O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Oct. 11

When these were on the streets in the 1960s, I never gave them a second thought.

I don,t think they were styled by Virgil Exner, but you can see his influence.

In retrospect, they were a hansom automobile and if you don,t mind sluggish performance' they can be had today for reasonable prices.

The Karmann Ghia was a very nice looking car - but it was disappointing to find out that it was actually slower than a regular VW, because of the heavier body on a stock VW chassis and engine. Some people got them to run like they looked by dropping in Porsche engine/transaxle units. 

Our Mississippi Gulf Coast is hosting "Cruzin the Coast" all this week and I have seen 

a number of the models you guys are showing. 

We have had 7,000 entries as of noon today. It is gridlock, but no one minds, the weather is warm and the ladies are pretty as are the vehicles.

My wife and I had a Karmann Ghia convertible in the mid '80s.  I had a been mostly rebuilt throughout before we bought it and we put a bored/stroked 2.1 liter VW engine in it with a torque cam.  It was a great little ca with that moto in it, fun in summer and surprisingly good on snow and ice, although after three winters in Pittsburgh it had a bad case of acne due to rust from road salt.  

I always liked the KGs.  I remember one auto magazine saying that they were so well made and attractive that, had they been built in smaller quantities, they would be considered a classic.  That's when classic, as applied to autos, had a definite meaning.

I have a model of a Borgward Isabella, which slightly preceded the KG into production, and which looks like nothing so much as a big version of the same design, adapted to a front engine car.  I have always wondered if the same person didn't design both or if both didn't do something like both copy the C. B. Thomas coupe, adapting that to their size/type of car.

Since my only York purcases were 1:43 cars: A Motor City USA '51 Ford Crestliner for $75, (one currently on eBay for $220.), also a PremiumX '50 Nash police car and a NEO/AE Chrysler Dual Gia at retail from the DiecastDirect booth. Their booth was mobbed by those looking at their inexpensive "sale" table, so I had the "pricey" stuff all to myself.