1958-1975
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
Out
of 27 responses only 16 were correct.
The
following people got the answer correct:
COLIN
FRANKLIN (Auckland, New Zealand),
Karl Bhote (Pune, India),
Paul Greer (Victoria, Canada),
Jack Knowlson (Exeter, England),
James (CA, USA),
Manek Anklesaria (Rochester, USA),
Kevin Pendlebury (Carson, USA),
Christian D. Pamp (Dublin, Ireland),
George Cassidy (New Cannan, USA),
Tuula Sadowniczak (Phoenix, USA),
Saurabh Joshi (Pune, India),
Shyam Krishnamachari (Hyderabad, India),
Nicholas Alvares(Mumbai, India),
Ashok (Mumbai, India),
Arvind Sathe (Pune, India),
Prem Kotian (Bangalore, India)
Manek
Anklesaria had also sent us more information about the car by
suggesting us the foll: links:
http://www.vw-karmann-ghia.de/badura/index.en.html
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The
information about the 1958-75
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia car was provided by Mr.B.J.Ram
Rao who is an avid auto enthusiast and has participated and won
almost all the Spot Car Contests that we have run.
You
can contact Mr.B.J.Ram Rao at -
ramrao@bajirao.com
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1958-1975
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is considered by many to be one
of the loveliest blends of form and function -- simple uncluttered
lines which are anything but easy to achieve.
Around the turn of the nineteen fifties decade, the need to
produce an image bolstering "flagship" car created the Ford
Thunderbird, Chevrolet Corvette and Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.
Volkswagen contracted the German coach builder, Karmann to build
their "image" car. Karmann was good friends with Luigi Segre,
owner and chief stylist of Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin. The designer
friends shrunk an unused Ghia design meant for Chrysler, to
fit the Beetle floorpan and the Karmann Ghia was conceived.
The first Volkswagen Karmann Ghias rolled off the assembly line
at Osnabrück, Germany in August 1955 in as 1956 models.
The beautiful design and hand crafted car started out with the
old 36 bhp flat four Beetle engine. So the car turned out to
be not a true "sports" car but merely a "sporty" car. Nevertheless,
the decent-for-its-time suspension and sporty looks saw sales
of 10,000 in the first year. A convertible joined in 1958 and
sales climbed from 18,000 cars per year all the way to 33,000
"hand-built" cars per year, in the late sixties.
The timeless two-door coupe design was much copied. A fine example
is the Renault Floride/Caravelle.
By the time Volkswagen replaced the Karmann Ghia with the new
Scirocco in 1975, a total of 3,64,000 Karmann Ghias: 2,83,000
coupes and 81,000 cabriolets had been produced. The new Scirocco
was designed by Ital Design as Ghia had been acquired by Ford.
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE: Air-cooled 4-cylinder 1,119 cc OHV developing
36 bhp @ 3,700 rpm.
SUSPENSION: front, independent suspension through longitudinal
torsion arms, two laminated square section torsion bar springs
passing through beams, rear, independent suspension through
swinging half axles with spring plates, one round torsion bar
spring on each side.
ACCELERATION: Zero to 90 km/h: 22 seconds
TOP SPEED: 121 km/h
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