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German Cars
by Philip Powell on October 29, 2006
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.
Permalink: The Forgotten Karmann Ghia
Tags:
Volkswagen
VW
Karmann
Ghia
Type
3
coupe
convertible
classic
vintage
antique
collector
old
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Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/49579
Mr Wong
Vote for The Forgotten Karmann Ghia:
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Rating: 8.67 out of 3 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Miss Used Car Los Angeles
(10/31/06 12:12am)
Response from:
DON ROSSBCH
(11/06/06 4:05pm)
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
Don Rossbach
Great memories for me, too, Don.
-- Philip
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Thanks for your compliments! Made my day.
-- Philip