TheSamba.com :: View topic - Late 1969 Ghia vert preservation/ restoration

Mon May 30, 2022 12:38 pm

Cheers guys, I appreciate it!

Mon May 30, 2022 6:34 pm

Nice pictures. Congratulations on your win. Your Ghia always looks great.

Mon May 30, 2022 8:50 pm

Excellent build, attention to detail, I'm pretty convinced your threads have been an inspiration to many of us who want to achieve the proper correct factory look :-)

Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:50 pm

Well deserved😎
Embrace the win!!

Sun Sep 18, 2022 12:37 pm

I mentioned that a well known VW author had taken great interest in the Ghia at the Volksfling show. Well, he works for a magazine and the editor is keen to feature the car so, after several failed attempts due to poor weather, we met up in the Scottish Borders for a photoshoot. Luckily, it was a glorious day and while he was taking his pictures I took some of him and the Ghia.
It will probably be next year before the article is written and it hits the news stands but the car was looking gorgeous in a beautiful setting.

Tue Sep 20, 2022 12:01 am

Absolutely stunning. =D> =D>

You have puts lots of effort in this preservation and your car is a reference point to others to want to build a factory correct year 69/70 model.

Tue Sep 20, 2022 1:18 am

restocal63 wrote: Absolutely stunning. =D> =D>

You have puts lots of effort in this preservation and your car is a reference point to others to want to build a factory correct year 69/70 model.

Thanks restocal63, that’s very kind.

Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:28 am

Cars looks beautiful as always. I look forward to reading this article.

Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:52 am

mcdonaldneal wrote: restocal63 wrote: Absolutely stunning. =D> =D>

You have puts lots of effort in this preservation and your car is a reference point to others to want to build a factory correct year 69/70 model.

Thanks restocal63, that’s very kind.

Lovely restoration.

I noticed you changed your ignition coil, to an original one early on, where did you source yours?

I have an original black bosch short coil, year correct and am considering putting that in for the stock look. The one in it currently is working fine so wondering if it is worth it.

Thu Mar 23, 2023 11:50 am

Car looks great! Lots of work, as I can attest to, but really came out super.

Just finished the restoration on my wife's 69 coupe last week. Once I get a chance to take some pictures I'll have to update my thread so you can see how her car came out

Thu Mar 23, 2023 11:56 am

Any news on the magazine article Phil?

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:27 pm

jonat wrote: mcdonaldneal wrote: restocal63 wrote: Absolutely stunning. =D> =D>

You have puts lots of effort in this preservation and your car is a reference point to others to want to build a factory correct year 69/70 model.

Thanks restocal63, that’s very kind.

Lovely restoration.

I noticed you changed your ignition coil, to an original one early on, where did you source yours?

I have an original black bosch short coil, year correct and am considering putting that in for the stock look. The one in it currently is working fine so wondering if it is worth it.

Cheers Jonat.
I think I had the coil in a box of spare parts I picked up as a job lot for our camper. The resistance checked out as 3ohm and personally, I can’t tell the difference compared to what was there. The Ghia has run pretty sweetly for well over 5 years on the black coil.
I did pick up another black coil from eBay pretty easily. I say go for the swap-it’s an easy swap back anyway!

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:30 pm

John Moxon wrote: Any news on the magazine article Phil?

Good point John. No word at all but I have been away for quite a while! I’ll message Richard when I get the chance.

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:38 pm

Legacy wrote: Car looks great! Lots of work, as I can attest to, but really came out super.

Just finished the restoration on my wife's 69 coupe last week. Once I get a chance to take some pictures I'll have to update my thread so you can see how her car came out

Thanks Legacy. Your restoration looks an awful lot more hard work than anything I have managed but you must be delighted it’s at an end! Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:14 pm

mcdonaldneal wrote: Legacy wrote: Car looks great! Lots of work, as I can attest to, but really came out super.

Just finished the restoration on my wife's 69 coupe last week. Once I get a chance to take some pictures I'll have to update my thread so you can see how her car came out

Thanks Legacy. Your restoration looks an awful lot more hard work than anything I have managed but you must be delighted it’s at an end! Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Yea it really feels good to be done with the project. And most important, it passed my wife's inspection. You know what they say -- Happy wife, Happy life.

Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:10 pm

I have been neglecting my various Samba threads, but there has been a bit of VW action in our lives over the last month or so. I’ll start by updating this Ghia thread.
About three weeks ago we travelled home, driving across Europe from Croatia. We had changed our holiday dates so that we could make it back to the UK for the KGOC annual ‘International’ meeting. We guessed we would bump into some of the International guests on the ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle and we were right! I spotted a bright green/yellow Ghia driving onto the car deck and there were actually six Ghias on board, from various parts of Germany, Belgium and eventually the meeting had about 15 cars from abroad, the furthest was from Madrid, Spain (which is an epic drive!)

Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:16 pm

The afternoon we arrived home, I got our Ghia out of storage and drove the four miles home. As I entered the village, the brake pedal went to the floor and the brakes failed. There was no obvious leak and the fluid level was ok, so I suspected a long overdue change of brake fluid was needed. It was a nuisance, but I got the brakes bled with Shona’s help and went for a test drive…

Sadly the car was pulling to one side and one front wheel was red hot when I got home, so I guessed the piston had stuck in the caliper. Too late to sort out before the meeting the next day, so I went to get the Kombi out of the garage. The garage door is too low for the Kombi, so I had the usual performance of deflating and reinflating the tyres, but got it all done before bedtime.

Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:26 pm

The meeting was amazing and really good fun, with a mixture of sightseeing and scenic drives through the Scottish Borders. The first day took in Roslyn chapel (setting for the ‘da Vinci code’), the museum of flight (home of (one) Concorde) and the procession of Ghias, a Kombi and an air cooled Porsche attracted plenty of attention!

Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:31 pm

I don’t have many pics from the second day of the meeting, but the third day was spent either at the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh or, for us, at the Thirlestane Castle classic car show, which is always amazing and the club had an area of its own and the Kombi was an invited guest.
The Ghias had a display slot in the show ring as well, which was amazing (I will try to get a video link set up).

Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:42 pm

Here’s a video clip of the Ghia’s at Thirlestane Castle: