During this time the coachbuilder Karmann had the idea of building a really racy car and Luigi Sere of Carrozzeria Ghia SpA in Turin was asked to design it.

The first concept car based on the platform of the Beetle was finished in 1953.

In July 1955 the new Volkswagen Karmann Ghia was introduced.

Against all expectations the presented car wasn’t a cabriolet but a coupé as it was easier to transform a coupé into a cabriolet than the other way round.

But thanks to the large windows you could already imagine what a cabriolet would look like.
The chassis was a modified Beetle chassis which had to be widened.
The Karman Ghia did not only look good, it also fulfilled people’s needs for luxury of that time and was affordable. It was also very popular in the USA.

In September 1957 the long expected cabriolet was presented in Frankfurt.

Of course neither the cabriolet nor the coupé were suitable as true sports cars but they were as reliable as the Beetle and very stylish.

Since the Karman Ghia used the same air cooled engine as the Beetle it also shared the engine development finally arriving at an engine displacement of 1584 cc.
And even though the Karmann Ghia outweighed the Beetle by 100 kilos the streamline shape compensated for this shortfall. And driving it was great fun.

All in all the Karmann Ghia was a typical Volkswagen which combined reliable technology and a stylish appearance. During the 20 years of production more than 440,000 cars were sold.

For some reason I always managed to kill the engine and sometimes wasn’t even able to start the car again. Today I’d be more than happy to have a Bug.

Even though I was of the opinion that my mum’s Beetle hated me, the cars generally were pretty reliable and of course high build quality. And the sound of the engine was somehow unique.

They haven’t been the most sold German cars until 2002, for no reason, have they? More than 21.5 million units were sold from 1938 to 2003, 330,000 of them were convertibles. 15.8 million cars were produced in Germany.

Before WW2 the idea was to produce a car that is affordable for most people. The idea of manufacturing a Volkswagen (the people’s car) is much older though. More or less responsible for the design of the Beetle was Ferdinand Porsche. This is why the Beetle often was called Kugelporsche in Germany. Kugel is a German word for ball or sphere.

The production of civilian Volkswagen cars did not start until after WW2.  The official name at that time was KdF-Wagen and refers to Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy), the leisure organization during the Third Reich. Later it was Type 1 before it was named Beetle after WW2. During the war, the Beetle was produced for military use only. Mechanically it was to be as simple as possible.

After WW2 the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg was under British control and was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain. Luckily no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory. Thanks to the British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst, who was able to convince the British Army to order 20,000 cars, the factory survived.
After Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen Factory the production increased. The one-millionth car came off the assembly line in 1955.

The first Beetle was sold in the UK in June 1953.

Specifications:

• Production 1938-2003 – 21,529,464 units
• Body styles – 2-door sedan, 2-door convertible
• Length – 4070-4140 mm
• Width – 1540-1585 mm
• Height – 1500 mm
• Wheel track – 2400-2420 mm
• Kerb weight – 730-930 kg
• Layout – rear engine, rear-wheel drive
• Engines – 1.1 L, 1.2 L, 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L H4
• Transmissions – 4-speed manual transaxle, 3-speed clutchless manual (Autostick)