okay vague and random question.....
but is 30k for an 'original', one owner 62 ghia unreasonable these days?
again i know it's vague, and i say 'original' cause after i inspect it i'll let
you guys know a bit more info.... but i guess just looking for a lil direction.
cheers.

oh and if anyone knows of any sweet karmann's free feel to let us know.....
(for sale that is!)

crap - probably should mention it's a vert!! whoops

30k is a magic number - check out this beast

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=67624 

its a sweet Karmann

oh so true.... am still considering Brad's ghia.
stunning little ghia.
just trying to find the time to fly up to inspect....
it's almost the opposite to my new prospect.
one is wickedly customised,
the other and stock original vert....hmmmm??

BUY THE ONE IN QLD...
trust me, i know how much it costs to do one.
Noddy

Brads is one sweet unit and stylish and well put together..........but an original, documented RHD convertible is hard to find and will hold its value....hard choice
Took this lot to the tip last week end





JOKING

NO matter how much a Ghia is it will ALWAYS have rust

I must have looked at 50 of them over the years and everyone that was professionally restored had RUST

The 30K figure is something you must deal with and consider if you really want the vehicle

I looked at a lot of ghias when I was thinking of buying one in 1967 and even then most of them had some rust and various body damage(poor repairs)I was lucky enough to get one as the third owner,it is still a beautiful little car. Even after 30+ years ,2 ankle biters (now grown up) and a wife who drove it regularly the little car has survived,it has spent the last few years sitting in the shed ,but that will be rectified shortly.This comes down to what you expect and are willinng to pay for a vehicle. I paid a lot of money at the time but over the period I feel that I have got really good value and have enjoyed a lot of driving .cheers Les

Hey DUBB61 you'd better be joking! My eldest son has just bought a 1600 Daddo that makes that KG look like showroom condition!! Actually he showed me on a website for Mitsu Legnums/VR4s someone who has a convertible KG for sale, the tail lights were completely wrong for the year but still a complete car.

is that rusty kg vert the one bought in nsw i think off ebay?.... and yeh original rhd kg verts are really hard to get, i have 1, zsolt has 1 and dont really know of any others, if anyone knows of more can you let us know so we can get a good idea of how many in aus?

There wouldn't be many Karmann Ghia cabriolets in Australia - as far as I know, they were never sold here officially. Perhaps they might have sold one or two as market evaluation vehicles (similar to the couple of Beetle cabrios sold here), but I think that all of them have been brought in privately over the years.

Volkswagen Australasia introduced the Karmann Ghia sedan onto the local market in 1959, and according to FCAI figures, sold the following totals:

1959 - 13; 1960 - 264; 1961 - 284; 1962 - 97; 1963 - 81; 1964 - 28; 1965 - 31; 1966 - 5; 1967 - 0; 1968 - 2. Total: 805 Karmann Ghias sold here.

The Ghia was discontinued as a consequence of VW Australasia's collapse in 1968, with LNC Industries taking over the business that year. It is probable that a handful of the 805 cars listed were actually Type 3 Ghias (as they were shown in VWA's promotional material of the time), but the FCAI's figures are not that specific. Who knows?

This is currently for sale for 32k at uniquecars so I'm guessing 30k is in the right ballpark... Were there really only 2 ghias sold in 68? That seems barely worth keeping a dealer network up and running.

This is well worth a look, is factory and look to be very good.
Dirt cheap!

http://www.melburgluft.com/viewtopic.php?t=3419 

It is likely the KG's sold in 1966 and 1968 were all Type 34's. I have an original 1968 T344, came with a type 14 glovebox manual from the dealer, guess they didn't have any T34 ones in stock.

Yes, those are the Australian figures from the FCAI yearbooks of the time. 0 Ghias in '67 and 2 in '68. Unfortunately they don't specify whether they are Type 1 or Type 3 - they just list them as 'Volkswagen Karmann Ghia'. I agree that the two in 1968 were most likely Type 3s. Not sure about 1966 though, I think there may have been a mix of both. The back page of VW's 'New Horizons' magazine, #2 1967, shows VW's entire Australian model range, and it includes both Ghia types.

