Low light – ’58 Ghia

When Classic & Sports Car magazine decided to include a piece on Karmann Ghias in one of their issues in the early Eighties, they described the stylish Volkswagen as ‘neither classic nor sports...' but rather ‘a boulevard sports car'. Harsh, but undoubtedly fair. In their defence, the article goes on to say how the Karmann Ghia was a modern motor company's perfect product. "Take one bog standard motor car, do absolutely nothing to the mechanical specification, dress it up in a stunning new body (with less room than your standard model), and sell it at anything up to 60 per cent more," the article continued. Put that way, the Karmann Ghia, as a concept at least,
was nothing short of brilliant. As was the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising campaign than went along with it.
Just as the ad agency's phenomenally successful ‘Think Small' Beetle campaign used humility and modesty to promote the humble VW to an American market more used to brash, boastful, self-promoting campaigns, they used a similar self-effacing style on the KG, although a few ads were spiced up with nods to the car's feminine appeal, playing on its distinctive styling. This tack subtly suggested it was in good company among other European exotica from the likes of Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari. And it worked!
California went on to become the biggest single market for the new, swoopy VW sports car, its sun-drenched boulevards proving the perfect platform for under-powered posing. But compared to the world-beating Beetle, relatively little money was spent promoting and trying to sell it, perhaps because it didn't fit with VW's ethos of frugality and simplicity.
I remember going to VW dealers in the Seventies, a time when you could still buy a Beetle new straight off the forecourt, and never even seeing a Karmann Ghia - not even among the approved used cars, or whatever they called them back then.

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the February 2010 issue of VolksWorld

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