What Were They Thinking?: Type 34 Karmann-Ghia

"Styled by Ghia's Sergio Sartorelli with assistance from American Tom Tjaarda" is how this article summarizes the 1961-1969 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia Type 34 design's origin.  Total production of the Type 34 was about one-tenth that of the original Karmann-Ghia launched in 1955 and manufactured until 1975.  Clearly, something went wrong.

Volkswagen introduced its new, larger Type 3 in 1961 and the Type 3-based Type 34 Karmann-Ghia was soon added to the product line.  More information on the Type 34 is here (scroll down).

Type 34s were fairly expensive, but to my mind the reason they sold poorly was the styling.  Bear in mind that the original Karmann-Ghia is widely considered to be a classic design, so matching its quality would have been difficult.   The Ghia stylists instead opted for a considerably different theme based roughly on the "three box" format that was into its long design fashion reign.  That in itself was not necessarily a problem.  What went wrong was the detailing.

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1955 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia -- the original, classic version by Luigi Segre using some features by Chrysler's Virgil Exner.

1961 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia Type 34.  Like the original, it had a rear-mounted air cooled motor, and that influenced its proportions.  The side character line is split into two segments, perhaps to introduce variety.  If they had to be there, they should have been offset vertically to add even more interest to an otherwise fairly static feature.

The greenhouse has plenty of glass. Probably too much, as a thicker C-pillar with a wider base than top would have better integrated the greenhouse with the main body.  The aft end reminds me of the first Chevrolet Corvair's.

The most serious styling problem is at the front.  The curved character lines that wrap around to the sides form a pattern that is both questionably arbitrary and at odds with the basic body shaping.  My guess is that the idea was to harken a relatively squared-off zone to the rounded prow of the first Karmann-Ghias.  Big mistake.

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Volkswagen's First Karmann-Ghia

Nearly half a million were built over 1955-1975 in Germany and Brazil.  That was the original version of Volkswagen's sporty Karmann-Ghia coupe/cabriolet.  The platform was from the VW Beetle, making the car convenient to own and maintain.

The Wikipedia entry notes that bodies were built by the Karmann firm, but the design was by Ghia's Luigi Segre.

But the matter of styling wasn't that simple.  During the early 1950s, Chrysler Corporation contracted with Ghia to build customized show cars designed by Virgil Exner and his staff.  It happened that the Karmann-Ghia used a number of styling cues from the Chrysler D'Elegance show car of 1952-53.  (It was built in 1952 and displayed at the Paris auto show, but didn't debut in the USA until 1953 -- so both years have been cited for it.)

Regardless, the Karmann-Ghia is widely considered an outstanding design.

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The 1952 Chrysler Parade Phaeton.  Its fender line was adapted for the restyled 1955 Chryslers and DeSotos.  A variation of the horizontal character line and kick-up rear fender line appeared on the D'Elegance.

Side view of the D'Elegance (RM Sotheby's auction photo: the 2011 hammer price was nearly $1 million).

Side view of a 1957 Karmann-Ghia.  Compare to the D'Elegance in the previous photo.  Clearly the platforms (full-size Chrysler versus VW Beetle) affected the proportions, so Segre did indeed contribute a good deal of original design input.  Still, the spirit of the side treatment and the greenhouse are that of the D'Elegance.

Front three-quarter view of a 1957 Karmann-Ghia (Barrett-Jackson auction photo).  Note that the prow thrusts forward to the point that it isn't protected by the front bumper.  I owned a Karmann-Ghia for a while during grad school years at Penn, and the nose got dinged several times while parked on Philadelphia's Pine Street (between 39th and 40th streets).

Rear three-quarter view of the same car.  The vents are for the rear-mounted air-cooled motor.

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Type 4: The Last Air-Cooled Volkswagen

With the rise of the management consultant, many companies and corporations are taught to engage in the aspect of self-analysis having to do with Who We Are.  But I'm pretty sure that some businesses did something like that even before it became something of a fad.  For instance, back in the 1960s Heinz Nordhoff and his top management layer either explicitly or implicitly held the concept that Volkswagen is a builder of rear-mounted, air cooled motor driven cars.

From the original Beetle, the product line was extended in 1961 to the larger, more modern Type 3 with a similar powertrain layout.  A few years later, and even larger car was planned, again using that type of powertrain.   It became the Type 4, marketed as the 411 (produced 1968-1972) and 412 (built 1972-1974).

This proved to be the last of that type of car, as the realization finally seeped in that it was to some degree a technological dead-end.  The acquisition of Auto Union in 1964 led to VW adopting Audi water-cooled motors with front-wheel drive for future models.

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Here is an early 411.  The Type 4 link mentions that Pininfarina was under contract to VW and the styling is credited to that firm.  Unlike the Beetle and Type 3, the 411's wheels are small, something I dislike for aesthetic reasons.  Note the shape of the headlight housing: this could accommodate quad headlights as well as the units seen here.  Regardless, they clash with the rest of the design and were reworked for the 412s.

Rear three-quarter view of a two-door 411.  This aspect is basically well done, though the tail light assemblies are slightly at odds with the other elements.

The Type 4 also came as a squareback / station wagon / break.

A slightly rear-oriented view of a four-door 411.  In an ideal world, the beltline should be a little bit higher.

Here is an interesting assembly line photo I stumbled across.

Finally, an image of a 412.  Headlight assemblies are still configured for quad lights, but their design is much better integrated to the rest of the car than was the case of the 411.  Front end sheet metal also has been reworked, creating the slight wedge look.

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