Karman Ghia's were made by Volkswagen. Sorry, I was thinking the real vehicle -- I have no clue about the model. Wolf
The streets are made of dry wall stuff. I use a needle to draw cracks then black ink in the cracks. Sometimes it works well and sometimes not so good. On this scene I added cracks with the burn tool
OK, now I know I'm getting old. Our elder son (now 57) dated a girl in high school who had a new Karmann Ghia.
Back then, each make and model of car had their own character, their own personality. And some measure of aesthetic beauty. Even the sports cars and the way-out concept cars had class. Now it's hard to tell a Jaguar from a Hyundai and you wonder if that sports car is actually a car some some kind of hostile alien spaceship... Make that a convertible. With oversized sunglasses.
They did make the Carmen Ghia in a convertable. As mentioned, it is basically just a Volkswagen with a different body. Even today they are good looking cars. I am a car nut and restore classic cars as one of my hobbies. I started collecting HO scale vehicles over 30 years ago trying to have accurate vehicles with the newest being a 1957 model as I model the transition era and late summer of 1957. In the photo, the VW is from Schucco I believe. The '55 Buick is from Oxford. The green '49 Ford is an old Alloy Forms kit. Not too expensive compared to the black Caddy from Neo which I got on sale for $20. I don't like to spend that much, but now I am so deep into the collection I will get at least one of each model that fit the time period I am modeling.
I was looking at a new Karmann Ghia to buy in late 1956, but it did not have the same 'personality' as the VW Bug. The KG feels a lot heavier than the Bug which had an effect of the acceleration, etc. In 1975 I bought a new VW-Porche 914, which was also built by Karmann Ghia. It was a great car and lots of fun to drive. The hard-top was removable and would be stored in the trunk! I still have the 914, but sadly it has been sitting in the elements, un-driven for about 15 years and needs a lot of work!
Quite a few years back I did a restoration on a Karmann Ghia for a friend. We did end up replacing the original motor with a larger displacement motor and then did add some performance additions to it. It ended up to really be a fun car performing so much better than a stock version.. I wouldn't have minded keeping it myself. Living up here in Montana I pretty well stick with American cars as it is a lot easier to find parts for them. We also have a limited number of dealerships up here. No Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infinity, Volvo, Jaguar, Acura and on and on. I used to get a new car every four to six years but have pretty well been taken out of the market for a new car because of all of the technology being put into them. I have no use for a touch screen, wi-fi, blue tooth and such that are pretty much standard equipment in most cars today. I can't see paying for features that I don't need or want. Thankfully I do have a number of classic cars in my shop that I do drive when the weather is nice.
I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that red may have been the most common color. I agree with you, Candy. That blue one is nice, but I think the hot pink one may be just a little bit much.......
