Cars Illustrated road test, January 1963

One of the most positive reviews ever written about the 1500 Karmann-Ghia appeared in the January 1963 issue of the British auto magazine Cars Illustrated. The license plate suggests it might be the same car that was tested by Auto Motor und Sport eight months earlier.






The writer was impressed with the performance and wondered if the often heard rumor that VW saved the best engines for the Ghias might be true. He also liked the high level of finish and the styling (with the exception of the fog lights).

There's also a photo of the same Ghia in another article in the magazine on Italian coachbuilding.



"Road-tested elsewhere in this issue the handsome Karmann-Ghia coupé on the VW 1500 base-plate is difficult to distinguish as a rear-engined car. The bodywork was designed in Italy by Ghia, but is produced in Germany by Karmann."

A VW 1500 Ghia on the road in Japan, c. 1966

A left hand drive VW 1500 Ghia with Japanese license plates and fender-mounted mirror, from '67 Auto Salon, the program from the 1967 Tokyo Auto Salon.



The accompanying text refers to the 1600, but the car pictured is a 1500 from 1965 or earlier.

OJR (Maico) disc brakes in Safer Motoring magazine, October 1963

A followup to my previous post about Maico disc brakes: Safer Motoring's coverage of the 1963 Frankfurt international auto show included some photos and an informal test of the OJR disc brake system for VWs and Porsches.



The cutaway demonstration display of a VW 1200 disc brake is very cool.