56-59 ghias,is there a difference? please let me know!!

[vwgearhead]

I always thought that 56-59 ghias were all the same,can anyone tell me what the difference is?? ok thanx!

[KGCoupe]

Where's Retrowagen and his research when you need him?

[HouseofGhia]

dont you mean 55-59?
_________________
House of Ghia specializing in Karmann Ghia parts, service, and restorations. www.house-of-ghia.com

[udo dreisoerner]

i bid 50 different things from 55 to 59 (yeah, who know thats correctly???)

[thom]

taillights (1-piece vs 2 piece lenses)
front turn signal lights
front windshield cowl supports
windshield motor assembly (at least two configs)
3 different bumper configs
front seats (thin-back vs fat-back)
engine lid (early w/big license light holes vs late)
license plate light housing (early festoon bulb vs late bayonet bulb)
front heater outlet location
windshield defrost controls
front emblem
door check strap
door inner structure
fuel gauge (or lack thereof)
all dash switches changed
door panel changes (corduroy to vinyl)
(more to come)
_________________
-Thom
1956 Single Cab
1957 Porsche 356A Sunroof
1957 23-Window Deluxe
1957 Mercedes Westfalia single cab
1963 Unimog 404
1965 E-Type

[Gary]

Inner nose brace through 1957
Raised nose badge placement though 1958(?)
_________________
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)

[70 140]

Introduction of the 143!!

what about the footwell interior light?
Rear window defroster duct

[pbaptist]

There were many changes in the first years.

Without being complete, I know of the following changes in the first years. Please correct me if anybody has other information about the introduction of the changes.

Changes in the first two years

• 1-0998255 (nov ’55) New type of engine rubber was introduced. Before the rubber was the same as the beetle and was mounted in a C profile. Also the bonnet rubber was changed
  
• 1-1043954 (dec ’55) (body 1177) New door window scraper rubber
  
• Jan ’56 (body 1701) New doorhinges
  
• Body 2501 Rear seat hinge changes
  
• 1128610 (body 3001) the location of the heater vents in the rocker corners changed. On cars made before this date, they were located exactly 270mm closer to the centerline of the car.
  
• 1154228 (may ’56) (body 3761) All-rubber firewall cladding introduced (was carpet+rubber): Available in three distinct colors: grey, green, and beige.
  
• 1158166 (may ’56) New bumper and bumper guards were introduced. (Till may-56 the onepiece bumper with first style guards were used)
  
• 1239921 (10 july 56) Tubeless rims were introduced
  
• 06-august 56 (body 6951) Fly cathers were introduced. In the first years there was only the the roster in the frond and nothing behind it. The first fly cathers ware from metal and had a different shape than later one.
  
• 1304088 (2 oktober 56) (body 9200) New frond seat frame (before thinbackseats)
  
• 1304939 (10 oktober 56) The lengths of the ground cable changed from 240 to 360 mm
  
• 19 oktober 56 Side mirrors available. The first mirrors had a white rubber gasget. This was option code M951
  
• 1333899 New windshield wiper motor (44 in stead of 30 times a minute)
  
• December 56 Third stype of bumper guards were introduced
  
• Feb 1957 (body 14060) The 56 model year Ghia had 2 round white knurled Twist Knobs, one at each end of the dash. From body 14060 the ghia got the PushPull Knob, located just at the left hand side of the dash There were two versions - early 57's had the Golf Club PushPull Knob, later came the Paddle PushPull Knob:
  
• Body 15444 New frond bonnet hinges
  
• 1522941 (may ’57) (body 18105) New door locks, but handles remain the same
  
• 1532758 (may ’57) The turn signal covers changed from circular drain holes into triangular drain holes. The circular hole didn't drained the water well and with the triangular the surface tension of the water would be broken.
  
• 1600440 Indroduction of the Karmann-ghia Convertible
  
  Other changes somewere in the first two years
  
• Door panel change to vinyl + corduroy (previously all vinyl):
  
• Doorstrips changed from Aluminium to chrome
  
• Changes from a metal drain "V" for the front hood seal to no drain at all. This didn't work so they then went to a rubber tube drain common for many years.
  
