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Fri Aug 29, 2008 5:53 am

I was at the Presidio in San Francisco a few weekends back, and saw this Orange'71 Ghia in the parking lot. The poor thing had seen better days, but was in one piece. She had the usual rust, and interestingly enough one of the rear flanks had been replaced with a 72-74 fender, so it had the recessed area for the later bumpers. Just on one side. Funny. I saluted the Ghia and wished her well. I could tell that the end of the line is not too far away - she had made it over 30 years, and had been bondoed, welded, patched, painted again and again. It's the kind of Ghia that you'd walk away from, but way down deep inside think "maybe I could bring her back....".

Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:20 am

Was the car for sale?

Zack

Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:20 am

Compared to the way mine was when I bought her, this one is in pristine condition. Now mine is darned near brand new!

Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:15 am

West coasters have a much different standard than we have here in the rusty east. A parts car to them is a solid driver with great restoration potential to us. They have no idea how good they've got it. :wink:

Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:17 am

Actually, yes, we do know how good we gots it.

Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:19 am

Oh, rub it in! :lol:

Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:31 am

At least that ghia is driving and registered. The worst hack job I have ever seen was this 65 ghia convertible that was resting on a rural property in Nevada County, CA, that my co-worker owned. I went to check on the ghia. It turned out that every fender was badly dented and needed repair with the exception of the front passenger side that a prior owner had replaced. Unfortunately, they had welded on a front passenger side fender from a lowlight ghia, so the car had one headlight noticeably lower than the other. Needless to say, I ran away from that one. :lol:

Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:22 pm

Zack1978 wrote: Was the car for sale?

Zack

No, it was just someone's driver.

Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:47 am

denizen224 wrote: West coasters have a much different standard than we have here in the rusty east. A parts car to them is a solid driver with great restoration potential to us. They have no idea how good they've got it. :wink:

every time i hear an east-sider say something like this, i get a mental picture of the truck the Clampetts drove to Beverly Hills... :roll:

Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:44 am

Well, to help a left coaster understand what a Rust Belt owner deals with and why the left coaster Vdub may be coveted, think about this:

- In the late 70's, buying a "good, used" Vdub would be one that was not a decade old yet. This would cost you around $3K if from a dealer lot.
- During college you might expect to own 2 or more Vdubs.
Not due to driving skills but because a Vdub's heater channels and front suspension could rust-out in 10 years after it was driven off the new lot...all lost to salt corrosion.
- Gas heaters were normal parts on almost every one of my first five Vdubs.
- Heat exchangers were always installed and generally didn't last very long.
- By the late 80's you were hard pressed to see any air cooled Vdubs being 'daily driven'.
- In my first 5 Vdubs, the car's body only ever outlived the OG, factory installed engine once and I babied that one (no winters, lots of attention to fighting the dreaded winter/spring road wash)

I drove a Vdub from Cali. to Mass. back in the 90's...
In CA I estimated seeing 1 in 200 cars driving by were air cooled. These weren't show cars or treffen-folks it was a mid week morning kinda thing.
In MA I estimated seeing 1 in 2000 cars driving by were air cooled. - Oh yeah.. and that was a weekend kinda' thing...

Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:59 pm

gecko@revolks.com wrote: Well, to help a left coaster understand what a Rust Belt owner deals with and why the left coaster Vdub may be coveted, think about this:

- In the late 70's, buying a "good, used" Vdub would be one that was not a decade old yet. This would cost you around $3K if from a dealer lot.
- During college you might expect to own 2 or more Vdubs.
Not due to driving skills but because a Vdub's heater channels and front suspension could rust-out in 10 years after it was driven off the new lot...all lost to salt corrosion.
- Gas heaters were normal parts on almost every one of my first five Vdubs.
- Heat exchangers were always installed and generally didn't last very long.
- By the late 80's you were hard pressed to see any air cooled Vdubs being 'daily driven'.
- In my first 5 Vdubs, the car's body only ever outlived the OG, factory installed engine once and I babied that one (no winters, lots of attention to fighting the dreaded winter/spring road wash)

I drove a Vdub from Cali. to Mass. back in the 90's...
In CA I estimated seeing 1 in 200 cars driving by were air cooled. These weren't show cars or treffen-folks it was a mid week morning kinda thing.
In MA I estimated seeing 1 in 2000 cars driving by were air cooled. - Oh yeah.. and that was a weekend kinda' thing...

yeah, you're right, us "leftcoasters" have it pretty good. we don't salt our roads, so we don't destroy our VW's...

you eastsiders need to stop taking all the CA VW's out of CA. there are only so many left, and you guys are all ruining them! cut it out! :lol:

Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:06 am

I have to say that it's very sweet to see so many of you have such a soft place in your heart for Ghias and want so much to help them all. Heaven will be filled with such people as yourselves and the Ghia's will be all fixed up and pristine with your help up there.

Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:17 am

This is my daily driver.

I live in Massachusetts.

That's almost as far East as you can get and still have your teeth and not be married to your cousin.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/DSCN0184.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/DSCN0186.jpg

Cars rust here, over night, while you watch, like you cannot believe ! !

Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:51 am

OregonGhiaGirl wrote: I have to say that it's very sweet to see so many of you have such a soft place in your heart for Ghias and want so much to help them all. Heaven will be filled with such people as yourselves and the Ghia's will be all fixed up and pristine with your help up there.

Welcome to the Samba OregonGhiaGirl! I sure do hope that heaven is as easy to get into as you describe. Unfortunately, I may never see my '63 in pristine condition in my life time...