Order a Type X, Type C or Type S
Build it in the configurator, then sign one contract with the specification, total and delivery date. Payment is 50% at order, 25% when assembly starts and 25% at delivery.
Build yours
Erwin Komenda, 1904 to 1966
The man behind the shape
Erwin Komenda was born in the Austrian Alps in 1904 and joined Ferdinand Porsche’s design office in 1931, where he ran body design until his death in 1966. He led the body work on the Volkswagen Beetle and shaped the Porsche 356, from the first roadster in 1948 to the last coupes in 1965.
He was an engineer first. The 356’s smooth, unbroken curves came out of the search for a body that was light, stiff and slippery, and the beauty followed from that. At his funeral, Ferry Porsche said Komenda never spoke of his own achievements. We’d like more people to know his name.
East Africa, 1953
Three thousand miles of dust, rock and mud
In May 1953, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, East Africa ran its first Coronation Safari: about 3,000 miles of mostly unmade road through Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, in showroom-stock cars. Fifty-seven cars started and sixteen reached the finish in time.
The unofficial winner was a Volkswagen Beetle, crewed by Alan Dix and Johnny Larsen. Beetles went on to win outright in 1954, 1957 and 1962, and took the team prize in four of the first five years.
The reasons were mechanical. With no radiator, there was nothing to puncture or boil over; as Motor Sport put it in 1962, a VW “does not rely on water to cool its cylinders.” It also had independent torsion-bar suspension at every wheel, a Porsche office patent from 1931.
Where it started
Built by hand, in a sawmill
After the war, the first 356s were built in a former sawmill in Gmünd, in the Austrian mountains. A small crew hammered aluminum over a wooden frame, at least ninety hours a body, and finished about fifty cars in two years. Gmünd coupes won their class at Le Mans in 1951 and won the Liège-Rome-Liège rally outright in 1952. The 1951 Liège class winner is now in Naples, Florida.
We mean to work the same way: a few cars at a time, built by hand by the people who own the company.
The Type X
Where our Type X comes from
The Type X starts where those Beetles did, on a Volkswagen floor pan, which we title and reinforce. On it we build the coupe shape Komenda gave the 356, then add what those roads asked for: a foot of suspension travel at each corner, all-terrain tires, a skid plate, rally lights and a spare on the roof.
There is a family link, too. Vic Preston Sr. crewed the winning Volkswagen in 1954, and in 1978 his son, Vic Preston Jr., finished second on the Safari in Porsche’s works 911. We like to think the Type X has a little of both in it.
What we kept seeing
Wanting one shouldn't be the hard part
The originals are now too valuable for most owners to drive without worry, and a one-off build often means a long wait and a price that moves. We wanted something in between.
What we built instead
Set models, built the same way every time
Every model has a published specification, price and delivery date. Each car will follow the same documented build in a numbered series, and the price covers the real parts, the real hours and the warranty. That is how we intend to be here when your car needs us, years from now.
- A published price and one contract with your specification, total and delivery date.
- Your first drive within eight months of your order, for any car we build.
- Every stage photographed, and your build team one message away.
- 2 years or 20,000 miles of warranty on the whole car, transferable to the next owner.
- Every car titled and described for exactly what it is.
- Service, parts, tours and help when you sell, for as long as you own it.
The people
The people who own the company will build your car
Wade runs the shop and will build the cars. Robert will build alongside him, leads design and looks after clients. Marc leads engineering and quality. When you call, you’ll talk to someone who knows your car.
Built here
Northeast Florida, an hour from Amelia
The live oak roads, pine flatwoods and sand tracks in our photographs are where we will test, where our tours will run, and the reason the Type X exists.
Our name
Why Karmenda Karosserie
We think of Erwin Komenda as the father of these cars. The 356 he shaped is why they look the way they do, and the Beetle his department designed the body for gave us the chassis we build on. The name is our way of saying so. Karosserie is German for coachwork, the field he worked in all his life.
Karmenda Karosserie is an independent company. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Porsche, Volkswagen or the family of Erwin Komenda.