Green with envy: ’74 VW Karmann Ghia-ish
Most of us know the story of why the VW Karmann Ghia came into being. Here is a short version – VW execs wanted a halo car so they hired Ghia to cloak a 111 chassis (Beetle) in a slick new design. Then they got Karmann to build them using some pretty labor intensive, old school techniques to get all the curves right. Now they had a really nice little car to sell and DDB (Doyle, Dane, Bernbach) created one of the most memorable car campaigns to sell it. And sell it they did. We found this featured Ghia offered on eBay and we knew we had to feature it. The seller states that he wanted to build a performance car in keeping with ithe Ghia’s stylish, sporting looks. They could have done it if they wanted to. Like by buying Porsche but that wasn’t the mission. The project started with a 1-owner, California, Ravenna Green Coupe. The car was disassembled for paint in the original color. Then the go-fast parts went in – a performance built 155 hp engine attached to a 4-speed, with a really neat performance exhaust bringing up the rear. He added 944 brakes all around for stopping and more 944 in the interior. We just love it. We might have selected a different set of wheels but hey, it wasn’t our dream it was his. The seller is realistic about how much of his investment he will recover. So his loss could be your gain. Have a go at the auction by clicking here.