In 1961 VW announced a car that could have been the Beetle’s successor: the Type 3. It was a 2-door notchback sedan with a 1493 c.c. engine, advertised as the Volkswagen 1500. Still air-cooled and rear-mounted, thanks to repositioning of the fan and oil cooler, the engine was a mere 16″ high, which meant that a station wagon and eventually a fastback version would soon be added. But the most exciting variant was a Type 3 Karmann Ghia coupe, which I hereby nominate as one of the prettiest mass production cars ever made. If ever there was a poor man’s Porsche, this was it. Back in the 60′s when I was still young and foolish (I’m now old and foolish), I was privileged to be assistant pr director of Volkswagen Canada and was assigned to create a cross-country dealer introductory tour of the 1500. My assistant’s-assistant and I took three cars with us; a 1500 sedan, a 1500 Ghia coupe, and a 1500 Ghia convertible. The latter was a prototype that never reached production and even diehard VW enthusiasts are hard-pressed to prove its existence. Believe me, it was real, for I drove one. Apologies for the picture quality; lacking decent photos, it was scanned from an old Volkswagen calendar.
October 29th, 2006
The Forgotten Karmann Ghia
by admin | Posted in German Cars | 2 Comments » |
2 Comments »
Comment by DON ROSSBCH
Thanks for the picture of the type 3 Ghia. I owned one (white over red), and it never failed to elicit favorable comments wherever I went drove it. I purchased it from Wood Motors in Detroit, and was told it was a Canadian car traded in at Wood. But it began to get rusty (lots of salt in the winter!) and I reluctantly let it go. Thanks for the memory!
Don Rossbach
Great memories for me, too, Don.
– Philip
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I am in the used car industry myself, and am a huge fan of classics such as the one above. What a beauty! Great blog by the way..keep it up – love the read. And don’t worry – the pic is of fine quality…
Thanks for your compliments! Made my day.
– Philip
October 30, 2006 @ 9:12 pm