| le the production life of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia | | | | the same chassis, the same air cooled engine thrum, |
| spanned from 1955 to 1974, the beauty of the car and | | | | and the same economy car mechanicals. With all of |
| the fun, classy style of it pushed its way into | | | | the things that these cars had in common, the new KG |
| automobile history books forever. The sporty coupe | | | | had something special that no other car from |
| and convertible styles were surprising vehicles from | | | | Volkswagen had ever had, and that one thing was |
| the company that had become infamous with the | | | | style. |
| Beetle. What made the car so memorable was its | | | | The make up of the new car that had everyone |
| sleek body that was set over the simple Beetle | | | | buzzing was a complicated one. Volkswagen in 1955 |
| chassis, which allowed people to get a sports car like | | | | was a small but rapidly growing company in West |
| drive at the price of a Beetle. | | | | Germany. Karmann was a coachbuilder from West |
| In 1955 the German car manufacturer let us all in on | | | | Germany and was responsible for building the Beetle |
| the Karmann Ghia coupe model. Volkswagen at the | | | | convertibles. Ghia was a styling house in Italy. There |
| time was a company that was not made famous | | | | was even a little bit of American input that added to |
| because of the exciting, stylish cars that it turned out, | | | | the design. Mario Boano and Luigi Segre of |
| so many people were pretty leery about how the car | | | | Carrozzeria Ghia had done some work already for |
| would fare, especially in comparison to the hot rods | | | | VW. Boanos son had bought a Beetle in Paris and |
| and slick models from other companies that were out. | | | | Ghia took the car, removed the Beetle body, and |
| However, by the time the last of these cars were | | | | replaced it with a sleek coupe body shell. This first |
| shipped to the United States, almost 400,000 had been | | | | prototype was then sent to Karmanns factory, and in |
| built, which far exceeded many expectations and | | | | November of 1953 was shown to VW executives. |
| predictions. | | | | They overall loved the car, were curious about it, and |
| The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and the Beetle | | | | wanted to know details about everything especially the |
| shared a lot of characteristics in common, which was | | | | styling. The Karmann Ghia was born and exploded |
| one of the things that both intrigued many people and | | | | onto the look what I can do car scene from that point |
| also confused them at the same time. Both cars used | | | | on. |