• The speaker grills for 56 Ghias (maybe all of the model year) were different. They had 3 rows of slots, not 4 but they tend to warp easy in the sun and that is why they were changed.
  
• Ribbed gas tank Version 1.0 of the fuel tank changed
  
• The chrome site trim changed from fill in pieces to one piece trims
  
• Introduction of the metal onderneath the rear seats
  Position of the
  
  1649253 (16 sept 57) (body 22922) Introduction of the “1958” model with many changes
  
  
  
  • New colors
    
  • New steering wheel
    
  • New gearstick knob
    
  • New dashboard knobs
    
  • New header control knob
    
  • New door window winders and inner door handles
    
  • Introduction of a fuel gauge in the dash
    
  • New taillights (1-piece vs 2 piece lenses)
    
  • New windshield motor assembly
    
  • New doorpannels Door panels full vinyl (multi-texture with "upswept" color inserts) (previously vinyl + corduroy)
    
  • Bigger inside mirror
    
  • New sunvisors
    
  
  

Changes in the second two years

• September ’57 The blue nose badge is replaced by a new type
  
• 23-sept-57 New brakes (40mm)
  
• +/- 1 684 500 Karmann discontinued the reinforcing nose brace in October of 1957 production at Coupe body #24174 (roughly chassis #1685000)
  
• 1676789 (16-okt 57) (body 24203) New type of license plate light housing (early festoon bulb vs late bayonet bulb). A little bid later was the change for the decklid, so the first several cars with the version 2.0 license light housing still had the lid with the extra, large holes. This sort of thing happened at Karmann quite a bit in the "Lowlight" years.
  
• 1708050 (19 okt 57) (body 24781) New type of rear lights and rubber
  
• 1764743 (03 jan 58) (body 27435) Introduction of the American style bumpers (with overrides)
  
• 1786160 (07 jan 58) (body 28039) The rims were painted pearl white
  
• 1788180 (15 jan 58) (body 28198) Rear window heater can now be adjusted separately. The rear vent was introduced on 16 September 1957 production. The first few weeks' production of this new feature had a very rudimentary vent trim
  
• 1921626 (april 58) New frond seat spring and padding
  
• 2008855 (july ’58) The metal hornbutton is replaced with a plastic one.
  
• 29 August 1958 Body 39601 Karmann went consecutive with its stamped body numbers up to #39,600; after that it was a three digit number. They repeated the sequence of three digit numbers a few times. Tthe Karmann S/N plate (adjacent to the Volkwagen AG info plate in the trunk) was discontinued as well. This was the tag that had yet another number, very close to the stamped body number but not quite the same. There's some debate as to why this number is a little off from the stamped body numbers; I don't think anyone knows with absolute certainty. Super-early Cabriolets were on a different body numbering system, roughly 21,000 units behind concurrent Coupes, up until the cumulative body numbering system was discontinued on August 19, 1958 production (at Coupe #39,600), in favour of a simple three-digit system to keep the had-finished body parts together with their proper body.
  
• 2103015 (03-okt-58) New style of front turn signal lights
  
• 2120400 (okt ’58) a soft protective cloth (1050mm x 650mm) was supplied with the Convertible. This cloth should be placed over the rear window when the roof is open to avoid the window being scratched
  
• 2252343 The Plastic Waffle Sunvisors were then replaced with the Padded Waffle Sunvisors)
  
• 2257235 or 2257979 The dash pad came on-line on January 26, 1959 production. The first iteration did not have trim for the defroster vents or the lower edge.
  