True, 2 Ghias in one year (1968) is not enough to keep a VW dealership network alive. But thankfully there was the rest of VW's range to occupy them and keep them going - for a while anyway! There were 14,967 VWs of all types sold in Australia in 1968, 48 per day if you ignore Sundays - almost half as many as were sold in 2007.

That is amazing, I thought it would have been a 1 in 10 sales ratio. Sorry to get this thread off track but I have a 68 type 1 Ghia that was sold in October of that year, would this be one of the last Australian delivered Types 1's do you think and would there be any way to check?

Kev

Must be karma - I got an email from another enthusiast who has a '69 Type 3 Ghia that was sold new by Lanock Motors St Leonards in October 1968. That one, plus yours, makes the 2 recorded by the FCAI for 1968! That's assuming that the FCAI's data is really right; but as there's no other source of car sales after all this time, we have to assume it is.

There's really no way to check your Ghia, unless you have all the orginal owners' papers to show it was bought new from an Australian VW dealer.

No, Ghias were an expensive luxury in Australia, not a mainstream model like they were in the US. Standard Beetles sold for 799 pounds in the 1960s, while the Deluxe was usually around 850-900 or so. I am not sure, off the top of my head, what the Ghia's list price was in the 1960s, but I am sure it was at least 1500 pounds, considerably more than the Holden or Falcon of the time.

Wow that is coincidence! The car came with every bit of paperwork including the sales documents and trade in details (she traded a 1960 KG on this one), stamp duty and full service history so I will check the sales date when I get home.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, its great to learn some of the history of the car.

Cheers,
Kev

i used to think it was strange that nearly every ghia i came across was a 60 or 61

a mate of mine here has 3 ghias and i was abit doubtfull at first about him saying they were all 61s but i guess those figures explain it

thanks all for the interest and feedback/comments....
the car in question is the one chicken fillet posted from uniquecars.
supposedly after speaking to the seller.... it's had only one owner.
it is original rhd, but was imported back in 67 i think from overseas....
all the original papers are there.....but,
it now has 200km's on the clock after a front end accident and then rebuild....?!
the seller is loose on details but hoping to get a bit more info about it.

ps. as tempted everyday as i am to buy and modify a karmann,
if a nice documented original comes along it would be my preference,
but saying that..... the temptation of brad's Karmann haunts me everyday

Quote:

Originally posted by miko thanks all for the interest and feedback/comments.... the car in question is the one chicken fillet posted from uniquecars. supposedly after speaking to the seller.... it's had only one owner. it is original rhd, but was imported back in 67 i think from overseas.... all the original papers are there.....but, it now has 200km's on the clock after a front end accident and then rebuild....?! the seller is loose on details but hoping to get a bit more info about it. ps. as tempted everyday as i am to buy and modify a karmann, if a nice documented original comes along it would be my preference, but saying that..... the temptation of brad's Karmann haunts me everyday

If you want a modified Ghia then Brads is the one to get. Everyting is done to a 1st class standard and is stylish too. This Ghia was built to a Standard not a price. Could not be reproduced for sale price. Times a ticking, and if you do not then someone else will.

don't doubt that for a minute....
have watched the you tube clip many a time....
but avoiding temptation, trying to find an original Karmann (vert or coupe, love em both!)
but keen for advice on the 'original' karmann vert mentioned...

On the convertible. Check the quality of the repairs to make sure the car is straight and well put together. Notices that the fron bar looks to be bowing upwards in pic? (maybe optical illusion) Does he have receipts for the repair work? good luck

I thought those bumpers were us spec only with those overiders??

thanks again guys for all the feedback....
am seriously considering pursuing the white convertible shown above.
keep you guys updated as to the inspection results, etc etc.
(if anyones interested.....)

any advice or comments so very welcome.
cheers,
miko