Road & Track road test, February 1963

The February 1963 issue of Road & Track features a mostly positive road test of a '62 model VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia. The title reflects the magazine's editorial policy of crediting the coachbuilder over the manufacturer. The reviewer, Hansjörg Bendel, had a couple of gripes, but he really wanted to like the car. He accepted it on its own merits and focused on pointing out details that could easily be improved -- most of which in fact were in subsequent years. You can tell he was impressed with the car.






Don't let the glacial 0-to-60 time fool you -- the 1500 Ghia was the fastest model in the VW lineup at the time. He erroneously reports that the cabriolet version was already in production at Karmann, and that the VW 1500 4-seat cabriolet would join it on the assembly line soon. This is probably the latest mention I've found of the VW 1500 convertibles, which ultimately never made it beyond the prototype stage -- evidence that VW and Karmann hadn't completely given up on the idea of producing them until sometime in 1963.