Look What's Parked Here - The Karmann Ghia in West Berlin

Back when the Berlin Wall was still up, keeping the free capitalist West isolated as a separate island surrounded by the socialist East, the Kurfürstendamm or simply Ku-dam was the great shopping avenue of West Berlin. This is where you would find all the luxury shops that East Germans would only dream of, though even in the West you needed to overcome financial hurdles to access them. But one can always dream, right?

Today the Ku-dam is not nearly as important as a location as it once was, as most of the important businesses opened up outlets in the Mitte district. What has remained, though, is a feeling of being well-off, a stark contrast to the "poor but sexy" image that has characterized the more trendy parts of the German capital. So the Ku-dam is actually a good place to spot fancy cars, from pimped out Mercedes', to rare brand new muscle cars, and beautiful oldtimers, such as the one I was particularly pleased about seeing a few months ago: the Karmann Ghia.

A Sporty Beetle-bug?

Looking at it from the side, it may look like a bug that was stepped on, squashed from the top, or pulled into its lengthy shape. And indeed, the analogy is not too far fetched, since the car was based on a Type 1 Volkswagen, we all know as the classic bug, which was modified by Italian designers Carrozzeria Ghia and German body makers Karmann. The result was a slick and sporty Volkswagen, back when it came out in 1955, the only alternative to the common Beetle. Like all sports cars, its back seat was a constant issue, being completely abandoned in later models, but compared to its tiny counterpart in a bug it really couldn't be a point of complaint.

An American Hit from Europe

As one would rightly assume, if the Beetle conquered the hearts of Americans as it did, a faster and cooler looking version of it would become even more popular. And thus, the Type 14 Ghia started its success story in the United States, which at some point became the most imported car into the US. Pretty soon a convertible version was added, and constant improvements to the original model, both in terms of the body as well as the engine, which followed the development of the Beetle, only raised the Ghia's popularity. Looking at this particular one I saw on the Ku-dam, I would say it looks like it is from the 1960's, judging from its tail lights. - Please correct me if I am wrong, as I am no expert by any means!

Becoming a Classic

Of course all success stories come to an end eventually, and thus the Ghia's production also was discontinued. First it was the failure of the updated Type 34 to reach the lucrative US market. While in Brazil it remained popular as ever, where it led to the follow-up model Ghia TC, produced until 1975. In Germany, however, the Ghia was eventually taken over by the VW Scirocco and the Porsche 914 respectively. Today, the Karmann Ghia is considered something of a rarity. In the US it is quite popular among Volkswagen fans and those who love classic sports cars. In Germany, however, it's much less common, so it did not surprise me to see one on the Ku-dam, where people bring to flash around their extravagant cars. Actually, it fits in her just as perfectly, as the Trabant P50 I saw in Potsdam around the same time.

Check Out My Other Car Posts

Three makes it a series, right? And that suggests there will be more posts about interesting or unusual cars. So far there is the aforementioned Trabant P50 I found in Potsdam, and the Ford Fairlane taxi I saw in Mexico City.