The round, Chrysler-inspired, 1950s-era regular Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a familiar sight in the USA, but there were actually three different Karmann Ghias in all. The original recipe Type 14, the 1970s-era Brazilian Type 145…
Browsing Category German Cars
Volkswagen Type 147 Fridolin: Special Delivery
Seeing any Volkswagen Type 147 Kleinlieferwagen, colloquially called the Fridolin, is a real rarity, but a Swiss-market model rolling up anywhere in the U.S.? That’s a genuine unicorn, and we spied this Swiss-spec one at…
Ford Escort Mark II: Project Brenda
By the summer of 1980, Ford of Europe’s Escort Mark II was starting to feel old, and the automotive world was abuzz with news of its much-anticipated front-drive successor, “Project Erika.” However, while it was…
TaskRabbit: The Mk1 Volkswagen Golf Van
More obscure than even the early “Swallowtails,” the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf Van might be the rarest of all Mk1s, and one of the most interesting.
Ford Fiesta Mk1: The Blue Oval’s Supermini
“Mini cars,” Henry Ford II infamously once said, equal “Mini profits.” Ironically, what he’d have termed a “mini” car turned out to be the Blue Oval’s most important product of the 1970s: the Mk1 Ford…
1969-73 Opel GT: GM’s International Sports Car
It must have been an odd sight – a miniature Corvette sitting in a showroom across from herds of loaded Buick land yachts, but the Opel GT was a success for Opel and for U.S. Buick dealers.
Mercedes W111 250SE Coupe: The Finer Things
Even in the long evolution of Mercedes-Benz style, few cars have looked as timeless as the W111/W112 coupes. They were designed 60 years ago, but they don’t look like a car of 1960. The coupes…
BMW L6: The Luxury Liner
Everybody knows BMW’s M cars. Those fastest and most electrifying of Bimmers, date back to the M1 in 1978 and the M535i that soon followed, are of course more well-known and varied than ever today….
Porsche 912E: Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
It looks like a 911, yes, but this is a Porsche 912E, a combination of the 911 shell and the 914’s 2.0L flat four. This unusual Porsche was sold for just one year, 1976, and…
BMW 1600 GT: Glas Tiger
It lasted for just 12 months, and in that time, only 1,255 found homes, but you can’t say BMW didn’t give it a chance. The BMW 1600 GT was, arguably, born on November 10, 1966…
BMW Z1: The Ultimate Dreaming Machine
The tall sides and wedge shape may say “eighties,” but the BMW Z1 still looks like the future even 30+ years after it broke cover. Z is for zukunft – German for future – and…
Auto Union 1000S: First and Last and Always
The four linked rings are most associated with Audi today, but they originated with Auto Union. The “Union” was an agglomeration of four German companies – Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer, that came together under…