Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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I've heard KGs described as a classic beetle dressed up in a fancy Italian suit, That's awesome. I think I'm in love. They are gorgeous sporty looking classic cars available as convertibles. Downside, they run like, old beetles that just have an Italian suit draped on them.

Anyone heard of them? As far as affordable classics go, what are they like to drive?

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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I'm not sure what happened to my earlier post, so apologies in advance if it's duplicated.

I also don't know that I'd call them "affordable." Affordable perhaps compared to a 356.

Anyway, yes they are just Bug pans with different bodies. They did get dual carbs and had a wee bit more power, but they drive pretty much the same. 1969 is one inflection point for cost, as they went to big marker lights and bumpers then. Tops (like Bug convertibles) are expensive as they're all fully lined. All of them have damaged noses, since they stick out over the bumper. Look for quality (or not) repairs there.

Lots of speed equipment for them available. You could easily add a couple hundred CCs and have something that kept up with modern traffic without ruining the feel. 5-speed transmissions are now available as well.

If you get deep in, my advice is to resist the temptation to increase accelleration by getting a lightened flywheel. They don't cruise as nicely that way.

(I've never had a Ghia, but I've had four VW Bugs over the years.)

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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lurker wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 11:29 am i've never driven one but back in the day i coveted them. seemed like sort of a poor man's porsche. get it.
Yeah, I just don't want it to FEEL like a poor man's Porsche. A sensible middle classman, maybe. Cars these days are hard to tell if they're running they're so smooth and quiet. If classic Vettes of the day would have the same noise and roughness, I can be convinced.

My sister's first car was an old Beetle she bought from our English teacher that had it for 30 years. We always referred to it as a pregnant roller skate that sounded like it needed a tuneup.

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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CDFingers wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 11:57 am I've had many vee dubs in my life. Easy to work on. Good around town car. Does 70 if it's a 40 hp or better.
Not looking for around town. Looking for occasional cruise out into the country or around the mountains for a Saturday with the top down. I don't need speed to do it at 120 and challenge Dead Man's Curve. But I don't want semis passing me and rolling their eyes or overheating the engine on a hill in August.

Highways around here are 75 MPH and 85 if I cross over into Wyoming. Barely being able to keep up with 70 isn't real appealing.

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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All the classic VWs can suffer from rust issues. Find a good body over good mechanics and you'll be money ahead. Parts are getting rare for air cooleds, so they are no longer a cheap classic. The VW Oracle is maintained at https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/

I have a 78 Westphalia that I've lost enthusiasm over. Love it, but am not a mechanic and it is an expensive hobby without those skills. Was ready to let her go before the world closed...

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Love the Ghia. A beautiful car that pretty much drives a little better than a bug but still smells of hot oil and regales one with the sound of loose valves. The engine will always sound like it’s chasing you and having a hard time keeping up. BUT, they are enormously fun. I have had a number of bugs and a 73 camper. I have a 78 vert in the barn. I have driven a lot of Ghias but actually prefer the bugs. Nothing like putting the top down and cruising with the Dead on the stereo.

The Ghia unibody has a lot of nooks and crannies that are prone to harboring rust. Be careful if you are seriously considering one.

Better yet, look for a used Boxster. Early 2000s are going for under $8-10k. Service is expensive but they are quite reliable. Our 2000 Boxster S is an awesome drive - it’s like having ones personal roller coaster. And it kinda looks like a Ghia:

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Here’s my 78 kaefer:

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Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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I bought a '66 squareback in the spring of 1970; possibly the most aggravating vehicle I've ever owned. Having endured four Michigan winters it was already staring to rust. It was six volt electrical system and couldn't start without a boost after a cold night, and we had an extremely cold winter the first winter I drove it. I carried a battery charger with me always. In one trip back to New York just before Christmas, it ran out of gas on old Rt46? before I-80 was complete (broken gas gauge). I had to walk four miles each way to gas station that was like something out of "Deliverance", with four guys playing cards in a barely lite 1920's gas station with old cars parts piled everywhere and a old TV with terrible reception on in the corner of the room . Finally under way again the rear side window fell out of the body, frame and glass, I believe I wedged it back in with a rag. Then the alternator failed and it slowly died about 15 miles from my parents home. The engine lost compression the next summer and after being rebuilt it sounded like a two cylinder tractor chugging down the road. As it continued to give me problems starting, the windshield wiper motor as the next to go all the while the rust got worse. I finally decided to stop throwing good money after bad and pushed it into the garage of the two flat house, I lived in at the time; and purchased a '71 Corolla from the father of a friend. Six months after my landlord had disappeared (don't you hate it when that happens), there was a pile of mail (with foreclosure notices) in the front closet with a mail slot. Young Geno decided it was time to move on, and that since the car was worth roughly the same as the six months rent I owed; perhaps the home and the car should remain together. Good times, for some reason I've never owned a second VW.

