The Karmann Ghia remains one of the most talked-about cars ever made by Volkswagen. Fortunately, they are often in beautiful condition when you still see them and that certainly applies to this copy. Harald Hooghiemstra forwarded the extensive photo series, for which thanks!
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is in a sense the epitome of Germany’s recovery after World War II. After utilitarian cars such as the Volkswagen Beetle and Transporter T1, the Germans again saw the opportunity to work a bit more creatively and strikingly. They didn’t do it all by themselves, by the way. The design comes from the Italian Ghia and that succeeded wonderfully in putting on paper a flashy coupé carriage on a slightly modified Beetle base. The Karmann Ghia, which owes the first part of its name to the bodybuilder who took care of the production, was received with enthusiasm. Once you set out, however, you soon noticed the relationship with the Beetle and therefore also that the Karmann Ghia probably did not quite live up to what you would expect based on the appearance in terms of driving characteristics.
However, that did not spoil the fun, because the Karmann Ghia was a hit. Especially because it was a striking car at a relatively reasonable price. Even in the United States, where the Beetle had also been nicely discovered by now, they were also quite charmed by it and in the 1960s and early 1970s, sometimes between 20,000 and 30,000 were sold annually. This 1967 copy only got a Dutch registration in 2008 and may therefore have spent most of its life on the other side of the large lake. Undoubtedly, a restoration was once necessary, because it looks very neat at first glance. He is still with the man or lady who introduced it to the Netherlands 13 years ago, so you can bet he will be cherished!