If you’re like me, you know that no news story is worth reporting until it’s had at least a good half-century to marinate. That’s why I was so excited to be sent the March-April 1952 issue of the Sports Car Club of America’s magazine, cleverly and evocatively titled “Sports Car.” This issue has some really mind-blowing and groundbreaking news regarding a one-off Volkswagen-based special that looks strikingly like the Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia. This normally wouldn’t be news except for the fact that the Karmann-Ghia was introduced in 1955, and this special came out in 1952! Was the builder a spy? Did he have strange powers that allowed him to see into the future? Or was it just a coincidence? Perhaps all three?
Here’s the issue of the magazine I’m talking about, in case you want to fish your copy out of the pile behind your refrigerator and follow along:
The article in question is this one, which I’ll admit has a sort of confusing byline: it says “As told by H.L. Brundage” but H.L. Brundage is referred to in the third person in the text of the article, so did H.L. tell it to H.L. or was there some other unnamed author who listened to H.L.? Probably the latter.
However the story was told, it seems that H.L., who was the SCCA Secretary-Treasurer of the Florida region, bought himself a new 1952 Volkswagen Beetle, with its tiny 1.1-liter flat-four making a ravenous 25 ponies. H.L. saw this car, drove it, and had the only rational reaction a human could have: the realization that this needed to be a race car.
So, he made modifications to the little motor, including a twin-carb setup, managed to extract a face-melting 35 hp from it, and then installed his own body of his own design made from a tube frame and aluminum sheeting. But what’s most interesting is the design of Brundage Special which I think is shockingly similar to the famous Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia design, though the Ghia wasn’t introduced to the public until 1955!
Now, the Ghia design was, of course, mostly completed before 1955, with prototypes shown as early as 1953, a date which, if my math serves me correctly, is still (carry the two) one year after the Brundage Special! Here, look how much the front end treatment of the 1953 Karmann-Ghia looks like this home-built special:
Those front ends are remarkably close. Sure, the Special has no need for bumpers and extends the fenders lower, but the whole plan of the front, the pointed prow, the forward-bulging fenders, the whole damn shape of it all really feels like what Ghia designed for VW’s sporty Beetle-based car.
Of course, where Ghia got that design is interesting, too, because it was actually an adaptation of an earlier concept car that Ghia designed for Chrysler in 1952, called the D’Elegance:
I actually did a little video about just this fact a while ago, so if you’d like to hear me talk about it a bit, boy are you in luck:
Now, the D’Elegance certainly inspired most of the Karmann-Ghia’s look, but, significantly, not the front end, which, being an air-cooled, rear-engined car, did not need a large radiator grille up front. So, the part that I find most like the Karmann-Ghia on this one-off Special we can’t attribute to the same root source as the rest of the Ghia, and, even if we tried, it’s from 1952, also.
I’m not saying that somehow Ghia of Italy saw this Floridian’s one-off Beetle racing special and took its front end design and grafted it onto their old Chrysler show car and presented that combination to Volkswagen, who then had Karmann build them and boom, Karmann-Ghia.
I’m not saying that’s remotely probable. But I am saying that, damn, if it was, it would make a hell of a lot of sense, because from where I sit, over 70 years after the fact, it sure as hell looks like H.L. Brundage, the secretary-treasurer-racer, designed at least the face of the famous Karmann-Ghia.
(thanks to Josh Ashby for sending me this!)
It looks to me like they were both influenced by the 1950-51 Studebaker Champion. Remove the bumper, fill in the grille, and replace the bullet-nose with a solid body-colored piece.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/design-analysis-1951-studebaker-way-out-in-front/
H L Brundage is an important man. H L Brundage cant be expected to write down his thoughts on his own. H L Brundage always has a stenographer with him as seen in the picture. H L Brundage is also the 1st person who talked about himself in the third person
I always figured that the designers were looking at the 1950 Studebaker front end while designing the Karmann-Ghia
That observation really clicks. Seeing a ‘50 Studebaker has always made me think “It looks like something else…” and the obvious lookalike was a ‘49 Ford with its chrome nose cone, but the similarities with the Ghia can’t be unseen.
