Last Modified Listing Feed

VIN 1-1035944

Full Description: Dry storage since 1967. Bought in 1991 and drove it home. Highly original. Have Kardex.

VIN 2448038

Full Description: For sale on E-bay

I am selling my 3rd vw because i have twins due in November soooo For Sale is my 1959 Volkswagen Coupe Low Light. The body work has been finished 3 weeks ago! The Nose is solid The floor boards are solid as well as the rockers. I have pictures of all the body work along the way to final paint. Car was sand blasted and I can honestly tell you NO BONDO! I had the rims blasted and repainted the same color as the car. I have all the original pieces I bought the car because it was original. 2 pieces are missing, the front bumper and the windshield which I broke when removing. All trim pieces all the interior pieces I HAVE EVERYTHING! I had the tank cleaned and sealed tank even has the original reserve bottle. I have the turning signal bullets and rear turning signal pieces and the rechromers which will be done soon

VIN 2490890

Oliver

Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

Full Description: Delivery date Janurary 27,1959 to New Orleans. After sitting for years, a past restoration of sorts, and changing a couple of different owners, the Cabriolet now resides in Northern California. It is under going a extensive and complete restoration as of 4/2010. I am proud to be the owner of this diamond in the rough. She will shine in the sun again one day. Who ever had done the prior body work thought it would be a good idea to spray the interior, inside trunk, and engine bay with spray-on truck bed liner to cover up all the piss poor work done to hide their inability to repair this Ghia right. It has been a chore to remove it and the pictures speak for them self. We will fix her up good with as much NOS German steel and love as possible.

Karmann Ghia

My original coupe

Full Description: Here is a video showing my lowlight interior and exterior:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LYipfMhQfI

VIN 2384587

Full Description: This East Bay 1959 Convertible Lowlight Ghia has been stored in this Garage since 1978!!

VIN 2355115

Full Description: Pictures form: http://www.karmannghias.com.au/Registry/kg_registry.html

El Raton

Vin 1868225

VIn 1277***

VIN 1353396

Full Description: 1957 Karmann-Ghia with sound bodyand only slight surface rust. Engine and transmission were in good working order when previous customer started his tear-down retoration. He replaced the tires with new ones and the car still has both front bucket seats although the passenger side has many small stains. The front door glass and regulators are in the door, however the rear glass and regulators and the windshield are missing along with the rear seat.

This car was taken in on a trade from a previous customer at a VW Dealership in Yakima, Washington and sold at auction on 9 August 2010.

More General 1957 Karmann-Ghia information.

1957 August--Karmann-Ghia convertible production begins. Fuel gauge and elaborate Ghia-only horn ring introduced. Vinyl replaces cloth door panels. Roller accelerator wheel replaced with treadle pedal.

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.

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. Austrailia'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."

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.

Even the ads were different. Although early sales literature used artful illustrations, during the '60s, 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 nothing's 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.

VIN 2426402

Coupé in Argentina

Full Description: The original colour was L 353 brilliantrot

VIN 1897561

Full Description: Original owner bought 1958 in Brokoklyn then my Grandfather bought it in the 1969. I have the bill of sale at home and tittle.

This car has been garage kept for over 35 years. The nose is creased because the day we switched garages the town police tried to open it up because they received a bomb threat call.

riginal Bill of Sale From Brooklyn 1958

VIN 1605981

Full Description: You are looking at an original, unrestored, 1957 Karmann Ghia, produced in the Osnabruck factory in August of 1957.

The car was purchased new at Gilbert and Seibel VW in Vancouver, Washington by Stan Jordan, who owned a Gas station in Portland Oregon. Stan drove the car only about 46000 miles, before putting it on blocks in his garage in 1976. It was not driven again until shortly before 1993. It has only about 49,500 miles on it now.

The paint, engine, glass, bumpers, and interior are all original, except it appears there was some areas resprayed on the drivers side. No sign of any body repair, just a difference in the paint sheen, which you can see in some of the pics. The engine has never been out of the car. The only parts that have been replaced or added are a few rubber pieces, tires, bumperettes (replaced with NOS because the originals had lost their plating), battery, and coil.

Has the rare green rubber floor mats that came with this color, which is called Lizard Green (L317) and Deep Green (L318).

Interior and trunk are very clean. Car has a few flaws, but I would never restore this car as it is too original, and a car is only original once. There is a small nose dent, a scrape on the rocker, and a few small body dents.

The car has been shown many times and has always brought home awards. It has appeared in several magazines, including a feature article in the French magazine Super VWs.

It was sent it to the National Auto Museum in Reno Nevada where it was shown for 5 months in a special VW exhibit in 2005.

One interesting feature is that the deck lid is pristine, and was never drilled to bolt on a license plate. Stan stuck his on with suction cups, which have been removed. The original Motorola radio works great. It has its original and very complete owners manual, which includes the Motorola radio manual and warrantee card, and the nearly complete service coupon book.

VIN 2084635

Full Description: Delivered new to San Antonio TX.

Body off restoration currenty in progress.

Originally a pearl white car with a velvet beige (tan) top. It will be restored in this color combination.

This car also has a NOS 36 hp engine. It will be finished in 2011.

VIN 1074874

VIN 1-1028294

VIN 1-1043108

VIN 1-0961803

1955 build!!

VIN 1273488

Full Description: For sale on thesamba