• 2257980 (25-jan 59) The chrome strip on the front of the convertible discontinued
  
• 2395181 Change in doorhinges
  
• 2 490 635 (6 July 1959) a metal Retaining Strip secured with screws was used at the lower Dashtop edge, together with a pair of Retaining Trims (again secured with screws) for each defroster vents
  
  Other changes somewere in the second two years period
  
• place of nosebadge in not raised anymore
  

2528668 (06 aug 59) The introduction of the 60 model and therefore the end of the lowlight period.
_________________
Dutch Karmann-Ghia and coachbuild lover.
1* Karmann Ghia Coupe (1966 Teak)
2* Karmann Ghia Convertible (1958, 1971)
4* Rometsch Lawrence (nr 534, 555, 558 and 561)

Karmann-Ghia Lowlight page and registry
Karmann-Ghia Collectibles database

[70 140]

VWGearhead,

Hopefully this answers your questions.

[thom]

>04-sept 56 The VW logo on the hubcabs are now painted black, no mather the bodycolor. Before they were painted bodycolor

I didn't know this - I was going to do mine black!
_________________
-Thom
1956 Single Cab
1957 Porsche 356A Sunroof
1957 23-Window Deluxe
1957 Mercedes Westfalia single cab
1963 Unimog 404
1965 E-Type

[retrowagen]

Hi Everyone.

I have cataloged 80 specific production changes that Karmann and/or VW made to these cars during the "Lowlight" era.

No time to expand on that further at the moment, sorry.
_________________
David Ruby
President, Karmann-Ghia World Club

[RockStock]

all good stuff!

for me there is basically an early lowlight (1956/57) and a late lowlight (1958/9)
the easier identification signals:

early lowlight (1956/7)
early colour range
no cabriolet
thinback front seats (chord/vinyl)
straight across door panel style (chord)
fat armrest
festoon bulbs (tail-lights, no. plate lights, interior light)
late oval steering wheel
no fuel gauge/sender
some carpet on front bulkhead area
no rear window vent
beetle dash knobs/winder knobs
fat front cowl supports

late lowlight (1958/9)
late colour range
cabriolet
fatback front seats (cloth/vinyl)
'angled up' door panel style (vinyl)
thin armrest
bayonet bulbs (tail-lights, no. plate lights, interior light)
ghia only steering wheel
fuel gauge/sender
all rubber in front half of car (in front of rear seat)
rear window vent
ghia only dash knobs/winder knobs
thin front cowl supports

related thread:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2229906
_________________
-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

welcome, son
_________________
-StockRocks-

[///Mink]

[pbaptist]

[Broadacus]

[retrowagen]

The 4-Sept-1956 detail was for Beetles. There is a growing body of automotive archeological evidence that the hubcap logos were painted BY KARMANN in a colour corresponding to body colour scheme through some point in the calendar year of 1958. This was an obviously labour-intensive detail which was phased out in favour of the all-black logo'ed hubcaps, painted in Wolfsburg. Let's all remember, Karmann was an independent company buying parts from Volkswagen, Ford, DKW, Porsche, etc. as well as a myriad of German subcontractors (we'd call them OEM's today), to assemble their finished product.

FWIW, my September 1957 Coupe, who has all four of her original hubcaps, has black logos on them, as would be correct for a Brilliant Red Coupe (referring to the factory colour brochures).
_________________
David Ruby
President, Karmann-Ghia World Club

[HouseofGhia]

my jan 59 had the logos painted roof color, dark green. I have two of the originals and the son of the original owner remembers the car coming form the dealer that way.

Dave! Welcome back!
_________________
House of Ghia specializing in Karmann Ghia parts, service, and restorations. www.house-of-ghia.com

[lonotch]

Lots of changes were made in the last 1/2 year of 59's, only one I can think of now is the front turn signals changed mid year.

I also remember that the earlier 56 fly catcher screen was attached to the body, then they went to removable ones. I think from a picture that Thom posted, Retrowagon made a comment on them after I asked why they were attached.

Good to see you posting again Dave.
_________________
It's not about the window, it's about the people.

German Folks

[vwgearhead]

WOW!!thanx for all the answers and information,I have never seen anyone advertise a 55 ghia,but thanx very much for all the info!!!