Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia Styling
Volkswagen Karmann - Ghia styling had a interracial lineage . Ghia was happy to take reference for the physique , and while the true item of the origins Volkswagen Karmann - Ghia styling are lost to history , it seems there was much of American designer Virgil Exner in it .
Exner had established a magisterial raceway record as a stylist with Pontiac and at the Raymond Loewy Studio , where he headed the Studebaker account . In 1950 , Exner came to Chrysler , first working in the advanced blueprint studio apartment , and then in 1953 , taking over as the automaker ’s styling music director .
Shortly after arriving at Chrysler , Exner had approached Ghia about producing prototype , construct cars , and design cogitation to spice up the image of Detroit ’s third - largest auto manufacturer . Ghia gibe , and run low on to build several show cars and image in Italy under Exner ’s direction .
The first of these was the Chrysler K-310 conception car of 1952 . ( K was for Chrysler President Kaufmann T. Keller , the number for a theoretical 310 horsepower V-8 ) .
The K-310 begat the Chrysler / Ghia D’Elegance concept railcar of 1953 . build on a 115 - inch wheelbase , the sleek D’Elegance had a graceful tail - roof pillar intervention and a prominent lower - body line that swept into a rear - fender bulge . The Ghia De Soto Adventurer , which Exner himself used as a route car for three eld , was a development on the same motif .
Although Chrysler commissioned a run of 40 D’Elegance coupes , the effects of the Korean War par this back to 25 machine , which leave Ghia with idle capacity and its designers with time to conceive . The result was that coupe prototype on the VW Beetle weapons platform that VW executive take stock in November 1953 .
It look a spate like the D’Elegance scale down to equip the Beetle ’s wheelbase and running . Whether it was a transcript of Exner ’s D’Elegance concept machine is less sure . Some automotive historiographer believe Ghia was only applying similar themes to two dissimilar project .
Nonetheless , the gondola had obvious similarities , peculiarly the general proportion of the greenhouse , the lower - body line and rear pilot bulge , and the character of the C - pillars . Ghia added two front " nostril " lattice for effect . Volkswagen Karmann - Ghia styling was now complete .
Recognizing the pretty minuscule Ghia coupe as a style to flesh out the VW cable without much endeavour , Nordhoff gave the project quarter round - up and turned the chore of production over to Karmann .
Complete Beetle program were embark from Wolfsburg to Osnabruck , where Karmann made the body , and painted , trimmed , and completed the cars before feed them into Volkswagen ’s normal statistical distribution system .
Find out on the next page how the Volkswagen Karmann - Ghia differed from the VW Beetle .
