Karmann-Ghia, VW's Carrera For The Common Man And Woman

One prominent advertising character of the late 1920's was Fisher's Body Girl. GM's Body by Fisher became a euphemism for re-formed ladies. The girls and Fisher's carriage logo became emblems of desire that elided the realities of mass production.
By the late ´50s, Fisher's finned auto bodies were shown rocketing through space.

Americans learned however, that on the terra firma these jet-age fetishes were caskets. In 1957, Industrial Design claimed ill-conceived bodies by Fisher die young The car that ID thought would endure because it looked elegant, fast, and expensive was the compact, unexaggerated Ghia VW
His words proved prophetic; VW's Ghia outlived its contemporaries due to sound styling and careful construction. Unlike most affordable postwar cars, the smart-looking Ghia was coachbuilt by Karmann GMBH.

Karmann: Europe's Automotive Couture House

Karmann was established in 1901, when Wilhelm Karmann took over Christian Klages' 27-year-old coachbuilding shop. In 1902, the firm built its first car body. By WWI, Karmann employed 50 people, who built bodies for chassis supplied by automobile makers.
During 1924, Wilhelm Karmann travelled to the United States, where he learned steel bodywork and spray painting methods. These new techniques were adopted and Karmann began series production of car bodies.
The Depression however, proved difficult; Karmann's best customers folded. Yet, an arrangement with Adler proved beneficial because Karmann built Adler's Trumpf a successful 1930's engineering marvel. Karmann also built Adler's fine convertible tops. These well-made weatherproof tops won several Concours d' Elegance.

In 1949, Karmann resumed coachbuilding when VW's executive director Heinz Nordhoff ordered 1000 four-seater Beetle cabriolets. Karmann's signature multi-layered insulated top abeit bulky, was four-season friendly.

Karmann's topless Beetle attracted actress Brigitte Bardot and designer Pierre Cardin. They were open-air Bug enthusiasts. When production ended in January 1980, Karmann produced more than 330,000 Beetle convertibles.

Instead of ephemeral paper glamour girls for promotion, it manufactured something that was timeless-VW's Karmann-Ghia. This remarkable motorized billboard proclaimed Karmann's body-building prowess worldwide.

It worked. Soon, according to Alex Walordy (Car and Driver, January, 1962), When a naked chassis needs to be clothed, motor moguls who care usually say, ´have Karmann make the body"

Origins of VW's Chic Car

The Ghia's design is shrouded in controversy. At least two designers have said they penned its compelling shape and the car's gestation was secretive: Virgil Exner and Mario Boano.

Some writers agree. Peter Vack's Volkswagen Buyer's Guide says, It seems that a good deal Graham Robson's Volkswagen Chronicle, claims, whether [the Karmann-Ghia] was a copy of Exner's D'Elegance [sic] concept is less certain... Nonetheless, the cars had obvious similarities. Robson is probably incorrect when he says, Ghia added two front ´nostril' grills for effect. Ghia's original prototype didn't have grills. Thus, it's possible that Karmann created them.

Club member Paul Taylor's Ghia

Automotive historian Jan Norbye set the record straight. In VW Treasures by Karmann, Norbye who interviewed designers and checked documents suggests that the inspiration for the car came from Mario Boano's (who worked for several Italian coachbuilding firms and bought Carozzeria Ghia in 1944) creative mind.

Norbye's evidence is powerful. Several Boano-designed cars foreshadowed VW's Ghia. These include the Alfa Romeo 6C2500 S Convertible (1949), the Lancia Aurelia limousine (1950), and the Gioiello/Fiat coupe (1949). It's more likely that the sultry VW's pint-sized Chrysler d'Elegance-look was Boano's rather than Exner's.

Nevertheless, the plot thickens. Ghia built Chrysler's show car in 1953. Then, it built about 400 d'Elegance-like GS-1's for Charles Ladouche's Societe France Motors. This Paris firm imported Chryslers and VWs too.

Meanwhile, Ghia, whose commercial director, Luigi Serge bought a Beetle from Ladouche. Within five months, Ghia built a prototype on this Beetle's chassis. Then in the fall of 1953, Ghia presented their VW to Dr. Karmann.

