Volkswagen cemented its place in the market, after World War 2, with the Volkswagen Beetle, which had originally been designed right before the start of the war as a car for the people, but the car never entered serious production until the British, following World War 2, got the factory going in an effort to help restart he German economy. Once the beetle was off the ground, as the economies of Europe recovered, there was a desire to produce a more sporting model at Volkswagen. At that time, Carrozzeria Ghia was looking to expand their international reputation, and Karmann was looking for new contracts to grow the family coachbuilding firm. Luigi Segre of Ghia and Wilhelm Karmann met at an automobile show, hatched a plan and after buying a VW Beetle in Paris, Ghia designed the car and presented it to Karmann, who then presented it to Volkswagen, who approved the design and agreed to put it in production as the Type 14. The first production car debuted in 1955 and more than 10,000 sold in the first year. Built on beetle underpinnings, but with an elegant body, the car was hardly a real sports car, but had the simplicity and reliability of the beetle in an attractive package. The car evolved somewhat over time as safety changes came in but largely remained the same, aside from engine upgrades, until it was discontinued in 1974 in favour of the water cooled VWs. This VW Karmann Ghia is a 1972 model, which featured a range of changes to update it for safety features from the earlier models, as well as reducing production costs, such as using the same rectangular bumpers as the VW Type 3. The car was a mechanically sound car when we bought it and had been “restored” by a gentleman who intended to give it to his granddaughter as her first car, but when the granddaughter’s parents nixed the idea on safety concerns, he, instead, sold it and we ended up with it. The car is an original amber orange car, but has had a fairly poor repaint, covering the car with orange peel and somewhat uneven colour. On the positive side, the engine has been rebuilt and the car is mechanically sound. When we bought it, it had a smaller steering wheel that poorly fitted the car and an aftermarket shifter, both of which were removed in favour of more original items. As I don’t like the 1972 steering wheel, I opted to put on a replica earlier wheel, complete with horn ring which required modifying a replica wiper switch to clear the steering wheel while maintaining function. The car is Amy’s and personally I’m not fond of the somewhat cramped off-center driving position I have to adopt in the Karmann Ghia but it does have reasonably good responsiveness and is driveable, though feels noticeably underpowered. The shift linkage has been rebuilt but is still a little imprecise feeling, though it does shift well through all gears. At some point we may repaint the car and try to fix some of the cosmetic issues that exist, but it will likely have to be a bare metal respray and may uncover hidden problems.
