Karmann get one while you still can

VALUE 2014 £10.5k VALUE NOW £18k

The curvy VW Karmann-ghia has been steadily rising in price over the last two years. Back in May 2020, Brightwells sold a handsome 1972 orange convertible for £10,600. In November, Anglia sold a similar condition ’68 convertible for £15,120 and in March this year Mathewsons knocked down a nice 1970 coupe for £18,150. In Europe, the US and Australia you can often double these prices with the very best now making well into £50,000 territory. If you look at the price curve going back to 2015 you just see this steady graph climbing up from around £6000 in 2015 for a coupé and £9000 for a convertible, to today when nice examples of each are £18k and £24k respectively. Few classics have climbed in price so steadily in that time without faltering, dipping, hesitating or falling out of market favour.

The Karmann-ghia is a phenomenon and that unwavering market performance is down to its evergreen generational and gender appeal. This is a beautifully drawn piece of Sixties sculpture, radiating all those delectable messages about surfing in Malibu and driving up the PCH to Carmel with the Eagles’ Hotel California belting out of the eight track in summers remembered for their blue skies and eternal ease. Thanks to an active owners’ club, spares and support aren’t a problem and most of car’s glitches and foibles have long since been ironed-out by enthusiastic owners. Find a stunningly original example – like the museumquality gold ’65 Bonhams sold at The Quail last year for £10,452 – and you can sit back and watch it steadily appreciate for another decade. The K-G isn’t going to depreciate any time soon.