Mango mix
It sounds like it's about a tropical drink and this Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is that sweet. Shining in the sun, he lets vitamin D act on his light green skin. Mango Green, to be precise, the color of a version of the same name within the Transporter dynasty. Okay, then immediately copy the entire clothing package to the convertible with its voluptuous curves, which already underwent extensive restoration.
Text: Aart van der Haagen • Photography: Aart van der Haagen, Rogi Classics
The Mango Green virus apparently roams the Rogi Classics workshop in Etten-Leur, because we also come across a coupe in this hue that never appeared in the color palette of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Good example makes good follow, apparently. "It was the same with Jack Lochten, the owner of the convertible, who ordered the restoration," says Fred van Gils, surgeon in an operating room full of air-cooled Volkswagens. “He came in here once during the process to sort out some parts and suddenly his eye fell on a photo album. He actually wanted to have his Karmann sprayed blue, because he did not like the original white and neither did the red applied later. When he saw this green, he changed his plan: it had to be that. "Good idea," I said, "but then we will also make it complete with all the features you find on the bus." In the early 1960s, Volkswagen produced a special series of the Transporter T1 for the American market, the Mango Green, finished with a cream-white roof. You can see that cream color on the inside in the piping of the brown seats and in the checkered strip on the doors. ”
From the dream
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia in question was complete and offered a healthy foundation in terms of carriage, so it would not turn out to be an open-ended restoration. "Then you think:" A car that originally drove around in California, it doesn't rust. " Well, I can help you get out of the dream. ”Rogi Classics has its own spray booth, where the Mango Green was applied nicely. The attendant threw himself into the interior and pulled brown skai with creamy-white piping around the newly cut foam. "You do not want the original horsehair, then such a car is like a wet newspaper and you roll in all directions in turns." The engine underwent a total overhaul and also received a sharpened crankshaft with fresh bearings, a new camshaft, cylinders , pistons etcetera. Apart from the interior mirror, Rogi Classics managed to complete the restoration in time after a one-year process and to deliver the cabriolet to Nelleke Lochten's birthday in person. "She thought it was fantastic, but she never drives it, knowing how high the value of such a Karmann Ghia is nowadays." Fred van Gils unintentionally indicates why it is, because while he was licking the carriage during the photo session he says, "This is the sexiest Volkswagen, with all those beautiful curves?"
66 green