Sensational! Is that a Volkswagen? That's what many people must have thought in the mid-1950s when they first saw the Karmann Ghia. What shapes, what elegance! And based on the VW Beetle, really? Exactly. The Karmann Ghia combined German reliability with Italian grandeur, a magnificent pairing, whether in the original 1955 version or as the ‘big Karmann’ of 1961.