Karmann-Post No. 25, October-December 1962

In this issue of Karmann-Post an article on the VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia reprinted from Auto Motor und Sport is illustrated with images of both Karmann-Ghia models along with photos of production in the Karmann factory. There are some rarely seen promotional images of the 1500 Ghia here, including an early '63 sunroof model (Type 345), alongside the usual press photos.










The Motor-Tourist review of the 1500 Ghia is also reprinted in this issue.

Karmann-Post No. 20, July-September 1961

The cover of issue number 20 of Karmann's promotional magazine featured a 1500 Ghia cabriolet prototype on display at the 1961 Frankfurt auto show (IAA). Other photos of the new 1500s were featured inside.



Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm Karmann and Ghia's Luigi Segre with the cabriolet at the IAA.



Also at the IAA, the 1500 Ghia cabriolet is shown to German President Heinrich Lübke.



The issue also includes a spread featuring press photos of the new Karmann 1500s. The 1500 Cabriolet is referred to as the "four-seater" and the 1500 Ghia as the "two-seater." That's refreshingly honest — apparently Karmann didn't consider the 1500 Ghia's back seat a realistic place for anyone to sit.

"What bugeyedom has lost in the Sprite it has made back on the Karmann"

The 1500 Karmann-Ghia has the honor of being the punchline of one of Henry Manney III's jokes in his coverage of the Frankfurt auto show for Road & Track magazine's January 1962 issue. He isn't too keen on the Ghia's front-end styling and reports that it reminded another reporter of the Schwimmwagen. He likes the rest of the styling, though, and calls the 1500 Ghia "an improvement on the old one."



There's prominent coverage of the VW 1500 introduction in the article, including a feature photo of the dramatic 1500 display ("driverless Volkswagens, neatly executing 4-wheel drifts..."). But Manney is more interested in the NSU Prinz, BMW's 700 convertible and 1500 Neue Klasse sedan, the Porsche 2-liter, and the Fiat 2300 Coupe by 1500 Ghia designer Sergio Sartorelli. He seems a little underwhelmed by the VW 1500s in comparison. He predicts, correctly, that the Variant will be the biggest seller.





I have always enjoyed reading Manney's pieces for Road & Track. His humor and satire made other contemporary automotive reporting seem pretty dull in comparison. He was doing his automotive version of the New Journalism years before his fellow automotive writers got on board.

VW 1500 introduction, Sports Illustrated magazine, September 1961

An article in the September 4, 1961 issue of Sports Illustrated about the new VW 1500. It's hard to imagine a time when a subject like this would have made sense for Sports Illustrated's readership.




The writer, Kenneth Rudeen, likes the new bigger VW quite a lot, going so far as to describe it as "an extremely desirable car." He sees the 1500's appearance as being very Italian in spirit and compares it to the contemporary designs of Pininfarina. Rudeen speculates that the 1500 may not make its way to America until perhaps 1963, by which time demand in its newly prosperous home market might be satisfied.

1500 Ghia featured in Gute Fahrt magazine, January 1962

The VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia made the cover of Gute Fahrt magazine in January 1962. Note the funky retouching on the cover photo—the steering wheel is hilarious. I think the driver of the car must have been removed from the image.



A one-page feature article inside offers a lot of praise for the Ghia, its unusual luggage accommodations in particular, and attributes the car's sporty handling to its low center of gravity. In yet another take on the clock/tach/speaker conundrum, the article says there's a place in the dash for a tach just to the left of the glove box, but it would be better to put it in the clock's position for visibility. I guess this tells us that the test car didn't have a radio and the purpose of the speaker grille wasn't clear. The one criticism is that the fog lights are too high to really be effective. It says the convertible version would probably be available to the public in the spring. If only!

Car and Driver on the VW 1500 gray market

How did so many VW Type 3s find their way to the United States before the VW 1600s were officially introduced to the American market in the fall of 1965? Conventional wisdom says that the cars were brought over individually from Germany by servicemen and tourists, or brought over the border from Canada, where the 1500s were available from their introduction in 1961. While there's no doubt that many 1500s found their way here through those channels, there was also a more formalized gray market supplying 1500s to the U.S. market in the early '60s. There were companies that acted as semi-official importers, supplying dealers with nearly new "used" Type 3s outfitted with sealed-beam headlights, MPH speedometers, etc. This allowed even authorized VW dealers to sell Type 3s years before they were officially imported (as seen here and here). VWoA tolerated the gray market, though when speaking on the record they were against it.