Later that year, the vehicle was secretly delivered to Osnabruck. During November 1953, Karmann presented the voluptuous coupe to Dr. Feuereisen VW's vice president and Nordhoff. According to Norbye, Feuereisen's reaction was visceral: Now that has class! Nordhoff's response was more reserved when stating that it was a very beautiful car, but much too expensive. Dr. Karmann then questioned, how can you say that? I have not even told you what it costs.

Dr. Karmann made an excellent offer and Nordhoff sealed the deal. Karmann would build it and VW would sell it. Modifying the Beetle's platform and testing the prototype commenced. Later, production tooling was ordered. In June 1955, the first unnamed Karmann coupe was born.

A Sight for Sore Eyes

During July 1955, VW introduced the sensuous auto to the European press. The coupe's press preview, claims Dr. Karmann, was a world sensation, but the car still did not have a name. Italian monikers were considered. Eventually, Dr. Karmann suggested Karmann-Ghia a delicious sounding name that everyone liked.

the ladies asked for this one

Two months later, VW's new coupe appeared at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It received accolades for its purity of line and perfection of proportion that almost takes one's breath away (Autosport, February 15, 1957)

It was luxuriously aerodynamic without cliches. Indeed, American industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague selected a Karmann-Ghia for his list of the world's most beautifully designed products.

Americans got their first glimpse of VW's Italian beauty in late 1956 when Science and Mechanics (October, 1956) tested an early model.

Australia's Wheels' (April, 1957)

Ghia-Karmann [sic] versus the Volkswagen comparison revealed that Ghia looks better, handles better, outshines the Volkswagen on the road, while America's Road and Track (April, 1956) was less sanguine when stating, the overall performance improvement, we feel, is negligible. For nearly 1000 dollars more than the sedan, then, the customer is acquiring a very pretty body.

Science and Mechanics said, the ladies asked for this one. Yet, an editor's wife disagreed. Her sidebar said this might be correct were it not for the fact that every Ghia I have seen... was being driven by a man!

Nevertheless, she and 485,983 (Karmann's official production total) future owners were sold on the Ghia's looks.

What is It?

VW's glamour car puzzled reviewers. In fact, many got the name wrong! Road and Track in its first two Ghia articles called it the Ghia Karmann as did Modern Motor, Science and Mechanics and Wheels. Journalists had a point. Even though the 1956 Ghia erased 10.8 seconds off the 1956 Beetle's 0-60mph in 45-second time, bested the Beetle's top speed by four-mph at 71 and had a front stabilizer shaft (which reduced side-sway in sharp turns), it was more tortoise than hare. And the back seat was not improved whined another reviewer.

Nonetheless, although the Karmann-Ghia never excelled as a performance car, it did performatively succeed. The car became a contemporary classic and it democratized automotive fashion; it had sensible richness. The Ghia was to automobiles what Christian Dior's New Look was to fashion a version of automotive haute couture.

The similarity between Karmann, Ghia and Dior wasn't accidental. These fashion houses symbolized postwar affluence with sculpted elegance and fine craftsmanship. There was one significant difference dynamic obsolescence. Dior's fashions were like GM's autoerotic Motoramas. GM's extravaganzas you could look but not touch-were big-budget versions of cheaper Hugh Hefner-like creations meant to distract men from the anxieties of the atomic age. Dior, GM and the press spun a frenzied series of fashion trends each meant to draw consumers into an unending chain of commodity consumption. VW's Karmann-Ghia, however, wasn't about chrome, 44-D cups, rocket launchers or push-button symbols of primal lust. Instead, it eschewed faddish exterior design and mechanical novelties for styling sanity and mechanical simplicity. It offered good design in an age of shoddily built insolent chariots. VW, true to form, avoided hyperbolic promotional stunts. Without fanfare, the Ghia slipped into VW's Bauhaus-like showrooms.

Quiet worked. Ghia buyers, during the 1950's, exceeded supply. One reason was that the Ghia's seamless shape required a lot of hand labour. After moulding this automotive confection, cotton-mittened hands caressed the Ghia's nude shimmering, discoloured body searching for blemishes.

