Karmann Coachbuilts - Website and Forum

Karmann Coachbuilts

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This Karmann Coachbuilt website and the Karmann Coachbuilt forum has been created to allow all Karmann owners to share information about these vehicles and with a specific aim of helping all the Karmann owners enjoy their Karmann Coachbuilt experience to the full. We hope you enjoy your visit to our site and if you own a Karmann or thinking of buying one, join the forum.

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Latest News

(last 5 items)

15/10/09	Incredible as it seems, the number of Karmann's continue to rise. We are now aware of 6 T2 Gipsy's, 116 T3 Karmanns (95 Gipsy's and 17 Cheetah's) and 20 LT's making a grand total of 142 examples.
18/8/09	The number of known Karmanns continues to rise at a steady rate. We have now reached an incredible 109 examples. There are 243 registered users on the Karmann Forum.
17/06/09	Karmann Coachbuilts Window Stickers are now available. See Below in the General Karmann Information ("Goodies for your Karmann")
15/06/09	The list of Gipsy, Cheetah and LT survivors continues to get larger by the day. Less than one month ago we reported that we knew of 91 Gipsy and Cheetah's. This has now reached 103. 7 LT's were known and this number has reach 9. Forum members has reached 180 members. A number of Karmann's attended the Devadubs event at the weekend and had a very enjoyable time (see photo above). A good selection of Photographs can be found in the Karmann forum.
26/05/09	Incredible as it seem the numbers have risen again. We now now of 75 Gipsy's and 16 Cheetah's, 7 Karmann LT's and 6 Colorado & Missouri's. In addition we now know of 3 Foster and Day coachbuilts and 1 Tischer. The number of registered members on the Karmann forum has reached 158.
24/04/09	A few more Karmann's have surfaced. In total we now have 83 Gipsy and Cheetahs, 7 LT Distance Wide's and 6 Colorado & Missouri's, making a grand total of 96 Karmann's! We also welcome 3 Foster & Day's and 1 Tischer Coachbuilt into our fold. The number of registered users of the Karmman-Coachbuilts forum has now reached 124.
28/03/09	Two more Coachbuilts have been added to the Karmann Coacbuilts Register. This now brings the total number of Gipsy's, Cheetah's we know of up the grand total of 76.
24/03/09	Another Karmann Gipsy Syncro (from Germany) has identified itself and an LT31 Distance (from Ireland). This brings the total number of known Karmanns up to 80. We also welcome 2 non-Karmann Coachbuilts into our family - a Foster & Day and a Tischer. We now have 118 forum users the vast majority of whom are Karmann owners. Thank you - every one of you.

The Archived News Items can be found here

T3 Karmann Gipsy and Cheetah's

In total 741 T3 Karmann Gipsy’s were manufactured on the chassis of Volkswagen T3 (T25 / Transporter / Vanagon). This number excludes 30+ 14" wheeled Syncro models made between 1986 and 1989 and 7 Syncro 16″ wheeled models made between 1990 and 1992. Parallel to the Gipsy production, 113 Karmann Cheetah’s were manufactured by Karmann between 1980 and 1992 to make a grand total of 891 T3 examples.

At present we know of 112 Type 3 and surviving Gipsy's (95) and Cheetahs (17), but there are many more out there we don't know about. It is understood that there are 5 of these vehicles in North America, but 4 of these need to be confirmed. To my knowledge, two examples have so far been 'written off' (road traffic accident) in the UK and one scrapped in Germany representing 2% lost. If we were to apply that 'lost' percentage to the total Karmann production figures, this means there are a maximum of 875 surviving examples. The exact number of surviving may never be known.

The Gipsy and Cheetah's on these pages and represented on the forum are just a mere 12.8% of the total Karmann Gipsy/Cheetah survivors. One wonders where are the other 87.20% ?

Total Gipsy's Produced: 778 Known examples surviving: 95 Survival Rate: 11.82%

Total Cheetah's Produced: 113 Known examples surviving: 17 Survival Rate: 15.04%

Details of the Gipsy and Cheetah production figures and lots of other information can be found in the Members Area

Karmann LT's

During the years of 1978 to 1996 approximately 3,103 Karmann Coachbuilt LT's were produced. These models were named the LT "M", LT "L 1", LT "L 2", LT "L Distance Wide", LT "L Distance-Wide Gold", LT "H Distance-Wide", LT "H Distance-Wide Gold", LT "S Distance-Wide" and the ultimate Karmann of that time, the LT "Distance-Wide Autovilla" (see here).

At present we know of only 20 Karmann LT's, so the known survivor figures are (at least at present) far worse than that of the Gipsy/Cheetah's production. The LT's known represent just a mere 0.64% of the total Karmann LT production. Where are the other 99.36%?!!

Details of the Karmann LT Production figures and lots of other information can be found in the Members Area

Other Coachbuilts - Foster & Day and Tischer

Although this is a Karmann Coachbuilt site, we welcome among our members two other T25 coachbuilts types, these being the Foster and Day and Tischer.

Not a lot is know of the Tischer Coachbuilts and we know of only one Tischer Coachbuilt on a T25 chassis. Tischer are more famously know for the demountable living units, but surely there must be more Tischer coachbuilts around! We know of just 1 Tischer based on the T25 chassis. A Tischer Coachbuilt is a very rare breed indeed.

The Foster & Days Coachbuilts were British made (Foster and Day, 1050 Manchester Road, Castleton, Rochdale, Lancshire), but sadly they no longer exist. We currently know of 3 examples. Foster and Day produced a limited number of Motorhomes and the Volkswagen T25 was just one base vehicle they used. They also built some larger motorhomes which based on the GMC and Iveco chassis (all ex-Ambulances). To our knowledge, 17 Volkswagen T25 Foster and Day Coachbuilts were produced also making them also a rare Motorhome indeed.

Gipsy & Cheetah General Information

Pictures of Gipsy's and Cheetah's More pictures in the Members Area	Gipsy and Cheetah Layouts
Colours	Karmann Productions Numbers & Details
Gipsy and Cheetah Differences	Chassis Construction
Karmann Options & M-Codes	Frequently Asked Questions
Where are they now?	Spotted!
Where can I find my Karmann Plate?

Gipsy & Cheetah Restoration Projects

Karmann Gipsy rebuild by Tudor Morgan

(Pages Still Under Construction)

Karmann Cheetah Rebuild by Westy77

Another Gipsy restoration by Stan Wehrle of Caravan Supplies

(Caravan Supplies also sell some parts for the Karmann's

including roof boards - more information to be provided)

Gipsy & Cheetah Technical Articles

How to TDI your Karmann Gipsy / Cheetah by Tudor Morgan

A detailed and step by step guide on how to replace your 1.6JX TD

with a 1Z 1.9 TDI Engine. What Parts you need, Work Sequence and

a Pictorial Work Sequence containing over 100 photographs.

Gipsy TDI Turbo Intercooler Modification

Another Gipsy TDi Conversion by GrenJS

Karmann LT Information

Pictures of Karmann LT's	The LT Gold - The Ultimate Karmann?
VW LT Owners Club	Volkswagen LT Club Holland
Another Karmann LT site in Germany	German LT Site

General Karmann Information

Goodies for your Karmann	"In The Press"
Rest in Peace	Location Map - Where are we all?
How to connect the Electrical Hook-Up	Dimensions (Weight / Sizes etc etc)
Bungalows With Attitude!!