Page 102 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

the VW Board and they approved it as the “Type 14” in November 1953. The first production model was introduced at the 1955 Paris and Frankfurt Motor Shows and reaction exceeded expectations with more than 10,000 units sold in the first year.
The Karmann Ghia was very much a hand-built product, very different from its Beetle forebear. In contrast to the Beetle’s machine-welded body with bolt-on fenders, the Karmann Ghia’s body panels were butt-welded with no visible seams, hand-shaped and smoothed with English pewter in a time-consuming process commensurate with higher-end manufacturers (Karmann referred to these craftsman as “sculptors”), resulting in the Karmann Ghia’s higher price.
To accommodate Ghia’s curvaceous styling (which featured rolled-under rocker panels versus the Beetle’s running boards), the Beetle’s chassis side rails were widened to accommodate the body,
Karmann Ghia bodies were truly handcrafted, with front and rear fenders butt-welded and the seams filled in. “The test comes when the inspector pulls on his cotton mitten and feels where the body ends and the fenders begin,” said a Karmann brochure. “If his left hand tells him the front assembly is made of one continuous piece of smooth steel, he knows it’s right.”
100Wayne CariniAffordable Classics
Luigi Segre and Wilhelm Karmann with their creation at the Frankfurt Motor Show, 1961.
which at 64.2 inches, was four inches wider than the Beetle’s. Due to the Karmann Ghia’s eight-inch lower height versus the Beetle, the angle of the steering column was changed and the shift lever was shortened. This also drove down the seating position, creating more of a sports car feeling. These and other changes resulted in about 100 pounds of additional weight over the Beetle, but the Karmann Ghia was also more aerodynamic – to a point. Road & Track’s 1956 road test found that the “slippery” Karmann Ghia was 1.2 seconds faster 0-60 than the normal Beetle – but that only meant that it broke the 30-second barrier.
Testers found the Karmann Ghia’s visibility to be excellent, thanks to its ample glass area and thin pillars. They were less enthusiastic about the ventilation system, which, like the Beetle, was primitive at best and lacked a blower to provide fresh air from the intakes below the windshield. Initially, the quarter windows were fixed, but opened in later versions.
Apart from its sensual styling, the balance of the Karmann Ghia was nearly pure Beetle, which meant that it was built from a base of low-cost, high-volume mechanicals. That meant a tub chassis with front and rear trailing arms supported by torsion bars and shock absorbers. The rear-mounted engine was coupled to a forward-facing transmission with independent swing axles (later made fully independent). Instrumentation was initially limited to a speedometer and a clock – fuel was checked manually until a fuel gauge was added in 1962.
The Convertible
In August 1957, Volkswagen introduced a convertible version of the Karmann Ghia. This was Karmann’s specialty and the top on the Karmann Ghia was far more substantial than any of its British competitors, with a cloth exterior and a padded and lined interior.