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Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:44 pm

Hi

Just wondering if this car ,by Ghia c. 1962 afaik, survives ?
Looks like it was a driveable car not just a mock up ?

Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:30 am

Interesting... Never seen this one before.

Looks a bit like the earlier 1958 Fuji Heavy industries (AKA subaru) "360"

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_360

Sat Jan 14, 2012 12:52 pm

overrestored wrote: Interesting... Never seen this one before.

Looks a bit like the earlier 1958 Fuji Heavy industries (AKA subaru) "360"

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_360

The desing of the wheel arches looks more to FIAT/SEAT 600 (SEAT was the spaniard version of italian models and it's considered as spanish people's car)

Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:33 pm

Yeah, but that roof and upper door is all Volkswagen.

Sat Jan 14, 2012 2:03 pm

That was one of the prototypes for the successor to the Beetle: the EA 97/1. The project began around 1957 and ended with the introduction of the Type 3 in the early 60's.

Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:46 pm

Nice frontal pic , thanks

Presumably Ghia designed & built a few prototypes so ?

Guess it hasn't survived......

Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:36 pm

How do you know Ghia designed it? It looks too dumpy to have come from Ghia.

In searching to see if I could find a Ghia effort to replace the Beetle sedan, I came across this really nice looking Pinin Farina 1952 design for a replacement, commissioned by VW: The EA 41

Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:45 pm

VW would just have been a blip on the radar if they had of replaced the beetle with either of those cars.. :roll:

Sat Jan 14, 2012 9:07 pm

The last one looks like an early Saab from the back.

Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:01 am

79SuperVert wrote: How do you know Ghia designed it? It looks too dumpy to have come from Ghia.

In searching to see if I could find a Ghia effort to replace the Beetle sedan, I came across this really nice looking Pinin Farina 1952 design for a replacement, commissioned by VW: The EA 41

Nice pics of P/F VW ,I had seen it before

Came across photos of the "Ghia" car in a large book on that coachbuilder ,also the cobbled ground beneath the car & the temporary "wall" behind the car are in the background of other photos of Ghia cars ( non VWs) in same book eg Volvo P1800

Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:26 am

Funny how the info seems to be well concealed on the Web. Ghia doesn't seem anxious to let people know the EA 97/1 was one of its designs. :)

Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:40 am

Very interesting, Porsche had a project #555 in 1956 for a car design for VW, I wonder what that looked like? Perhaps the EA 97/1?

Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:09 am

Here's a pic of the Porsche project 555:

Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:15 pm

Thanks, the front end looks nice the rest is pure dog!
Cheers!

Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:25 pm

splitjunkie wrote: VW would just have been a blip on the radar if they had of replaced the beetle with either of those cars.. :roll:

Maybe, but I would happily roll that Farina-bodied '52. 8)

Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:41 am

Over the years, Nordhoff commissioned about a dozen design studies for a Beetle replacement that actually made it to the prototype stage. I read that when the German press was attacking him for failing to replace the Beetle, Nordhoff invited them to a surprise public showing of all the secret prototpes to show that Volkswagen hadn't been sitting idle.

The only Beetle replacement that was actually produced was the Brasilia, made in Brasil. The Type 3 couldn't really be considered a Beetle replacement, because it was larger and heavier, with more power. (Which the Beetle itself became in later years.)

Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:34 am

79SuperVert wrote: Here's a pic of the Porsche project 555:

nice.

i'll take 2 please, one black and one silver.

any more pictures?

Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:15 am

Check out this website by a person working on his 412. He has included lots of interesting info from various websites concering the development of various VW models. That's where the pic came from:

http://www.rastall.com/412/