1974 Karmann Ghia Type 14 Coupé
This year Volkswagen is celebrating the 65th birthday of its elegant Karmann Ghia Type 14 Coupé.
Feb 1, 2018
Utterly distinctive in the Volkswagen range, and a true head-turner from day one, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 14 Coupé is celebrating its 65th birthday this year.
Designed from the outset to represent something much sportier and more elegant than the utilitarian but popular Beetle, Wilhelm Karmann, head of the car manufacturer in Osnabrück, dreamt of creating an open-top spider built on a simple Beetle chassis.
In the spring of 1953, he commissioned his friend Luigi Segre, owner of Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, to design a convertible sports car. That October, Karmann inspected the result in a garage in Paris, and was delighted – although what he saw was actually a closed coupé. The elegant prototype also impressed Volkswagen’s Managing Director at the time, Heinrich Nordhoff, and the decision was taken to develop a production model of a 2+2 coupé.
This car saw Karmann combine the reliable technology of the Volkswagen Beetle with a body full of Italian elegance. A larger front seating area, two beautiful round dials, and a top speed of 116km/h gave the car a look that radiated carefree driving pleasure.
After minor changes to the bodywork – including the addition of the characteristic air vents in the front of the car – the fully-developed coupé was presented to the media on 14 July 1955 at the Casino Hotel in Georgsmarienhütte. The new Karmann Ghia Coupé (Type 14), based on the Volkswagen Type 1, was an immediate hit with journalists, just as it was with the public at the car’s official launch the following September.
Quickly establishing itself as an aspirational sports coupe, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia effectively became a symbol of the German post-war economic miracle.
Two years later, in November 1957, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 14 Cabriolet began rolling off the assembly line.
“The dream car for fastidious motorists who love to drive fast, even with the roof down,” claimed the sales brochure in 1958. The convertible top set benchmarks in terms of workmanship, material and low noise.
After 19 successful years and the production of 362,601 coupés and 80,881 convertible Karmann Ghia Type 14s, the model was retired from the carmaker’s range in 1974. Volkswagen was about to herald a new era, with the Scirocco ready to take its place. The final Volkswagen Karmann Ghia – dressed in a Phoenix Red paintjob – left the production line on 31 July 1974.
That last Karmann Ghia has been a part of Volkswagen’s own car collection at Volkswagen Osnabrück since then. But as part of the Type 14’s birthday celebrations at the 2020 Bremen Classic Motorshow during February, Volkswagen Classic gave the public full access for the first time, to the last car of its type.