TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu May 03, 2012 11:26 pm

Hi all,
After months of soaking in your collective experience and laughs, I finally took the plunge and got a '69. Picked it up in LA, and brought it up to SF. Happily she (is there consensus that all Ghia's are girls? :D ) still has the original black California plates.

Thanks for providing such a great forum. Enjoy!

Here it is in SoCal getup, at the PO's home. I didn't get to take home the K5, sadly.

At her new home in foggy Pacifica.
I'm thinking she looks better with a cleaner look.

I know you purists out there will groan, but I think the PO did a fine job with the interior. Clean, but restrained. And oh, such comfy seats.

Thu May 03, 2012 11:31 pm

One of the selling points for me was also that the PO really cleaned up the interior metal. It was sanded down, covered in POR 15 throughout, and then plastered with some fancy tin foil. I haven't driven in a whole lot of other Ghia's for comparison, but the ride is pretty reasonable for a 40 year old car.

Though I have read that some of you are against gluing anything down to the floor boards given moisture concerns?
Your thoughts?

Fri May 04, 2012 7:11 am

Though I'm a bit of a purist myself (the Porsche seats in my 74 notwithstanding), I do like this car. The black exterior paint looks great on a Ghia. It does take some guts to paint a car gloss black, as every little ding and dent will show up when it's done. Very nice.

I would be inclined to remove the foil from the floor if it is glued on and replace it with something that can be easily taken out to dry the floor if (when) you get a few leaks.

Fri May 04, 2012 7:33 am

61 BUS wrote: I would be inclined to remove the foil from the floor if it is glued on and replace it with something that can be easily taken out to dry the floor if (when) you get a few leaks.

Although I don't disagree with 61 Bus, if you choose to remove it, that will be a chore. That stuff really sticks well.

Nice car, and I also like the "cleaner" look better.

Fri May 04, 2012 7:49 am

Leave the dynamat in there. Much quieter ride. Inspect the area frequently and dry it out( vent it ) once in a while. Make sure there's a drain hole. Perhaps the POR-15 will do its job.

Fri May 04, 2012 9:54 am

Nice car! I recall checking it out in the classifieds and liking pretty much everything about it except for the upholstered dash. I used to own a 1969 ghia coupe for nearly 20 years and was daydreaming about getting another one. Best year for a driver ghia, IMO. 1st year of the IRS and last year of the small taillights and front blinkers. :)

Fri May 04, 2012 11:20 am

Nice Ghia! Nice K5, too. I had an 89 K5. I miss that truck. In the 5 years I had it, it never let me down.

Fri May 04, 2012 4:26 pm

Nice find :D

Fri May 04, 2012 4:48 pm

nice one

that looks like a black mamba shifter, very pricey. what is the engine set up ? if they installed that shifter , i'm sure they put other top end parts as well

Fri May 04, 2012 5:15 pm

that is sweet! I like the cleaner look too.

Fri May 04, 2012 9:10 pm

swavananda wrote: nice one

that looks like a black mamba shifter, very pricey. what is the engine set up ? if they installed that shifter , i'm sure they put other top end parts as well

Thanks all for the kind comments and input.

Dang, I'm constantly amazed how sharp your eyes are. Black Mamba indeed. Worked a lot better after I replaced that shift rod bushing though!
So far I've managed to replace the window rubber and heater boxes. No more choking on fumes, hurrah! Couldn't have done it without all the fine reads on this forum.

Shifter was the most "bling"ed out part of the car, I'm afraid. Engine is a basic 1776cc dual port, dual Solex carb. For those other sharp eyes out there, yes it has an upgraded alternator.

Fri May 04, 2012 9:13 pm

mstencel wrote: Nice Ghia! Nice K5, too. I had an 89 K5. I miss that truck. In the 5 years I had it, it never let me down.

The K5 unfortunately didn't come with the Ghia, bummer.
Though I think the little guy could've fit underneath that monster truck.

Now how much collective crap would I get from the group for mounting swan neck mirrors??? I like the older, more classic look and it balances out the empty right side of the car.

Sat May 05, 2012 2:24 am

your car
your $$
do what makes you happy

Sat May 12, 2012 4:41 pm

You won't get any crap from me. Although my '64 Ghia came with the swan neck mirror on the driver's front cowl, I relocated it to the front edge of the door. Then added a matching one on the passenger door. Since the mirror is much closer, you see a bit more than if it were in that "far away" stock location for '64. And having a matching one on the right door enables you to also actually see something out of it. If you try to install a swan mirror on the right side cowl to match the original factory location on the left cowl, the field of vision is blocked by the windshield post. On your '69 I think the swan mirror would go well.

Do you still have the driving lights? Might want to reconsider installing them for nighttime driving, or for FLASHING slowpokes out of the left lane when you come up on them with your 1776.

Here's my '64 with driving lights and the L&R mirrors-

Sat May 12, 2012 5:40 pm

for the carpet I used industrial velcro I got at home depot so the carpet can be removed if need be. works great.

Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

I just noticed that you're in Pacifica.....I grew up there. Lived up on the hill in Fairmont. :)

Sun May 13, 2012 10:50 pm

61 BUS wrote: I just noticed that you're in Pacifica.....I grew up there. Lived up on the hill in Fairmont. :)

Small world! Though I'm sure you're enjoying the endless sun in AZ, instead of our incessant fog.

That's a heck of a stable of cars you keep! How in the world do you ever decide which one to drive? :lol:

Sun May 13, 2012 10:53 pm

Hi Rome,

Any chance you can post some close up pics of where you mounted your mirrors? And how did you go about filling in the hole where the original mirror was located?

Wed May 16, 2012 3:29 pm

Here you go. Front tip of mirror base is 1" straight/level back from door front edge. Widest part of base at top is 1/2" straight down from the chrome trim.

When I relocated the mirror back in '85, I simply filled in the two small cowl holes from the original mirror location with filler. Might've been a dab of "gorilla hair", with fine filler on top.