Karmann Ghia V10

1967 Karmann Ghia V10

Scottie came across this custom-built Karmann Ghia V10 at the Detroit Auto Rama in 2013,  and it sure is an eye catching classic beauty, just look at the paint job to start, then the engineering and finishing details shown in this video.
4 years in the build the body is all steel with a Viper V10 engine transplanted into the front, which in the original car would have been the trunk as the Karmann Ghia used the Volkswagen running gear.

The Karmann Ghia was quite popular being produced from 1955 to 1974 with 445,000 units being made in Germany, and another 41,600 made in the Brazilian  plant.
Much more expensive than the Volkswagen as the bodies were basically hand made and assembled, it was available in a 2+2 seating arrangement either as a coupe, or convertible.
Designed by Ghia in Italy, with the body constructed by Karmann, Germany the Type 14 was an attractive little car and  lent itself to mild customizing quite nicely.
Repowering them with a V8 became reasonably popular in the USA with these engines being mostly mid-mounted behind the front seats. Reason is no doubt they would have been a real beast to handle with a heavy V8 slung behind the back wheels.

When released in 1955 the Type 14 had the 1192cc Volkswagen engine which put out 25kw and would top 75 mph.
This was followed later with the 1295cc engine with twin Solex carburetors giving 37kw and 93 mph, making performance more like it should be.
In 1961 the Type 34 was developed, then in 1970 the VW Karmann Ghia TC was released with both being ex the Brazil works and designed more for the American market.
The body was quite different and it didn’t have the classic beauty of the original, but it did have the 1584cc 48kw motor giving it a top speed of 86 mph.

Thanks to ScottieDTV for this tops video, the screen shots are from the video also.
Plus  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Karmann_Ghia for extra information.

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