Posted on 21/11/2006 at 11:44
First visit
I wanted a Karmann-Ghia for a pretty long time... To be honest, a bit by despite, my 356 dreams flying away with their prices.
My only imperative was to find a "small lights" model, as I'm not fond of those last generation KG big rear lights. So I was reading the classified ads for month, affordable bases being rare, I even thought about shipping my KG from California... Until this January 2006 day, when I found an ad on Flat4Ever!
A '68 KG, looking pretty fine, for 8000 euros ; and moreover, it's only a few kilometers from where I live! So I contacted the owner (Mike, if you read this : many thanks!), who sends me some more pictures of it... I soon met him to have a closer look to the beast.
The KG comes from South Africa (Johannesburg) : this is why it is way less rusted than what we usually find down here. Actually, it is still registered in South Africa...
Engine and gearbox had been changed in Johannesburg, and it's been repaired by Technifun, a local shop that I know very well since it's arrived in France.
The owner, very friendly, explained that he brought back 3 KG's from South Africa (where he used to live), thinking that selling 2 of them here would pay for the third one he will keep for himself (the two others are left had drive)... Finally, and unfortunately, it did not work as expected, as he had to make many repairs on the cars (I got the bills) + importation taxes in France that were way higher than he expected.
The paint had been re-done (original color, nice but not perfect paint job) a few years earlier.
No rust in the wheel arch, bottoms are clean, no fiberglass detected with my magnet. No rust around the windshield, only 1 or 2 spots on the bottom of the rear hood lid.
Inside of the nose is clean, bumpers holders are perfect, no looseness in the door hinges (surprising on this model!).
The seals are clean, the interior is almost perfect ; the only thing I can't stand is the dashboard, the fake wood is too much seventies to me......
Drive test : big looseness in the steering box, the owner tells me it's already tighten to the max : I'll have to change it.
The shock absorbers are tired...
Some noise in the tachometer : the needle move, but the odometer doesn't ; the clock is present but doesn't work neither. The 1600cc engine is pleasant to drive...
The clutch cable makes a funny noise in the chassis... The heating system was removed (useless in South Africa), but the heating boxes are present, it shouldn't be a big deal to put it back. The back of the car looks lower than the front, probably the torsion bars being tired as well...
The owner tells me the car had 2 shocks back in the past : one on the rear left wing, another on the front left headlight. The later was not repaired correctly, there's some resin and the paint is ugly. The floorpans are clean (but not perfect) under the carpets...
So! The beast isn't perfect, but it's pretty healthy compared to what we usually see in France. I don't like the fake wood on the dashboard, I had prefered an older model with the 2 big tachos... But anyway, this one is complete, with a ball joints and disc brakes front end, I'll be able to drive it untroubled.
Some discussions and 7500 euros later, I'm her new owner!
My only imperative was to find a "small lights" model, as I'm not fond of those last generation KG big rear lights. So I was reading the classified ads for month, affordable bases being rare, I even thought about shipping my KG from California... Until this January 2006 day, when I found an ad on Flat4Ever!
Engine and gearbox had been changed in Johannesburg, and it's been repaired by Technifun, a local shop that I know very well since it's arrived in France.
The paint had been re-done (original color, nice but not perfect paint job) a few years earlier.
No rust in the wheel arch, bottoms are clean, no fiberglass detected with my magnet. No rust around the windshield, only 1 or 2 spots on the bottom of the rear hood lid.
Inside of the nose is clean, bumpers holders are perfect, no looseness in the door hinges (surprising on this model!).
The seals are clean, the interior is almost perfect ; the only thing I can't stand is the dashboard, the fake wood is too much seventies to me......
The shock absorbers are tired...
Some noise in the tachometer : the needle move, but the odometer doesn't ; the clock is present but doesn't work neither. The 1600cc engine is pleasant to drive...
The owner tells me the car had 2 shocks back in the past : one on the rear left wing, another on the front left headlight. The later was not repaired correctly, there's some resin and the paint is ugly. The floorpans are clean (but not perfect) under the carpets...
So! The beast isn't perfect, but it's pretty healthy compared to what we usually see in France. I don't like the fake wood on the dashboard, I had prefered an older model with the 2 big tachos... But anyway, this one is complete, with a ball joints and disc brakes front end, I'll be able to drive it untroubled.
Some discussions and 7500 euros later, I'm her new owner!
