Experience for Hollywood stars: Karmann Ghia is the Beetle in a much more elegant form – Garáž.cz

Regarding the cultural legacy, the American director Quentin Tarantino, among others, liked the Karmann Ghia. The car first appeared in the movie Kill Bill 2, where Uma Thurman drove it. It is said that the car was not working very well at the time, so Uma happened to crash it on a dirt road – and that’s when she almost killed herself. And still she didn’t want to go with him and wanted to leave the delicate work to the stuntmen, but Quentin convinced her and later she regretted the consequences as one of the worst things that happened in his career .

Quentin did not forget the stylish turn, and 15 years later he reminded the audience of his style in the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). There, Brad Pitt was already on a rampage with him, who slipped the black black car through the streets of Hollywood. In this case, however, the basic flat four-cylinder with a volume of 2.5 liters was replaced by a much more powerful Subaru engine. Interestingly, the car was equipped with an automatic transmission, because the company Jaz Products, which rebuilt the car, did not know whether the famous actor could shift gears with a tar – manual transmission. Just FYI: Brad can operate a manual gearbox, so good.

So much for a quick window into the context of pop culture in recent years, of course there are many more references to the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia in movies or series. We will now move traditionally to place the model in the history of the car industry.

As society’s standard of living rose in the 1950s, people began to demand more luxurious goods. This also applied to cars. In this particular case, even Volkswagen, which was really popular at the time, unlike now. As you can imagine, he made his successful one Beetle model (type 1).

And it was on this basis that the new coupe/cabriolet project began to emerge, which was presented to the public for the first time in concept form at the Paris Motor Show in 1953. Many people stood behind him, but mostly Wilhelm. Karmann, who took over the family business at that time and was grinding his teeth to make a coupe or cabriolet based on Volkswagen. And then also Luigi Segre, who wanted to spread the fame of Carrozzerie Ghia to the whole world. Things went on: Gian Paulo Boano bought a beetle in Paris and sent it to Turin, to the Ghia body shop. It was there that work began to change the platform and the shape of the body. Many people worked on the design of the new car – from Segre to Mario Boana, Sergio Coggiola and Giovanni Savonuzzi. The fact that the designs were very similar to the Chrysler D’Elegance and the K-310 concept by the American designer Virgil Exner, who was even a friend of the whole group, deserves a mention.

Free creation ended when Volkswagen approved the design in November 1953 and began testing prototypes so that the first Type 14 could be produced on a new assembly line in Osnabrück, Germany. , in August 1955. The public response exceeded expectations, with more than 10,000 units sold in the first year, half of which were intended for export. The first Karmann Ghia was born. Unlike the Beetle, which had a machine-welded body with bolt-on fenders, the body panels were butt-welded and then hand-shaped and rolled smooth. This process was time-consuming and added to the fact that the stylish car cost much more than the basic model.

The first Type 14 was not offered as a true sports car, but as a practical and stylish 2 + 2 coupe. The convertible we drive around today arrived two years later, in 1957. The Type 14 had a long life, helped by its popularity in the US market, where was exported. It was produced between 1955 and 1975, with production ending in Germany a year earlier than in Brazil. In September 1961, it was replaced by the wider and newer Type 34, which was based on the new VW 1500 (Type 3), but it never achieved as much success as the there before. Brazil is mentioned in relation to the Karmann Ghia TC model, the third and last evolution of the range. Its creation was initiated directly by Volkswagen in Brazil, which came to the Ghia body shop. A certain person was working there at the time Giorgetto Giugiarowhich is behind the Touring Coupe (or Type 145) shapes. I had the chance to drive it, straight from the blue patch from the museum in Wolfsburg, and it was, in a word, a blast. We will add that after the end of the Karmann Ghia era, this type of pleasure car was replaced by the Scirroco model within Volkswagen with a front transverse engine and front wheel drive, but we really get off the subject

But what about the Type 14, which was very well received in the market? He improved throughout his life, almost every year. Just by chance – from the 1959 model year, it had larger headlights with a diameter of 45 mm, and in the same year came a right-hand drive version. The following year, a more powerful flat four-cylinder came, but still with a volume of 1,192 cm³ (power 34 hp) and the transmission received synchronization. In addition to other changes, for example in the area of ​​deadly noise or various small things, in 1965 a new engine with a volume of 1,285 cm³ (called the 1300 with a power of 50 hp) was used, later in 1966 saw an even bigger engine with a volume of 1,493 cm³ (1,500 with similar power). The chassis was developed and improved gradually, in the year mentioned, for example, disc brakes appeared in the front. The rear axle has been extended and other improvements have been made to improve driving characteristics. Better seats with adjustable backrests have settled into the increasingly well-equipped interior.

In August 1969, a new engine with a volume of 1,584 cm³ began to be installed under the rear cover, and the car received the name Karmann Ghia 1600. The test model dates back to 1970, first year when the seats stopped. clothing elements and for the first time they were completely covered in leather. And so on…

I believe this picture shows how the Karmann Ghia gradually evolved – weaknesses were improved, equipment was added, minor defects were corrected. Before, it was just done on an ongoing basis based on what was available and what customers wanted. The test version is American, which can be recognized, for example, when you look from the back with the small square lights under the main lights. Karmann enjoyed the wide open roads of America, but then returned to Europe for a successful restoration.

Thanks to the company Veteráni na Truc, today I have the keys from one Karmann and I am looking at it right away. All in all, a very nice car in the Irish green color that suits me right away. I understand that getting into Karmann is very pleasant. Often a pain in the neck for British roadies at the time, there’s plenty of room here and the corner of the body doesn’t obstruct the windscreen. The interior is very airy, which makes sense when I’m sitting in the convertible, which has the canvas top pulled back behind the first row of seats. Although the car is 2+2, the rear bench is classically more than an emergency, which is so classic.

Since the car is cold, I automatically reach between the seats with my right hand and pull out the choke, just like u old Porsches. I step on the gas pedal several times, then I start with the key in the classic switch on the steering column, again with a little gas. The flat airship spins several times and dies. The second time he can hold on, so I gently encourage him with the gas. There is a lot in a simple way, I appreciate it more and more.

Soon we weave through the roads on a late summer day, going on at eighty. In this case, the four-cylinder 1.6-liter is expected to offer around 51 hp at 4,000 rpm (I guess by feeling, because the tachometer is missing) and 106 Nm of torque, and this all at a weight of just over 800 kg. Ideally, this means a maximum speed of over 130 km/h, but honestly, this is not a fast car.

He is not even born to play sports, quite another. The small cabriolet with a length of 4,140 mm corresponds to a comfortable speed up to the mentioned 80 km / ha, when you also like that you can communicate with the passenger through the swirling air a- inside The toy car is very neutral when cornering – the simple chassis is easy to read, the steering is just quick and light, so we enjoy the lightness of the sport together. Like our 356, it has a funny shift style, where you hunt for gears with long levers sticking out of the floor.

A car for a quieter spring, summer and maybe even autumn? Absolutely right, especially with that style that appeals to almost everyone. Karmann is truly beautiful! And in addition, it stands out with its simple technology, which is easy to service. Nothing expensive, so another advantage. The Type 14 was successful – which can also be seen by the number of units produced, which reached a value of more than 445 thousand vehicles. Cabriolets are rarer, there were only 81,053 units against 364,401 coupés. The offer is not limited, cars can be found in Europe and the USA. They are not too big for nothing, for example this beautiful piece is on the website Veteráni na Truk for a nice 600,000 CZK, ie less than 24,000 euros. This price corresponds to the average and in the case of a green example it is fair. I wonder who to bother.