TheSamba.com :: View topic - New Purchase

Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:05 am

I just purchased a 1974 Ghia. It's an original local Arizona car which runs and drives. Rust-free floor pan, rockers and heater channels. Old poorly repaired damage on nose, which is repairable. Some minor work needed on right rear quarter panel. Interior nonexistent. Asking price $1000, which I thought was fair. Put $200 deposit on it yesterday and previous owner is delivering it this afternoon at which time I'll pay the balance.

Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:11 am

Youngsters... what are ya gonna do? Congrats and good luck!

Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:16 pm

What the heck did they do to the seats?!

Paul

Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:23 pm

Better let me know quickly if you're interested in a set of seat springs as I'm getting ready to pitch some later Ghia seats into my scrap metal pile for my next haul.

Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:04 pm

I love that rotten lime color

Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:34 am

Those seats are gross, like they decomposed or something. The rest of that car looks nice and solid though.

Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:22 pm

Got the car delivered yesterday afternoon, and spent the evening sorting out the wiring (why is it that every old VW I buy has had someone mess with the wiring harness?). This morning, I drained the fuel tank, replaced all of the fuel hoses, changed the oil, bought a new battery, and fired her up. The engine sounds good.

The funny green color is an artifact from the photo that the previous owner took for his Craiglist ad. The color is actually the stock yellow. I took a little polish to the roof yesterday evening just to see how well it would look with a little cleaning.....not too bad.

The condition of the seats is due to it sitting out in the Arizona sun for the past 5 years and rotting away. The previous owner bought it to restore, but didn't know anything about cars (wtf?), so it ended up sitting until I bought it yesterday. The seat frames are actually in good shape, so they can be re-covered.

I've got some Dan Gurney wheels coming from a Samba ad. These were very popular in the 70's. I'm going for a mostly original look except for the mag wheels.

Thu Aug 05, 2010 5:39 am

It's off to the motor vehicle department today to get the Ghia emissions tested. After almost a week's worth of tune-ups, fixing wiring issues, etc, I'm finally going to actually get the Ghia registered so that I can actually legally drive it.

Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:32 am

Emissions testing in AZ for a car that is 36+ years old? :shock:

Good Luck!

That could explain why my '74 I bought from AZ still has
all the emission controls intact.

Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:20 pm

Yep.......anything that is 1967 and newer must do emissions testing every year if you live in Phoenix or Tucson. :( :(

Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:58 pm

61 BUS wrote: Yep.......anything that is 1967 and newer must do emissions testing every year if you live in Phoenix or Tucson. :( :(

Remind me to NEVER move to Phoenix!

Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:51 pm

Actually, emissions testing for a 74 here in Arizona is easy. All you need to do is to pass a tailpipe test at idle. My Ghia passed easily, and the testing fee is only around $12.

My understanding is that it is lots worse in California (big surprise). I heard that a few years ago, they had a rule that if your car was 25 years old or older, you were exempt from emissions. Now you have to get it tested if it is 1975 or newer, and you're not allowed to make any modifications to the original emissions equipment. That means that if you have a 1976 beetle, for example, you've got to have the original fuel injection system, the catalytic converter, EGR, etc. If you legally removed any of that equipment during the time when the 25 year rolling rule applied, you retroactively need to re-install it all. :shock:

Any guys from California........is this true?

Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:22 am

Lets see some updated photos!

Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:50 pm

OK. Here are some photos of the car after I brought it home and did some maintenance. Still needs lots of work.

This next one shows the beat up nose.....

Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:06 pm

A few updates on my 74. I cleaned out the interior and removed the old seats. I decided to lose the original seats and go with a pair of Porsche 911 leather power seats that I bought for $350. I spent most of today building a set of seat adapter brackets out of 2-inch steel angle stock, and managed to get them and the seats temporarily installed late this afternoon. The brackets still need to be sanded and painted, but they work great. I got the idea from another thread by CLKWRK, who did the same thing in his late model Ghia. I'll try to get some photos posted tomorrow. :D

Sun Nov 14, 2010 12:49 pm

Updated photos of my Ghia

It still needs a lot of body work, not to mention probably a new set of floor pans :( but at least it's driveable at this point. The next few photos show how I installed the Porsche seats. The last couple of photos show the brackets I fabricated out of 2" steel angle stock.

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Sun Nov 14, 2010 1:51 pm

nice job on the seats. Got any plans for that floorpan? looks a bit er..scaly in those pix.

Ant

Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:49 pm

Your brackets came out nice, simple and effective
Bry

Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:00 pm

Good lookin' car. Makes me wish I would've held out for a nicer car.

Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:36 am

looking good. i like the color....hehe. check out my gallery, mine is the same color. the front fender is the original color. i think its saturn yellow.