	Quality build was the hall mark of Karmann

Once the body passed inspections, it was submerged into a zinc phosphate primer, then it was wet sanded. Following that came the initial coat of paint and hand sanding, and this was repeated until the fourth coat. To achieve a nearly flawless finish, Karmann's paint booth used a dust removing curtain of water.

Ghia production increased during 1962, when Karmann developed techniques that replaced some hand crafted methods. This lowered the 1962 Ghia's U.S. price: $ 135 for a coupe, $ 200 for a convertible.
Road and Track (January, 1962) predicted that you'll see a lot more Ghias simply because more are being made and the car will receive a greater share of VW's... advertising budget. The magazine's forecast proved correct. The anti-hotrod Ghia moved from 2,452 (1956) to 9,300 units (1961), then toward first place in two-seater salesÜ38, 825 in 1970.

Beauty is More than Skin-Deep

VW's coupe was technologically advanced. All of the car's windows were curved- even the side glass. Moreover, the door and side-quarter windows were frameless. Finally, the car's low profile and carved out-of-soap shape required sophisticated production techniques.

The packaging was also unique. By putting a coachbuilt body on a Beetle chassis, VW found a niche for an exotic-looking economy car. Eventually, other automobile manufacturers borrowed VW's recipe.

Club member Mark Samuel's Ghia

Even the ads were different. Although early sales literature used artful illustrations, during the ´60's, VW's ad agency - Doyle, Dane and Bernbach discarded tradition. They turned lampooning normal advertising into a sport.

The agency's soft-sell ads were hip. Instead of herds of horses or scantily clad women , an early Ghia ad admitted, This ad is six years late. It was a thinly veiled attack on planned obsolescence and false advertising claims. For instance, its copy faux confessed that what the car people thought was an Alfa Romeo or a Ferrari was Brace yourself... a Volkswagen It warned, Sorry we can't do anything about strangers who think it's a $ 5,000 car. You may still find bellboys... expecting bigger tips. But nothings very perfect is it?

Another ad's cutline below a Ghia with racing stripes admitted, You'd Lose. But, it might comfort you to know, you'd be driving the best-made loser on the block. VW even suggested the Ghia was for people who can't stand the sight of a Volkswagen. Then, it revealed that the photogenic car shown was a fancy wrapper; it covered the Beetle's strictly functional chassis. Its beauty was more than skin deep.

In an era of dueling muscle cars, an ad mocked racy cars and their owners. Its cutline asked, Can you spot the druggist from Toledo. Photographs of viral well-attired men with their equally fancy European sports cars are shown. One playboy. however, was an impostor who drove an ordinary Karmann-Ghia.

Finally, there was a TV spot that spoofed the Shell's Platformate commercial. In this ad, the Karmann-Ghia is shown heading toward a paper barrier. When the car hits it, the barrier merely budges and then car bounces backward. A voice-over says, The Karmann-Ghia is the most economical sports car you can buy... It's just not the most powerful. Rosser Reeves, the assertive advertising man who pushed unique selling propositions had a coronary.

	Two of VWs famous Karmann Ghia ads

Too Much of a Good Thing?

The Ghia received few exterior changes during its production run. Various modifications to the signal lights and bumpers followed headlight modifications. The most notable was the addition of bigger bumpers and larger rear signal lights in 1972. Like the Beetle, the most significant chassis improvement came in 1969 when a new rear suspension was introduced. And like the Beetle, engine displacement increased from 1200cc to 1600cc.

While these alterations improved the car, they never transformed its tame image. That was problematic. After Woodstock, the coupe's price escalated from $ 2,399 in 1970 to $ 3,475 in 1974. Likewise, the convertible's price climbed a whopping $ 1,326 to $ 3,935 in 1974. The 1974 Ghia eclipsed by competitive offerings was quietly laid to rest. A new front-drive Karmann-built, Italian-designed VW Scirocco coupe replaced it. Like the Ghia, the Scirocco won acclaim for its styling, practicality and contrarily its sports-car demeanour.

Source: Wheelspin