The Infamous Type III Karmann Ghia

Photos of the T3 Karmann Ghia -- thanks to Tim Dapper!!

To view a picture in full size, click on the shrunken version.

Also check out more photos on the Type III Karmann Ghia section of the Type III Owner's Manual.

Type 3 Karmann Ghia - by Tim Dapper

Karmann had a very successful design with the "Type 1" Karmann-Ghia built on a variation of the Beetle chassis. When Volkswagen finalized their new car, the Type 3 ( the busses being Type 2) Karmann again teamed with Ghia to design a body for the Type 3 chassis. The result was the Karmann-Ghia 1500, which shared the chassis and engine/transmission layout with "Variant", "Notchback, and "Fastback" models of the Volkswagen 1500.

Production of the Karmann-Ghia 1500 started late in 1961. All of those early cars were sold as 1962 model year vehicles. The last Type 3 Ghia was built in June 1969, after a total of 42,432 had been built. Karmann had also designed a convertible model of the car, and had tooled for production. VW went so for as to print advertising materials and introduce the convertible at auto shows. Alas, there were body flex problems that could not be overcome and the car did not go into production. It is thought that as many as half a dozen may have been built, but at this time only three are known - one on display at Karmann, another in the hands of the Karmann family, and a third retained by Volkswagen, but not yet displayed.

The coupes were all nearly identical, and from a distance it is difficult to tell the model years apart. Most changes were subtle, but went something like this:

1962: The original car had a rectangular nose badge, and small Karmann badges on the lower front of the rear quarter panels.
1963: The quarter panel badges were removed, and the rectangular nose badge was replaced with a round VW badge.
1964: The rotating knob heater control (a'la Beetle) was replaced with a twin lever set up between the emergency brake lever and the gear shift, and the dual carburator set up was introduced. Part way through the 1964 model year, the push button headlight switch was replaced with a more traditional push-pull switch.
1965: The speedometer was increased in size.
1966: This model brought the introduction of front disk brakes, four lug wheels, and the 1600 engine.
1967: The door locking mechanism was moved from a lever built into the inside latch handle to a more traditinal push-pull knob mounted on top of the window sill near the center door pillar of each door, and the heater controls were changed to levers mounted on the emergency brake lever housing.
1968: Changes are too subtle to see.
1969: The tail light assembly was changed so that the lens protruded and could be seen from the side of the car.

At the time of the introduction of the Type 3 Ghia, world economics dictated that the car would not be sold in the United States. The Mark was very strong against the Dollar, forcing the Karmann Ghia to compete in the price market with Austin Healy, MG, and other sports cars -- a challenge that the air cooled VW engine could not meet.

Author

Tim Dapper
TADapper@aol.com

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Last Modified: Oct 20, 1995

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