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Readers' Photos # 77: VW Karmann Ghia

 

I know a bloke that's not into cars.  😲.  Hard to believe, eh?  He likes football, as in the AFL.  Each to their own.


But such is the svelte beauty of the Italian-styled Karmann Ghia that, despite having never heard of them, he was moved to admit that today's feature car "... is indeed a thing of great beauty."  Too true!  


So, we've found some automotive common ground.  Just don't anyone hold their breath waiting for any sort of quid pro quo concession about "the footy" from me, though! 


According to the Special Correspondent for Queensland, it's a third-owner 1960 model, aptly finished in "mango green."  It seems very unlikely that the paint's original; it's simply too perfect to have survived sixty years' of use and to have remained so pristine, as can also be said of the chrome.  The whole thing is just so lovely! 

Interestingly, the registration plates are - and are not - original.  The owner told the SCQ  that HGB 760, in white on black, was the car's original rego number when it was first registered in Victoria so, other than now reading QLD where VIC was once written, they're as-was 1960s reproductions.

The engine bay is just as immaculate as the car's exterior!  Forget "eat your dinner off it;"  we're talking "could perform surgery here" levels of cleanliness!



Being of a certain age, the UMPH editorial team got to reminiscing about their Karmann Ghia experiences, with one fondly remembering having test-driven an example in the 1980s with the exorbitant asking price of $5,000!  Another staffer knew of a bloke who bought one for $8,000, which set the Research Department off looking up current prices ...


Any ideas what a Karmann Ghia's worth these days?  Double the 1980s' prices?  Triple??  Quadruple???  Thanks to the UMPH Research Department, we can reveal:


More than I'd pay for a 1960s relic from the football world - Gary Ablett, Sr, comes to mind.  Not even if you repainted him and rechromed his shiny bits!





U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

Photos supplied by RAR.





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