The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a family of three overlapping sports car models sold as a 2+2 coupé from 1955 to 1975 and as a convertible from 1957 to 1975, though German production ended a year before that in Brazil. Internally they were the Type 14, the Type 34 and the Brazilian Type 145 TC, and all combined the floorpan and mechanicals of the Beetle or the Type 3 with styling by Italy’s Carrozzeria Ghia and hand-built bodywork by the German coachbuilder Karmann. The 1955 Type 14 was only the second Volkswagen passenger car after the Beetle.
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia at a glance
| Models | Type 14 (1955–1975), Type 34 (1962–1969), Type 145 TC in Brazil (1972–1975) |
|---|---|
| Bodies | 2+2 coupé from 1955, convertible from 1957 |
| Styling | Carrozzeria Ghia, Turin |
| Coachwork | Karmann, Osnabrück |
| Mechanicals | Beetle floorpan for the Type 14, Type 3 for the Type 34 |
| Built in Germany | more than 445,000, not counting the Type 34 |
| Type 34 in Brazil | 41,600 cars between 1962 and 1975 |
| Type 34 sunroof | one of the first power-operated steel sunroofs |
| Last model year | 1974 cars sold in North America as two-seaters |
| Place in the range | faster and more expensive than the Beetle |
History of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
Three companies and many individuals shaped the Karmann Ghia. In the early 1950s Volkswagen had only the Beetle, and with rising postwar living standards its executives were receptive to a halo model. Wilhelm Karmann, who had taken over his family coachbuilding firm and wanted more contracts building Volkswagen convertibles, began talking to Luigi Segre of Carrozzeria Ghia at motor shows. Segre secretly obtained a Beetle through Gian Paolo, the son of Mario Boano, who bought one in Paris and drove it to Turin; Ghia modified the platform and built a prototype in five months, and late in 1953 Segre showed the model to Karmann in Paris. Karmann said he would like to build it and presented the project to Volkswagen.
The styling combined the work of Segre, Mario Boano, Sergio Coggiola and Giovanni Savonuzzi, and it was strongly influenced by Virgil Exner’s Chrysler D’Elegance and K-310 concepts, which Ghia had prototyped; Exner’s son described Savonuzzi as the man who downsized the D’Elegance into the Karmann Ghia. No definitive attribution to a single designer was ever made. The Type 14 was faster and more expensive than the Beetle but cramped in the back despite its wider and almost slab-sided body, and a convertible joined it in 1957.
In 1961 the Karmann Ghia briefly lost its title as the fastest Volkswagen to the 1500 cc Type 3, and that year Volkswagen, Ghia and Karmann presented a new Type 34 on the Type 3 floorpan and 1500 cc powertrain. Built from 1962 to 1969 with angular and roomier bodywork, a more luxurious interior and one of the world’s first power-operated steel sunroofs, it cost up to twice as much as a Beetle and became the range-topper, while the cheaper Type 14 stayed in production and remained the only one offered as a convertible. Its absence from the United States, the Karmann Ghia’s most important market, and its high price elsewhere limited sales, and after the Type 14 also received the 1500 cc engine in 1967 the Type 34 was dropped during 1969. Volkswagen of Brazil commissioned Ghia once more for a third model, the Karmann Ghia TC, a stylish fastback built from 1972 to 1975 with good interior space for a 2+2. For its final model year the vestigial rear seat of the Type 14 was dropped on North American cars, which lacked provisions for seat belts, so all 1974 Karmann Ghias there were sold strictly as two-seaters.
Design and features
- Italian-American styling: designed by Carrozzeria Ghia with strong echoes of Virgil Exner’s Chrysler concepts.
- Hand-built bodies: coachwork by Karmann in Osnabrück.
- Beetle and Type 3 underpinnings: proven mechanicals under a much prettier body.
- Type 34: the wider, roomier and much more expensive model, with an optional power steel sunroof.
- Convertible from 1957: offered on the Type 14 only.
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia versions
- Type 14 coupé (1955–1975): the original Beetle-based car.
- Type 14 convertible (1957–1975): the open version.
- Type 34 (1962–1969): the Type 3-based, upmarket model.
- Type 145 TC (1972–1975): the Brazilian fastback.
The Karmann Ghia used the floorpan of the Beetle and, in Type 34 form, the mechanicals of the Type 3. More cars are in the Volkswagen collection.
Video: This VW Karmann Ghia is a Turbocharged Ice Scraper
Video by Driving.ca on YouTube.
Sources
- Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, English Wikipedia: models, production, design history, Type 34, Brazil
