’67 Karmann Ghia

I often wonder how today's advertising gurus would pitch the Karmann Ghia. The motor manufacturers seem to know target markets very well and design cars specifically for them. The Type 14 Karmann Ghia, which was produced between 1955 and 1974 in numbers surpassing 440,000 (363,000 coupés and 80,000 cabrios), was - and is still by many - considered to be one of the best looking car of all time. The sleek lines, chrome in all the right places and a sporty driving position gave the impression this was a true sportscar. This unfortunately was not the case, as the Ghia had the same running gear as the humble Beetle - not ground-breaking speed, I am sure you will agree! What it did do was give excellent reliability and jaw-dropping good looks. Even today people stop to admire a Karmann Ghia, which is testament to the Ghia's design.
So, back to my earlier question: How would today's advertising folks pitch it to potential buyers? I have to say I'd be stumped. If I was fortunate enough to have sportscar money I'd want a good looking car, which the Ghia is, so no problems there. But when you consider the Karmann Ghia was pricey when new, you'd expect your new purchase to be able to give the similarly-priced sportscars a run for their money, which it didn't!
North America was the main market for the Karmann Ghia, where the style conscious fell in love with the looks and performance was not so important.
By 1967 the Ghia had a ‘beefy' 1500cc engine, but still had to wait until the '68 model year to get the extra 6 volts to bring it up to what were modern standards. But this didn't stop a young Belgian owner from buying a this L282 Lotus White at the start of 1967. He clearly loved the Ghia as he treated it with regular services. The service records show the car was driven sparingly until it was sold in 1975 to a collector, as it had only covered a measly 64,000kms, which equates to about 40,000 miles in eight years. This is where the Ghia's driving days went into hibernation, as it stayed in a collection until 2001.

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the Summer 2009 issue of VolksWorld

SUBSCRIBE
Never miss an issue again by setting up a subscription to VolksWorld magazine!

VW Wallpaper
You can download a wallpaper from this feature for your computers desktop in our VW Wallpaper section.