It's much better! You see, Giorgetto Giugiaro started experimenting with a replacement for the Karmann Ghia not long after the Type 34 was introduced in 1961. This open-top wonder came a decade later.

If the VW Beetle was Susan Boyle, then the Karmann Ghia was her lovely voice. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe drop top Ghia is said to have had its own makeover, but will its price have you saying aww, come on, Ghia?

Welcome to Found Around Town, where we feature cars we find in a city largely devoid of interesting ones because everyone drives Priuses or rides bicycles: Austin, Texas.

A few of the over 21 million air-cooled Volkswagen Bugs built rust together while waiting for an unknown fate. It isn't hard to spot a Karmann Ghia and a Squareback sticking out like sore thumbs in the collection of rounded rooflines.

Volkswagen was a company well known for unorthodox advertising practices by the mid 1960s. It should come as no surprise that when it came time to expand their model range for 1966 with the Fastback and Squareback, the commercials were rather typically anything but typical.

Do semi-fossilized Karmann Ghias make for splendid California surf rods? They do, they do! (via Le Container)

Yes, a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia with a Hitchhiker's Guide theme defied the odds and took the 2010 Cain't Git Bayou 24 Hours of LeMons Index of Effluency trophy.

When we had the 50 Cars Made For Over 20 Years list a few weeks back, we were deafened by the howls of outrage from those whose favorite cars didn't make the cut.

Okay, it's not really Carmen's, but Nice Price or Crack Pipe is still trying to figure out what a Flamenco dancer has to do with this drop top Vee-dub.

Remember the über-rare Type 34 we saw down on the Alameda street about a year ago? It's for sale!