Orange You Happy It's Halloween?

(Pumpkin I carved all morning)

When I think Halloween, I think about candy, costumes, and pumpkins. When I think of pumpkins, I think of lattes, pie, and orange colored VW's. Currently there's no Volkswagen model that offers an orange paint job from the manufacturer, but did you know there were many offered in the past? Here's a handful of orange VW's that have a special place in my heart that are no longer in production. 

1969 Karmann Ghia

Ahh, the beautiful Karmann Ghia. No longer a production model, the Karmann Ghia was a sports car coupe that debuted in 1955, and later released as a convertible in 1957. She was only in production till 1974, but in 1969 was offered in a beautiful Signal Orange and Sunset Orange. The video below features a 69 Ghia that I believe is a Sunset Orange, which was a more brownish Orange than Signal Orange was.

1971 and 1974 Beetle

(Shot by Ian Hufton)

The Classic Beetle is an iconic vehicle for the Volkswagen brand. The original Beetle was many first cars for folks, as well as first loves. In 1971, the Beetle had a beautiful Clementine color available, and Brilliant Orange in 1974. 

Years later when the Beetle was redesigned and reintroduced, the New Beetle would offer Snap Orange in 2002, and Sundown Orange 2003-2005, definitely paying homage to the original Beetle, with a much more modern twist.

1973 and 1974 VW Thing

(Photo by VW Southtowne in Utah)

Yes, there really was a model called the Thing. VW's Type 181 was manufactured from 1968-1983, originally developed for military use. The Thing was a four door, two wheel drive, off road convertible that was all sorts of different. The model didn't last long in the U.S. due to failing to meet safety standards for a passenger vehicle, and was dropped from the line up in America in 1975. 

1990's and 2000's Golf and GTI

(Press release from @VWcanada)

The 90's and 2000's had a slew of orange colored VW's. From the 1996 Cinnabar Orange Cabrio, to Magma Orange in the 2007 Fahrenheit GTI, orange was a fun color for our fun hatchbacks. Tropic Orange was present for several years, beginning with the Golf in 1999, then the 2000 GTI. It even had a variation in 2001, with a Tropic Orange Metallic for the GTI. My favorite orange of the 2000's though was the special edition Fahrenheit GTI. The Fahrenheit GTI was the first special edition for the mk5 generation in North America, and came in a beautiful Magma Orange in 2007. The Fahrenheit GTI had a limited production number of 1200, just like its yellow Fahrenheit GLI counterpart, making this special edition very rare. The Fahrenheit edition was only available as a DSG, and had special Fahrenheit badging, commemorative plating on the steering wheel, body color interior panels, and orange stitching. 

Of course there were other models that featured orange, like the Type 2 VW bus, but the models listed above happened to have a special place in my heart. Which orange VW's do you fancy? Let us know by tweeting us @stohlmanauto. Until next time, Happy Halloween!

Esther Cho

VW Product Specialist

@esther_ch5