This great article from the April 1964 issue of Car and Driver on VW's reasons for not bringing the VW 1500 to the American market explains how these gray market importers brought VW 1500s into the U.S., including how they set up special "Americanizing" factories in Germany just to prepare 1500s for export. The article posits that VW didn't interfere with the gray market because it was actually a profitable way to sell more cars here indirectly without upsetting the official balance of trade between Germany and the U.S. If VW had increased its export volume by expanding its range of models in the U.S. it could potentially have lead to trade sanctions—after all, a trade dispute between Germany and the U.S. just a few years earlier resulted in the U.S. government slapping a retaliatory $257 tariff on all German trucks, including VWs. The gray market was actually a win/win/win for VW, the gray market importers, and American consumers.









Walter Henry Nelson's Small Wonder and the February 1964 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine are other good sources for information on the VW gray and black markets that were thriving in the early 1960s.

VW 1500s in Auto-Universum, 1964

A 1500N, a 1500S, and a 1500S Variant sunroof from the 1964 edition of Auto-Universum, a.k.a. International Auto Parade.

1500S Ghia in Wheels magazine, February 1965

A 1500S Ghia made the cover of the February 1965 issue of Australia's Wheels magazine. The article inside claims that the featured car was the first 1500 Ghia to make its way to Oz.



From a blurb on the contents page:
"Unusual cars are two-a-penny in Australia these days, but we thought the Volkswagen 1500S Karmann-Ghia worth more than a passing glance. Ian Elliott's crisp cover catches all the glamour of this desirable personal car, with the Sydney Harbor Bridge as a background."



Thanks to Lee Hedges for the auction tip.

VW 1500 at the Pacific National Exposition, Vancouver, c. 1964

A VW 1500 S opens wide and says "aaaaahhh" at the Pacific National Exposition in Vancouver.

"Karmann Clothes the VW 1500," Car and Driver magazine, January 1962

Along with a road test of the 1200 Karmann-Ghia and a photoessay on the Karmann factory, Car and Driver's January 1962 issue featured a preview of the three new VW 1500 models from Karmann. That's right, three -- in January of '62 the cabriolets were still very real.



The photos are VW publicity shots, and you'll recognize the happy family in the top photo from the early 1500 Ghia sales brochure.

This particular copy of the magazine has an interesting provenance:




Yes, it once belonged to that Floyd Clymer. It was apparently his office copy and is marked up with notes about advertising.

Safer Motoring, June 1963

Even by the standards of Safer Motoring magazine this cover is a little bizarre.



It was Safer Motoring's practice to have a glamour model pose with the latest offering from VW, in this case a 1962 1500 Ghia. More photos from the session appeared inside.




Rowr! Reminds me of one of those "fast driving girls" videos on YouTube.

Carrozzeria Ghia in Style Auto 1, winter/spring 1963

The first issue of Style Auto, an Italian journal of automotive styling (subtitled "Automotive Architecture"), featured the recent work of 13 prominent coachbuilders working in Italy at the time. The profile on Carrozzeria Ghia featured Luigi Segre's forecast for the future of automotive styling and included a glamour shot of the VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia. Segre, the head of Ghia beginning in 1953, was the key figure in developing Ghia's relationship with Virgil Exner and Chrysler in the 1950s and is credited with the design of the original Karmann-Ghia. He was head of Ghia during the development of the 1500 Ghia. Tragically, he died in surgery soon after the publication of the Style Auto feature. Ghia then went through a series of owners, ultimately becoming a subsidiary of Ford in 1970. A sad end for one of the great Italian styling houses of the 20th century.




Ciao bella!

VW 1500 introduction in Foreign Car Guide, June 1961

Foreign Car Guide was kind of the American equivalent of the UK's Safer Motoring—it pretended to be interested in all small cars but it was really all about Volkswagen. Like most other auto magazines of the time, Foreign Car Guide reported on the early official news leak from VW about the new 1500. The article goes into a thoughtful analysis of the market forces and strategic thinking that led VW to provide information about the 1500 to the press so far in advance of its official debut in September 1961, and speculates accurately about VW's reasons for not bringing the 1500 to the U.S.






Most of the article's speculation about the 1500 is right on the money, except for the guesstimate of a wheelbase 6 inches longer than the beetle. It compares the 1500 to the Corvair in a way that was typical of the U.S. auto press at the time, suggesting that the Variant's styling was reminiscent of the Corvair Lakewood station wagon. Maybe in its configuration, but I'm just not seeing the visual resemblance.



The cover of the June issue featured the Devin D, one of the nicest looking VW-based specials of the early '60s. Something less than a coachbuilt and something more than a kit car, its lines have aged more gracefully than most. A Devin with an Okrasa engine and a few other old speed bits would be just the thing.

VW 1500S introduction in Safer Motoring magazine, October 1963

Photos of the new VW 1500S models from Safer Motoring's coverage of the 1963 Frankfurt auto show, including some shots of what appears to be the Karmann display.




This rear window sticker is pretty cool.