Geat article! The design is way to similar to be a coincidence.
Did we lose the thumb-up for liking the article? :thumb down:
I wrote a comment on this here new system and it vanished? 🙁
Well, this calls for a test of the edit fuction, since it has just turned up again 🙂
Nothing to see here, move along 😉
Ooo-Whee, new comment system! Wowsers ????
Maybe VW of Germany found it a bit interesting, that somebody built a special racer. So it’s possible they saw the design and passed it on to Ghia (and karmann).
If you type it out it works. 😉
So it seems 🙂 But thanks anyway (thumbs up emoji)
BTW: Typing a hyphen has a very Office like way of turning things into bullet points. Which is not really the same meaning. But I guess I can accept that 🙂 (but maybe turn off that function if it’s easy to do)
NVM, test failed
Well there’s an edit button but no delete button, so ignore this
Actually I’m starting to wonder if the Ghia front end isn’t just the least effort way to wrap the Beetle’s front end. Still gorgeous, but a dude made it in less than one year using 1952 tools – Ghia just did the minimum effort at the front end and it worked! Maybe they did this as a placeholder and just liked it.
Edit: What, editing? Whohoooool!
We can’t have pictures yet, right?
This article is a bit of rabbit hole, historical trap, good to see and great way to kick off the new comment system.
Edit: And Editing works whoo hoo!
Torch I am glad you used this! HL Brundage was the founder of Brumos Porsche as well.
According to racingsportscars.com, Hubert L. Brundage raced his VW Special three times between 1952-3. Twice in 12-Hour at Sebring (March ‘52 and ‘53) and once in SCCA National at MacDill (February ‘53) in the modified category. He may also have owned a hardware store in Miami that was sold in December 1953. A Cessna aircraft was also registered to Brundage Hardware in 1948. Brundage raced through at least 1955 and is listed as driving MG, Porsche 356, and Panhard racers. Looking for more info.
Hubert Brundage was seemingly born with oil in his veins, grease under his fingernails, and exhaust fumes in his lungs. Brundage commissioning Enrico Nardi to construct a single seat, mid-engine Formula Junior car built around a standard Volkswagen engine, transmission, brakes, wheels and suspension in 1958. Though it was never competitive, by 1964 the SCCA had recognized the class for these now Fiberglass bodied Formula Vees, and in 1965 there were more than 1500 in the United States. The class remains among the most popular classes in SCCA to this day. To honor his accomplishments and the strength of the class, every five years, the Formula Vee family gets together to race for the Brundage Cup. While developing what would become the Formula Vee, Hubert became the Porsche importer and distributer for seven Southeastern states. Brundage Motors became one of the most famous endurance and sports car racing teams in the world.
The last was from the SCCA website
Maybe Ghia had employees who were SCCA members?
I want to know about that car from the cover – it looks massive! Unless that guy standing next to it is only 4′ tall, it looks huge.
Also, I see the new comment system is live!
It’s a Bugatti Type 41, chassis 41121, the Cabriolet Weinberger car. It had an interesting history in the late 1940s and early 1950s so I’m not surprised it made the cover.
Thanks!
The new comment system that says “7 comments” but only shows one (yours)?
Edit: “8 comments” displaying 4.
Why is this so hard? Disqus and livefyre solved this in 2010.
I saw that too. Keep refreshing and the count should catch up.
Everything about the Bugatti Royale is big. Those are 24-inch wheels and the straight 8 engine is about 775 cubic inches. Not sure it would qualify as a sports car by any definition, but it was pretty amazing as a vehicle.
Back in the day at a concours I was able to hear the ex-Briggs Cunningham Royale engine at idle. It wasn’t at all loud, but it was definitely busy-sounding – lots of large metal components under that very long hood.