’ve only rode in them as a kid here in the States. To me, they were just cool looking Beetles and lord knows, I’ve spent a lifetime in the backseat of Beetles.
This Ghia is in lbeautiful condition. Would that my daily driven coupe were so nice! But then it wouldn’t be sitting outside my office in the New England rain at this moment.
Agree on the uglification of the bumpers and exterior in the post ’72 versions, even though I am partial to the somewhat opened rear wheel arches. The ‘vert is also less attractive to my eyes, losing the lovely roofline of the coupe.
The 1600 dual port motors are surpirisingly capable of mixing it in modern traffic – mine will quite easily run a GPS verified 90mph on the flat due to excellent aerodynamics from small frontal area and .37 Cd. You have lots of storage space, too, so can fit a mountain bike inside, making these very usable little cars.
Running out of numbers….
Is this an actual photo while driving this fast? Asking because I have done the same speed with the car on a lift, left front wheel off and a hand drill connected to the end of the speedo cable.
Yep, on the freeway near Boston the other day in traffic…and checked on GPS as I had nav running…quite good for under 50PS…
Yeah, those blunderbuss bumpers of the mid-1970s just didn’t fit the contours of this great car the way they did the Beetle. I could handle them on the Beetle, but not the Karmann-Ghia.
I feel the same – the bumpers on a Beetle are not as integrated, so the post ’72 ones on the Beetle and Type 3s don’t offend me so much…
Of course, the late Ghias can be made to look good – here is one done by my friend Chris Godding at the RTTS show in the UK last year.
It is on air ride and the wheels are 17″ Fuchs style. 2.3 liter motor means it goes as well as it looks. Gorgeous car.
He has just come back from a European tour in it….
I’m surprised a non-US model would have the big bumpers.
They were on all of them – the main market for Ghia’s was the USA…
Nice to see some are still left .
Sadly VW didn’t have much choice on those FUGLY bumpers & lights, D.O.T. mandates and they had to do it cheaply…..
-Nate
I owned a ’65 coupe for a while. I liked the business coupe aspect, the lockable trunk space instead of a rear seat. Also liked the rear window defroster and the ventilation through the nostrils. Didn’t like the driving experience. The low seat was uncomfortable, and the position of steering and shifter was awkward compared to a beetle.
A friend of mine owns a ’69 convertible. Ex CA car, thus equipped with (a pretty cool) aftermarket a/c. Really nice car but interior space is quite limited and, well, some 100 hp more would be of great benefit. Otherwise nice and trouble free!
Yes, late models got bigger bumpers than the early ones. But the feature car is not the Euro version, but a MY ’73 US-Version, I guess.
Euro versions didn’g get the vertical “thrust elements” on the bumpers. It also seems, that there is more space between the bumpers an the body than usually. And – if visual perception serves well – I even can see something like a retroreflectig element in the amber indicator lens on the frontside.
Below the MY ’74 Euro version (image taken from the www):
I dunno if it’s a US model. Speedo is in kph…
That’s right. But no too tricky to change, I think.
” … well, some 100 hp more would be of great benefit.”
That would be expecting too much of the even then antiquated beetle chasis.
100 in total would be fine for me – fairly achievable when this motor needs rebuilding…
Aside from the “too big”, tail lights; I liked the later model “KG’s”. They gave the illusion of being a “bit more car’ then did the earlier versions.
My sisters ‘dream car” was a blue “KG”, when she graduated “H/S” in “65”.
The bigger bumpers don’t look as nice as the early models. But these Ghias don’t get “punched in the nose” with these bumpers. I had a ’77 Datsun Z and I appreciated how those bigger bumpers protected the sheet metal.
You are right, Jose, most have had their nose rearranged at some time…