Good luck, if you proceed.
Last edited by geno on Tue May 05, 2020 2:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"it's a goddamn impossible way of life"
"And so it goes"

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Bucolic wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:08 pm Better yet, look for a used Boxster. Early 2000s are going for under $8-10k. Service is expensive but they are quite reliable. Our 2000 Boxster S is an awesome drive - it’s like having ones personal roller coaster.
Holy $#!+. F@!({ it, then. Why would I buy an old VW for the same price of a new Porsche?? Though the latter would be a fortune to insure and as you note, maintain and repair.

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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58Hawken wrote:
Bucolic wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:08 pm Better yet, look for a used Boxster. Early 2000s are going for under $8-10k. Service is expensive but they are quite reliable. Our 2000 Boxster S is an awesome drive - it’s like having ones personal roller coaster.
Holy $#!+. F@!({ it, then. Why would I buy an old VW for the same price of a new Porsche?? Though the latter would be a fortune to insure and as you note, maintain and repair.
That’s a USED Porsche... a new Boxster S would go for, oh, maybe $70k.

Ghias do have a certain panache but a Miata is better in so many ways.


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Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Miatas are cool, cheap ,fun and there is a ton of aftermarket and knowledge for them - If you can fit. I'm 6'4" and would have to remove the factory seat and build a low profile out of foam to be comfortable. A close friend who is normally sized bought one a couple of years ago and is having a blast upgrading and driving it.

Unfortunately, the only sports cars I really seem to fit in are Porsche 911's. My brother's '18 Turbo S is very comfortable, sick fast and will never be in my price range.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Of all the vee dubs I've had, my 1959 Transporter was the most fun.

It was our family camping van. The original was a 36 hp, so I put in a 40 horse. Yeah, the six volt system sucked, so I re did it to 12. I also installed an external 4 quart oil cooler. The Transporter was windowless but for the back, and it was designed as a delivery vehicle. I made a camper inside with a table and a folding bed with storage underneath. It had reduction gear boxes on the rear wheels and heavy suspension so it could carry 3/4 ton, though I only loaded it that full a few times. The worst was when we moved from Berkeley up here to Chico and I had all my books in the van. That trip it never got over 55 mph.

I had a wood bumper on the rear, and I could pull it off in two minutes. The engine could come out real quick on top a floor jack. I had the Idiot's Book, and I remember I left the valve lash clearance at .007" and let them clack a bit. Never burned a valve because of that. Camped for a week straight with the family up in Lassen Park several years in a row. Good times.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Karmann Ghias were pretty common when I was in High School. This is my personal opinion: I always thought they looked like shit, sounded like shit, and ran like shit. A neighbor had a light blue one.

Max Smart FIRST drove Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California in the pilot but drove a Sunbeam Tiger through most of the series. Now THEY were wicked cars! Carroll Shelby "Breathed on" the Sunbeam Alpine, shoe-horned a small-block Ford V-8 into it (You could get a 260 (4260cc) or 289 (4737cc) cubic inch engine. My cousin had one and it accelerated like a 427 Vette.
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Then they down-graded him to a Karmann Ghia. I guess they thought a super-secret agent driving a VW was funnier than driving a Tiger.

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"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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I've been totally unimpressed with Volkswagon all my life. I learned to drive a stick on the school's Driver's Ed Squareback--the teacher had his own clutch, brake and gas pedals. Never owned one, never wanted to, would only consider one if there was no other car available.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Bucolic wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 2:40 pm
58Hawken wrote:
Bucolic wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:08 pm Better yet, look for a used Boxster. Early 2000s are going for under $8-10k. Service is expensive but they are quite reliable. Our 2000 Boxster S is an awesome drive - it’s like having ones personal roller coaster.
Holy $#!+. F@!({ it, then. Why would I buy an old VW for the same price of a new Porsche?? Though the latter would be a fortune to insure and as you note, maintain and repair.
That’s a USED Porsche... a new Boxster S would go for, oh, maybe $70k.

Ghias do have a certain panache but a Miata is better in so many ways.
Should have said newER Porsche. Probably looking at the 911 vs Boxter to at least pretend I still want my kids with me.

Miatas look like what they are. Midlife crisis on a budget. KGs at least look like an attempt to be classics while having your mid-life crisis on a budget. IMVUIO.

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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geno wrote:
CDFingers wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 3:10 pm Still, those KG's look pretty sweet. Imagine one with a real engine and suspension system.

CDFingers
Or if you coverted one to electric, it would become a
Volt Wagon! :bananadance: :bananadance:
I watched some gearhead show up in the upper reaches of my cable channels and saw some Brits convert
a Karmen Ghia to all electric. It was very cool and in the end it ran very well. The conversion cost 30,000 pounds. At that point I lost interest.
Last edited by Bucolic on Tue May 05, 2020 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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