1972 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

Summary:

Really wish I still had it. COLLECTORS CAR now

Faults:

Heater.

General Comments:

Love affair with a car.

My first car, and ohhhh, what a head turner.

Heater, well, there wasn't one. LOL.

Would start no matter what, even on the coldest winter days. Might take a 15 min. warm-up to move the stick, but she ALWAYS started.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th April, 2008

13th Mar 2023, 15:03

Same. I had a few 1970's and 1980's cars that in the late 1990's and early 2000's were not worth much, so I got rid of them, but they are worth a fortune now! Wish I kept them. Even as wrecks needing a lot of work, if I dry stored them in a garage they would have appreciated in value! Sometimes it is hard to say what cars will become classic and gain value.

1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia 4 cylinder

Summary:

A car that makes everybody smile

Faults:

I had a lot of the engine redone, including cylinders and exhaust system.

Minor routine work has included belts, hoses, brakes. After all, it's a 30 year old car.

General Comments:

I love it. It is a total looker and I get one or two comments a day. It doesn't hurt that it is a convertible and lime green. Many people ask if it's a Porsche.

Because it has basically the same engine as the Beetle, parts for the car are very easy to find and relatively inexpensive.

On the downside, because of the "Beetle" engine, performance is a little slow. 0 to 60 in, say, a minute or two. Some have called it the slowest sports-car ever made.

Ingenious engineering brought us the air cooled engine. Because it is so simple, I've had very few problems. Reliability is superb. It's my daily driver in the fall and spring, but could be year-round.

My grandfather bought the car new in '74 and I'll never part with it. If you have the chance to own one, go for it!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th April, 2003

16th Nov 2004, 19:57

Automatic? how could you buy an automatic karmann-ghia?

6th Jan 2005, 15:25

No no no, sell it to one of the dummies who asks you if it is a Porsche.

Then, take the money and buy a Porsche.

26th Aug 2005, 03:43

The funny thing is the Volkswagen rear engine cars are actually the fastest cars on the road in every aspect outside of top speed. Their basic design is extremely efficient of power. I mean you only have 25 maybe 50 hp in that car at max. And yet it could go 60mph and go up all kinds of steep hills. But if you put 140 hp in that car, it's gonna put it all down to the ground with that incredible rear engine traction, stand up on it rear two wheels and accelerate to 60mph in 4 seconds. And you can put up to 340hp in that car by installing a Subaru turbo motor, or turbocharging a Volkswagen motor. Do 60mph in 2 seconds and cover the 1/4 mile in 6 or 7 seconds. They can stop faster than any car because under braking the weight transfers forward and most cars only use there front brakes to stop, but the rear engine design allows the car to use all four wheels to brake. And they can handle better than other cars because they're so light, and because they accelerate through corners. Not much top speed on the cars, that where the Porsche comes in. The Porsche is a faster car because of it's ability to maintain high speeds. But yeah that is the fastest car designed, and the Porsche is the fastest car made. But the Porsche actually doesn't accelerate stop or corner and as well as the bug, because the bug is lighter and shorter geared.