Out Of Africa

Among the Utes, this '66 Ghia certainly stands out. Having been with the same owner in South Africa for the last 47 years, it’s become a familiar sight on the twisting, mountainous roads of the Lesotho massif

- Robb Pritchard

On the rough red dirt tracks of the rural KwaZulu Natal state of South Africa it’s normally the ubiquitous pickup trucks and tired old Japanese cars you see. Which is why a bright blue and absolutely immaculate 1966 Karmann Ghia parked outside the local Steam

Punk cafe obviously warranted a closer look. Every month the coffee shop hosts the local classic club’s

‘Midland Meander’ drive where the region’s pre-’80s cars get taken out of their garages to enjoy the twisting country roads in the foothills of the jagged 3000m high Lesotho massif. This particular Ghia is a common sight at the friendly gatherings… which is understandable seeing as it’s been owned by local VW aficionado Nigel Howard since 1972.

Forecourt find

Nigel’s love of VW began way back in 1961 when he got his first job as a mechanic at a local VW dealer. From the mid’60s one of the cars he serviced regularly was a certain blue 1300cc Karmann Ghia. A few years later he was looking for a new Karmann for himself and found this one for sale on a local BMW forecourt. It was an older model than what he was looking for but seeing as he had serviced it himself he knew how well looked after it was…

Despite the car being in such a good condition Nigel owned it for a grand total of a week before taking the engine out. “If you know what you are doing it is a pretty easy job to convert a 1.3 into a 1.6, it’s just barrels and pistons,” he says. The ten extra horsepower doesn’t make that much of a difference but the larger bore gives noticeably better torque, which on the high altitude roads helps a lot with performance. Other modifications carried out in the first few months of ownership included a 12v alternator conversion and the addition of twin Solex carbs.