In the Market for Volkswagen Karmann Ghia?
Know
How To Spot the Danger Signs.
During the 50s, Chrysler built an innovative concept car, but never produced it.
A Volkswagen executive who was friends with a Chrysler exec at the time acquired the plans to the car and built it as the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, or so the story goes. The Karmann Ghia was full of style but had no performance to back it up, considering it had the same anemic engine as the Beetle.
Although it lacked much in performance, it made up for it in style. The Karmann Ghia was rather popular during its production run starting in 1955. To widen the car's appeal, Volkswagen created the Type 3 Karmann Ghia. The Type 3 was a special variation on the Karmann Ghia based on the Type 3 that was never officially imported to the U.S. It never made much of a splash elsewhere, either. Nevertheless, the original Ghia will hold a small place in history for years to come.
The Karmann Ghia is a very special model and has it's own unique problems. Unlike the Beetle where the fenders bolt on, everything on the Ghia is molded into one piece. This means that when a Ghia is involved in an accident, that it can be a real pain to repair. The most common spot on for body damage is the nose of the car. When you sit in the driver's seat you cant see the front of the car very well, so many people have bumped into something causing damage. Also the Ghia sits very low to the ground and other drivers may have trouble seeing it.
So pop the hood,
pull out the spare tire and look at the inside of the nose of the car.
The vast majority of Ghias you will look at will have signs of damage
here... if you find one that is nice and smooth inside, you've got a
winner. Also look at the area around the headlight rings, make sure
everything fits properly here, it's tough to get it right again if it's
been hit. In any case the rear of the car is another
common spot for damage.
Pop the deck lid and look at the
metal between the bumper and the engine. Look for any warping or signs
of previous repair. Also sight down the sides of the car and look above
the wheel openings. These are the weakest points of the body and if it's
"bowed out" over the wheels, the
car has probably been hit.
Rust is a very big
killer of Karmann Ghias.
Since the cars are all one piece
when it comes to the body, rust repair is tough to do correctly.
Check around the area where the
battery sits. Most Ghias have the battery in the engine compartment and
if you crawl under the car and look up at the panel that the battery
sits on, you should be able to tell if there has been any rust there. Other common
spots for rust on the Ghia are just above and below the headlights, the
lower edge of the decklid, and behind the front wheels at the bottom
edge of the fender.
Parts for Karmann
Ghias can be pretty expensive, so finding one that is really complete is
very important. Some of the real common parts to check are the bumpers,
the chrome trim, and interior parts. The bumpers can be very expensive, so if the Ghia
you are looking at has bent or missing bumpers, keep the prices in mind,
they could be $400 each.
Early Ghias
(before 1960) are quite rare and have many special parts that can be
quite expensive to replace. The proper steering wheel for a 59 Ghia can
cost you upwards of $600... So do a little homework before you go Ghia
shopping. There are a couple of good books on Karmann Ghias: "The Essential Karmann Ghia" by Lawrence Merideth is a good
one and shows some production information and such. |
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