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Mike's Nevada Lowlight
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:24 am    Post subject: Mike's Nevada Lowlight Reply with quote
I've finally found the time to start a thread on my new ride

Back in Feb a '58 Lowlight grabbed my eye in the classifieds on here, I have always had a thing for Ghia's and also 50's Vw's this ticked both boxes

It was listed as a Feb 1958 143 Karmann Coupe and was located in Reno Nevada

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The owner classed this Ghia as the most solid Lowlight that he had come across

After many emails back and forth I had built up a pretty good picture in my mind of the cars condition

70's driveway beige yellow paint
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Non damaged nose
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Straight looking panels with no visible rot only surface rust that had been badly rattle canned, I would rather that though than trying to hide problems with shiney paint Wink

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OG Pans
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Under bonnet area wasn't to bad and was still in the OG L337 Dolphin Blue

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Alot of the early Ghia parts were present and correct

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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Damn nice waffle visors!! Very Happy
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Non correct 1500sp with 1600tp heads
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Correct fat back seats which have been recovered in non correct brown vinyl some time ago

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
'58 Petri wheel is in place but without the horn ring and cover Sad

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So with this info an offer was made which after some thought Mark accepted Wink Very Happy

About an hour later Kingstown shippers had been given the job of collecting it from Reno and hauling it to the docks in LA ready for the journey to the UK

8 weeks later and I was at the warehouse with the trailer ready for collection

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Unfortunatly some mother fucker had knicked the Lowlight only OG side trim which was in a tube behind the rear seat Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just as soon as it was back home and on the drive I set about rubbing back the rattle can primer to see what was lurking below

Before:
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After:
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Much better Very Happy

After some service parts changed it went for it's first run up and down the road

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The plan is to get it looking presentable and give it the look ready for the Volksworld show

In the long run it will be taken off the road for a full rebuild and detail alongside a few changes Wink

After a good look round the car no horror's have yet been discovered with only the smallest of holes where the underseal has been damaged under the rear arch so thats on my job list to sortwhen I get to that corner

One of the first job's was to see if the OG seat material had been left under the brown vinyl. Unfortunatly the seats had been fully stripped when they were recovered so the OG material was long gone so out came the CIF and nail brush

Before:
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After:
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Unfortuantly someone had stored a tyre on the passenger seat and it had badly marked it
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Nothin i've tried on this sucker will lift this mark so if anyone has any magic cleaner that they have any used please let me know

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I bought a repro horn cover as OG ones cost a small fortune if you can even find one

Unfortunatly the fit was terrible as it was way to short and the curved section was completly the wrong shape

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After some drastic modding i'm now pretty happy it
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After chatting with John Moxon I sent him some Pantone colour swatches so he could tell me which was an acurate match to his OG cover so I could then mix the right shade for the cover and lay the paint on
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I'm pretty happy with that but I will be looking for an OG part to replace it with when the resto is done
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like my old '55 Vert the Lowlight will be running airshocks as it's going to be damn low and the entrance to my garage doesn't lend itself to lowered motors

Because of this I had to find a home for the pressure guage and I decided I wanted it column mounted so the hunt was on for a motometer mount

Dave (Bally) had just the thing that I was after and the condition didn't worry me as I was going to need to mod it heavily

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The mount origionally was designed to hold a guage requiring a cable not twin air connections but it does now Wink

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All painted up and test mounted
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
All most every part has had a coat of the yellow inside and out Rolling Eyes

I've bare metaled the column tube, bracket, handbrake and sourced a shifter and painted them up

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Sourced a period correct Blaupunkt Hamburg which i've given a make over and trial fitted

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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The paint on this isn't the prettiest but it's far from being classed as true patina in my book so i've decided that i'm going to sort out the worst area's of paint but leave the chip's and cracks that it's collected over the years

The back end of the car is just about finished now bar dropping etc
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I've almost finished the bonnet
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Last edited by Mike Att on Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:31 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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I've made a start on the roof, some of the Dolphin paint is still present around the edges

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That's about it so far, i'm really struggling to get out to the garage due to the new baby but as thing's progress I will post up
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John Moxon Premium Member
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That's a bloody good first post for your Ghia Mike. It looks rock solid and when you look at the condition of the chrome you've saved yourself a packet already.

I'd tread carefully on the seats...they could be og. I'm by no means an authority but 'verts came with an all vynal option and it could be that the og owner didn't like the vynal/fabric standard fitting and went for the 'vert seats.

Good choice on air shocks...this gives you the option to raise the ride height as you get older...and/or as fashions change. Wink

Looking forward to regular updates. Very Happy
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RockStock
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
John Moxon wrote:
I'd tread carefully on the seats...they could be og


Moxie, stay with superchargers for the time being Smile
Only thing original ref the interior is (probably) the headlining
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cheers John

Yes the chrome is unbelievably good so real happy about that

Just waiting to get my order processed by H.O.G so that things can continue moving on
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
RockStock wrote:
John Moxon wrote:
I'd tread carefully on the seats...they could be og


Moxie, stay with superchargers for the time being Smile
Only thing original ref the interior is (probably) the headlining


Yep the headlining looks almost in to good a condition to me but it could be OG I guess

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John Moxon Premium Member
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
RockStock wrote:
Moxie, stay with superchargers for the time being Smile
Only thing original ref the interior is (probably) the headlining


Rolling Eyes Don't we all hate a smartass. Laughing I did have a dash through the Upholstery Sticky but a whole bunch of pictures have gone missing. Evil or Very Mad

Mike Att wrote:
Yep the headlining looks almost in to good a condition to me but it could be OG I guess .


Looks just like mine which I too assume is og. Those sunvisors look a few shades darker than mine...or is it a trick of the light?
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice work Mike! Good that it arrived safely (apart from the nicked trim).

Take Becci and drive it to Budel next year!! Cool
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Mike Att
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
kai wrote:
Nice work Mike! Good that it arrived safely (apart from the nicked trim).

Take Becci and drive it to Budel next year!! Cool


Thats the plan mate... well to take the Ghia anyway Laughing Wink

So your '58 is staying in your hands then?
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