Found at last - The SUPER-VW!

by **carl & helen** Fri May 11 2012, 13:00

Found! The SUPER-VW!

It’s a Karmann 1-2-3 at the Volkswagen AutoMuseum special exhibition

Pete Frost reports

Found at last - The SUPER-VW! Super-VWsAutoMuseumNov_2011

Found at last - The SUPER-VW! Super-VW2012--KGwinner

Found at last - The SUPER-VW! Super-VW2012--1967Glcks-Kfer

Since November last year, the Volkswagen AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg has been hosting a special exhibition called ‘Wanted: The SUPER-VW’ featuring a display of 14 cars. The AutoMuseum teamed up with Auto Bild Klassik magazine and 14 Volkswagen clubs to nominate vehicles for the exhibition and to find out which one would take the title. With the voting now complete, the winner has been announced.

For around 30 years, the AutoMuseum Volkswagen has had a very close association with the VW club scene. 14 clubs from across Germany representing both air-cooled and water-cooled models suggested a wide range of historic Volkswagen vehicles. The list was then whittled down to a shortlist of the most original and best condition vehicles to be featured in both the museum and Auto Bild Klassic.

Classic Volkswagens participating in the exhibition, and listed in chronological order, were: 1950s coachbuilt on Beetle running gear; 1955 VW Karmann Beetle Cabriolet, VW Karmann Ghia Cabriolet; VW 1600 L ‘notchback’; VW 411 E (fire dept version); VW Type 2 (fire truck version); VW K70 L; VW Passat Estate/Variant); VW Rabbit (U.S. Mk.1 Golf); Late ‘70s VW Karmann 1303 Beetle Cabriolet; VW Scirocco ‘Black-White’ edition; VW Polo Mk.1; VW Santana CX and final edition VW Mexico Beetle.

Of the 14 cars chosen for the display, the oldest is the early 1950s blue sports car which has an interesting background. It’s a one-off coachbuilt made by a car enthusiast in the former East Germany whose dream was to own a Porsche. He created a 356-style body and mounted it on a wartime VW Kubelwagen chassis and running gear. The car is owned by Christian Grundmann of Hessisch-Oldendorf. He and his family will be staging the much anticipated 6^th International Volkswagen Veteran Meeting in the town in June next year.

A total of 15,127 readers and visitors voted for their choice of SUPER-VW. The winning car with 3,725 votes was the Karmann Ghia Cabriolet. Second place went to the 1955 Beetle Cabriolet, whilst third position was awarded to the late ‘70s 1303 Beetle Cabriolet. Interestingly, not only were the top three cars convertibles, but they were also all built by Karmann.

Everyone who voted was automatically entered into a raffle to win a Glücks-Käfer (Lucky Beetle). In this case, a fully restored 1967 sunroof Beetle 1300, donated by the AutoStadt. The lucky winner was Florian Hoffmann, a car mechanic from north Hessen and the stunning vehicle was handed over in a ceremony at the recent Techno Classica 2012 classic car show in Essen . He could hardly believe his luck and first thought it was a joke when he was given the good news. The car is in good hands. Hoffman, a long-term VW enthusiast, has been collecting and restoring air-cooled Volkswagen classics since his youth having started with a Beetle at the age of 17 after passing his driving test. Besides his current Beetle and a Karmann Ghia, he recently acquired a 1958 T1 Transporter. The 1967 Glücks-Käfer has subsequently found a nice new home and will make a fine addition to his collection of classics.

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All attached images, courtesy of Volkswagen AG:

Karmann Ghia photo caption: Wanted – Found: The SUPER-VW, the Karmann Ghia Cabriolet. From left, Dirk-Michael Conradt, board member of the AutoMuseum Volkswagen; Christian Steiger, Deputy Chief Editor of Auto Bild Klassik; and Michael Schaper Jahn, owner and winner of the title SUPER-VW for his Karmann Ghia Cabrio.

Beetle photo caption: Handover of the ‘Lucky Beetle’, a 1967 sunroof 1300, to winner Florian Hoffmann and his family.