2 comments
Posted on 28/09/2006 at 12:33
Final result...
I still have a lot of ideas for this car... But I lack of time and money for it...
But it will come toghether, it's just a matter of patience!
Posted on 23/09/2006 at 01:04
Miscellaneous and accessories
Here is an accessory I'm particularly proud of!
This is a "2 in 1" Motometer gauge : fuel level (with a reserve light) and oil temperature...
I bought it totaly NOS, in 2000, on eBay : complete in its original box, never mounted! For a 50 years old accessory, this is pretty rare!
So, some paint and 2 holes in my tank later, I finally have a nice jauge on my dashboard!
Just one more accessory : a Smith tachometer.
It was not that easy to understand the way it works : by induction!
Anyway, now it works perfectly... I got all the tools to keep an eye on my little engine!
This is a "2 in 1" Motometer gauge : fuel level (with a reserve light) and oil temperature...
I bought it totaly NOS, in 2000, on eBay : complete in its original box, never mounted! For a 50 years old accessory, this is pretty rare!
So, some paint and 2 holes in my tank later, I finally have a nice jauge on my dashboard!
It was not that easy to understand the way it works : by induction!
Anyway, now it works perfectly... I got all the tools to keep an eye on my little engine!
Posted on 16/09/2006 at 22:17
Reassembling...
The Big Reassembly after the paint job!
Putting back the bumpers have been difficult, the "export" renforcements keep annoying me..
The rear lights required lots of patience as well to find the original place...
In short, after a few hours spent struggling with the spare parts, Elvira is back on the road with its lights, bumpers, ID Plate (made by Etablissement Maillefaud in Paris, just a free ad for their fantastic work)...
My beetle had been dropped down in the past... So I re-highered the suspension to give it back its original looks.
But I kept the nose a few centimeters lower that the back, to give some rake, just because I prefer this look!
Here we go, I already removed the wheel, shock absorber, the transmission/brake drum assembly...
In 3 steps, how-to-higher-a-suspension :
Putting back the bumpers have been difficult, the "export" renforcements keep annoying me..
The rear lights required lots of patience as well to find the original place...
In short, after a few hours spent struggling with the spare parts, Elvira is back on the road with its lights, bumpers, ID Plate (made by Etablissement Maillefaud in Paris, just a free ad for their fantastic work)...
But I kept the nose a few centimeters lower that the back, to give some rake, just because I prefer this look!
Here we go, I already removed the wheel, shock absorber, the transmission/brake drum assembly...
In 3 steps, how-to-higher-a-suspension :
- We take apart the plate hiding the torsion bar (4 very tighten bolts)
- Here we see the torsion bar and its grooves : I need to remove the suspension plate without moving the torsion bar...
- And voila! The only thing left I've got to do is reassembling, shifting by 1 groove up! (you can see on this picture the torsion bar in its tube)
Posted on 16/09/2006 at 22:08
Body work / paint job
Early 1998, the paint job.
I'll only do an external paint, for several reasons:
Inside of the opening will get its black coat as well (VW (Schwartz L41) : hoods, doors...
The only real metalworking will b the reparation of a rip on the front hood, which is usual on those models : there were only one single stand to keep the hood opened, which you need to unlock to close the hood. If someone tries to force-close it... You got a rip on the hood's side.
The body shop did a great work here, you can barely see the repair.
Here is the result after several layers of black!
Yummy, I love this bumper-less dragster look...
Voila, I still need to give back the fuel tank and wheels their original Peal White (PerlWeiss L87) color (I hate this ugly vanilla color). But I can already start reassembling the beast!
I'll only do an external paint, for several reasons:
- - the orignal interior paint looks like new, even it's 39 years old!
- - I like this interior patina look...
- - an moreover, I can't afford a full body work!
Inside of the opening will get its black coat as well (VW (Schwartz L41) : hoods, doors...
The only real metalworking will b the reparation of a rip on the front hood, which is usual on those models : there were only one single stand to keep the hood opened, which you need to unlock to close the hood. If someone tries to force-close it... You got a rip on the hood's side.
The body shop did a great work here, you can barely see the repair.
Yummy, I love this bumper-less dragster look...
Voila, I still need to give back the fuel tank and wheels their original Peal White (PerlWeiss L87) color (I hate this ugly vanilla color). But I can already start reassembling the beast!
