Place: Ruby Tuesday
Lunch: Sonora Chicken Pasta, garden bar, Coke
SUGGESTED SLOGAN ALTERATION: Ruby Tuesday. Simple, overpriced American dining
I was sad to hear that German coachbuilder Karmann has filed for insolvency.
The name probably doesn't ring a bell to you, but it might if I point out the Karmann-Ghia, the snazzy little coupe of the 1960's...the signature icon of the brand. Ghia designed the body on the VW Beetle platform, and Karmann built them for VW, actually hand-forming some of the sheet metal. Still one of the most beautiful cars ever produced. You could buy one new for around $2500 back in the day.
But Karmann has done far more over its century of existence. Karmann built niche models for nearly a dozen brands over the years. VW's old Beetle and Golf convertibles, a couple of Audi's, BMW's, Fords...even an AMC model. It's last contract is the Mercedes CLK.
The company has some convertible top plants outside of Germany that will continue.
I've owned two Karmann-built VW's over the years...an '84 Scirocco and a '90 Corrado. I loved that Scirocco. The Corrado was the worst car I ever owned. A financial drain like no other. It's probably easier to list what DIDN'T go wrong in that thing. Still, it was a head turner, and I was asked a lot of questions about it by people who'd never seen nor heard of them before.
Thanks for the cars, Karmann. You will be missed.
