• Complete and presentable restoration project

• Stored for past 10 years

• Starts and runs

The Karmann Ghia was developed to help Volkswagen grow in American markets and it had a fascinating gestation.

Three companies worked together to make it happen. Volkswagen, the Italian styling house Carozzeria Ghia and Karmann, an independent car builder which already had a contract to produce convertible variants of the VW Beetle, joined forces on a three-way collaboration to create a new and strikingly beautiful car, which would go on to be a huge hit, especially in California. 

Between them, they came up with sleek, teardrop styling and delicate interior details. It mattered not that under that curvy exterior was the chassis and running gear of a Volkswagen Beetle, which meant it never had the power to match its sports car looks.

As a boulevard cruiser, the Karmann Ghia looked like nothing else on the road, and it still looks absolutely stunning today. 

This example looks fabulous, as they always do. It was imported and restored in the 1990s, but has been off the road since its last MOT in 2011. It now requires cosmetic, structural and mechanical work before returning to the road, but it’s a fabulous basis for a project.

Originally black, the Karmann Ghia was imported from the USA in the mid-1990s and underwent a restoration and colour change in 1997-1998. 

It was then used for 14 years and MOT'd every year, though it accrued very little mileage between tests suggesting either minimal use or a faulty odometer. At present, the mileage reads just under 28,000 miles, but this cannot be verified. 

The car has a UK V5 and a selection of bills and receipts from a very well-known and respected Karmann Ghia specialist, most of which date from 1997 when most of the original restoration was carried out. 

There are also a selection of photographs of the car being restored and old MOT certificates. 

On first glance, this looks like a smart and presentable car with generally good panels and most of the paint still in good order however on closer inspection you notice overall areas of corrosion and paint defects to the body.

The chrome has deteriorated in storage and the front bumper is quite pitted, as are the rear bumper corners. There are rust bubbles forming on the doors and one of the tail light lenses is broken. There’s also some rust breaking out on the nearside sill.

According to the vendor, the car does need structural work underneath to sort out corrosion, including (but not limited to) the rear floor as seen in the photos, and also to the inner sills. But overall it’s complete and believed to be a very viable project.

Inside, the Karmann Ghia is in pretty good order with black leatherette custom buckets seats and a re-trimmed rear bench. 

The body-coloured dash is in good order, there’s an aftermarket face-off CD player and a three-spoke sports steering wheel, also in good condition.

The carpets and mats are in passable condition, but the door cards on both sides have warped and deteriorated at their lower edges.  

Although it has been laid up for several years, the air-cooled 1,493cc engine turns over freely and the vendor reports that he has had it running on a solvent-based starter spray. The fuel appears to have gone stale, though, so the system will need cleaning and flushing through before the car is returned to the road. It’s a twin carb unit and promises decent performance and cruising ability. 

As per the engine, a full overhaul of the braking system is advised, although the car does stop and steer. 

Air-cooled Volkswagens have always had a following and the scene is as vibrant as ever. That said, project vehicles are getting fewer and further between as so many classic vee-dubs have already been restored or rebuilt. 

This one has already been restored once, but that was a quarter of a century ago and time has taken its toll on the older restoration. But there’s still a huge amount to recommend about it, not least that it is in complete condition and has some already excellent parts and a smart interior, which should keep the cost of any restoration work much lower than starting off with a basket case. 

It has the potential to be a very nice car indeed and also to be worth considerably more than the cost of repairing it if you have the skills to do it yourself.

A winter project to get excited about, and lovely open-topped cruiser to enjoy next year.