In 1903 the company GEORG FISCHER was founded. They mainly produced small toys and cars with and without clockwork motor. The company ceased to exist in 1958.
The Karmann Ghia VW Coupe was introduced in 1955 and the Convertible model followed in 1958. Well, it did not take long for the toy companies to produce their version of the new VW Karmann Ghia in miniature. The European toy company by the name of GEORGE FISCHER, located in the German toy district of Nuremburg, introduced their toy Karmann Ghia Convertible in 1958. It was a small tin lithograph toy is 1/50 scale, 3.5 inches or about 87mm in length. The colorful tin plate body is stamped with the smooth curves of the fenders and represents the basic silhouette of the Lowlight Karmann Ghia Convertible VW very well. There are indentations for the front and rear hoods and the front hood strip is raised.
The very colorful lithograph design depicts an orange body with a yellow convertible top. Although this color combination is very pronounced, this was not a stock color combination from Volkswagen. The lithograph design is very detailed with lines for the doors, front and rear bumpers, and wheels. The cabrio top has a rear window, trim pieces and people’s faces lithographed in the windows. There is an indentation for the rear air grille and the front grilles are the early twin louvered grille type. The headlights, front hood emblem, license plate assembly and the small taillights are part of the lithograph design as well. The detailing is finished off with the “Karmann Ghia” script on the rear hood, “MADE IN WESTERN GERMANY” and a license plate number of “N-GF 372.” The chassis is also tin plate lithographed in an orange color and has several raised lines and white plastic wheels. The chassis and body are attached together with bent over metal body tabs.
There is also a rarer light blue tin lithographed body with a dark blue top Lowlight Ghia Cabrio toy with a GF 374 license plate number that is a larger, 1/28 scale or 148mm in length.
Also, in the early 1960s, GEORG FISCHER released a colorful blue and white POLICE VW Ghia toy, GF 376, that was of the newer design with the larger front section grilles.
