Bill Crawford, 83, a retired Chevron senior marketing representative living in Anchorage, Alaska, on his 1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible, as told to A.J. Baime.

In Alaska, we have four seasons: June, July, August and winter. When my wife, Gaye, and I first moved here in 1977, as soon as summer started, we couldn’t believe how many classic cars were coming out of people’s garages. The collector car atmosphere in Alaska is unbelievable. But it is also seasonal. This time of year, we especially love our cars because we often get snow as soon as September.

When I was growing up, I had a favorite uncle, who was a decorated World War II Marine named Al Guerard. He owned a 1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. When he died in 1981, I told my aunt that I would like to buy his car, but she knew how much it would mean to me. So she gave it to me. In 1983, I went to Pebble Beach, California, where she lived, picked up this car, drove it to Seattle, and put it on a barge bound for Alaska.

‘The collector car atmosphere in Alaska is unbelievable,’ says Mr. Crawford. While he sees many classic German and British cars, he says, the VW Karmann Ghia is a rare sight in his state.

The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia was introduced in 1955, the result of a partnership between German manufacturer Wilhelm Karmann, Italian design house Ghia and VW.

Up here, you don’t see many of these cars. There are lots of classic Porsche s, Volkswagens and British cars like MGs and Austin-Healeys. But very few Karmann Ghias. The car was built from 1955 to 1974, and back then there were a lot of them around. [According to VW, the company built 362,601 coupes and 80,881 convertibles, with a majority of those cars sold in the U.S.] Today the younger generation has no idea about what this car is and about its unique history.

A German manufacturer named Wilhelm Karmann partnered with an Italian car design house called Carrozzeria Ghia. They went to Volkswagen and asked if they could put this body on a Volkswagen chassis. So that is what happened. Like the Volkswagen Beetle, the VW Karmann Ghia has its engine in the back.

The car gave people a choice. If they couldn’t afford a Porsche, but they didn’t like the Volkswagen Beetle, they could buy this German car, which was priced in the middle.

The 1960 VW Karmann Ghia in full profile. Mr. Crawford has owned this car for nearly 40 years and has had much of it rebuilt with new German parts.

A look at the auto’s interior. Mr. Crawford says he recently got the car appraised for $65,000.

Like the original Volkswagen Beetle, the VW Karmann Ghia has an engine that sits behind the driver.

My specific car is all original. Here in Anchorage, there is a Volkswagen and Porsche expert named Ralfy Quepons who runs a shop called Culmination Motorsports. He rebuilt my car’s original transmission and installed a Judson supercharger on the original engine. He helped me rebuild the car using new and authentic German parts—the brakes, the shock absorbers, wiring harness, etc. The engine was rebuilt by Okrasa, a well-known shop in Anaheim, California. I had the interior reupholstered. So the car feels brand new.

I drive it on sunny days, and it has won plenty of awards at car shows over the last nearly 40 years I have owned it. I have the trophies lined up in my heated garage, where soon enough, this car will sit, winterized and under a cover, waiting for next summer to arrive.

Write to A.J. Baime at myride@wsj.com