KK July-Sept.indd - Karmann Ghia Owners Club

and produced vehicles as diverse as the Ford Escort convertible, Porsche 968, Jaguar
XJS convertible and the Kia Sportage. They also acted as design consultants on famous
cars such as the Triumph TR6.
A close and ongoing relationship with VW had commenced in 1949 with the Beetle
convertible and became the bedrock of the company’s success, eventually including
more than 700,000 Sciroccos and over 400,000 Golf convertibles.
Interestingly there is a school of thought that if the “Hebmuller” company had not
suffered a disastrous fire at their factory in the same year things might have turned out
differently. At the time of the fire they were working on an initial order for 600+
convertible Beetles, having had their design accepted in preference to the Karmann
design. On such things can history be defined!
It is a fact that during the entire span of the KG production the lines were continually
shared with the Beetle Cabriolet (pic). Arguably a triumph of clever production
control.....
Karmann also commenced production of
the Porsche 911 (or 901 as it was originally
to be known before a lawsuit from Peugeot
established their rights to a three figure
model name with an “0” in the middle).
Wilhelm Karman junior died in 1998.By the
time of the Karmann company’s’ demise in
2009 they were the largest independent
motor vehicle manufacturing company in
Germany. However falling demand and
poor cash flow drove the company to file
for insolvency on 8 April 2009. Soon after VW themselves stepped in and bought the
Osnabruck plant, commencing manufacture of the new version of the Golf cabriolet in
March 2011.
So – although primarily remembered (by KGOC members anyway) for the pretty two
door coupé & convertible we know and love, they were in fact prolific designers and
manufacturers of a wide variety of automotive machinery and built for themselves an
enviable niche market as manufacturers, designers and consultants.
Carrozzerai Ghia was founded in 1921 by the eponymous Giacinto Ghia (1887 – 1944)
with his partner Gariglio (1921). The company initially made lightweight aluminiumbodied
cars, achieving fame with the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500, winning the Mille Miglia in
1929. They also designed special bodies for Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Lancia.
Sadly the Ghia factory was destroyed in an allied air raid during 1943, and, although
rebuilt soon after in a different location, the popular version of the story is that
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