VW Karmann Ghia Turns 65: Happy Birthday, You Beautiful Beetle-Based Car!

Sixty-five years ago, the first Karmann Ghia rolled off the assembly line at the Osnabruck factory.

The brainchild of Wilhelm Karmann, a contract carmaker, it combined German engineering, as it was built on the chassis of the Volkswagen Beetle, with Italian design signed by Carrozzeria Ghia.

The coachbuilder created a concept that Karmann showed to Heinrich Nordhoff, Volkswagen’s Managing Director at the time, and the two decided to put it into production in August 1955, one month after its official reveal.

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The following year, the first batch started arriving in the United States, and despite the sports car design, it packed a 36-horsepower engine and was 150 pounds (68 kg) heavier than the Beetle. Thus, it was anything but fast, with a magazine recording a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) sprint of 28 seconds.

Nonetheless, the Karmann Ghia was fun to drive, with changes to the suspension that included a front sway bar and different springs compared to the Beetle. It also sat closer to the ground and carried a $900 premium over the classic model it was based on.

Its looks made it popular, with 362,601 coupes and 80,881 convertibles built over the next 19 years, out of which almost 279,000 were shipped to the U.S.

By the time production ended in 1974, the Karmann Ghia was steadily updated, alongside the Beetle, and it ended up eventually having 60 HP, but the basic outline never changed, and it might inspire VW’s ID. EV family, with the automaker stating that “the electric future could have some of the styling freedom of the past”.

Nowadays, collectors can pick one up from under $10,000 to upwards of $30,000, depending on the overall condition and mileage.