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Tue Mar 28, 2017 10:03 pm

I hope this will be a good place to document the restoration of my wife's fathers 58 Karmann Ghia. her father was the second owner taking possession in the late 70s, it was a daily driver. he disassembled it for a rebuild about 10 years ago, got sick in the middle of it and passed away about 3 years ago. He had it painted, and reupholstered the seats before his passing. The car was left to my wife because he knew she would restore it and keep it in the family. so we finally got down to Commerce California and had it moved up to our home in McMinnville OR this last weekend. Its been quite a roller coaster getting it here but definitely going to be worth it. we are going to RESTORE it back to its original glory. any help or comment would be much appreciated.

Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:40 am

Zapatoo wrote: I hope this will be a good place to document the restoration of my wife's fathers 58 Karmann Ghia. her father was the second owner taking possession in the late 70s, it was a daily driver. he disassembled it for a rebuild about 10 years ago, got sick in the middle of it and passed away about 3 years ago. He had it painted, and reupholstered the seats before his passing. The car was left to my wife because he knew she would restore it and keep it in the family. so we finally got down to Commerce California and had it moved up to our home in McMinnville OR this last weekend. Its been quite a roller coaster getting it here but definitely going to be worth it. we are going to RESTORE it back to its original glory. any help or comment would be much appreciated.

Welcome to The Samba and The Ghia Forum.
Is this the place for you and your wife's '58? It's THE PLACE for '58s...between us regulars I don't think there is anything we don't know the '58 Karmann Ghia. :)

I know a little but there are others here who know a whole bunch more. Have a look at Dwayne's complete '58 restoration for inspiration: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=527642

Looking forward to following your progress. :)

:popcorn:

Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:56 am

awesome look forward to seeing it progress!

Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:43 am

A good start is to order the birth certificate for your Ghia. Will have birth date, when/where shipped, original color(s), and equipment, so that you can truly restore it back to how it was when it rolled off the assembly line.

Here's the link to the Samba how-to:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=398

Mine was born 15 September 1958 and Dwayne's (see link in John's post) is ~1 month newer. Mine was originally shipped to Wiesbaden, Germany the next day, and was presumably brought to the US by a US serviceman serving in Germany, so I bought a US Services in Germany license plate for car shows as an extra.

I live about 30 minutes from Dwayne, who helped me through the early stages of putting mine back together (bought it as a roller). The photos on the Samba do not do justice to his restoration, as I've seen it in person and is truly spectacular. He has put a significant amount of personal time into the restoration.

Best,
Thom

Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:52 am

John Moxon wrote: Zapatoo wrote: I hope this will be a good place to document the restoration of my wife's fathers 58 Karmann Ghia. her father was the second owner taking possession in the late 70s, it was a daily driver. he disassembled it for a rebuild about 10 years ago, got sick in the middle of it and passed away about 3 years ago. He had it painted, and reupholstered the seats before his passing. The car was left to my wife because he knew she would restore it and keep it in the family. so we finally got down to Commerce California and had it moved up to our home in McMinnville OR this last weekend. Its been quite a roller coaster getting it here but definitely going to be worth it. we are going to RESTORE it back to its original glory. any help or comment would be much appreciated.

Welcome to The Samba and The Ghia Forum.
Is this the place for you and your wife's '58? It's THE PLACE for '58s...between us regulars I don't think there is anything we don't know the '58 Karmann Ghia. :)

I know a little but there are others here who know a whole bunch more. Have a look at Dwayne's complete '58 restoration for inspiration: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=527642

Looking forward to following your progress. :)

:popcorn:
I'll check that rebuild out when I get some reading time tonight thank you!

Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:35 am

1958 is a great year! The year I arrived on the planet 8)
Congrats and look forward to your progress!!

Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:31 pm

Ok I made a little progress tonight. I filed for the birth certificate. The engine looks pretty unmolested, but the wiring up under the dash and as I found the ignition wiring is pulled out. With some help from a friend walking me through a line diagram I bypassed the the old battery and put power on the loom. Hooked loose wire up to ignition switch, turned key. Lights on tach lit up than I got the starter to click than popped a fuse. I wanted to see how close it is to running, apparently it needs some work lol. Here's some more pics of parts, original paint, reupholstered seats (over originals) :roll: etc

Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:27 am

Something special about seeing one uncovered after a long slumber. Love that type of documentation. :)

Quote: Lights on tach lit up than I got the starter to click than popped a fuse
It has a tach? Pics ?
That rear bumper and the bumper guards look unique.

Love to see under the re-upholstry work too.
Congrats on your "find".

Thu Mar 30, 2017 4:45 pm

c21darrel wrote: Something special about seeing one uncovered after a long slumber. Love that type of documentation. :)

Quote: Lights on tach lit up than I got the starter to click than popped a fuse
It has a tach? Pics ?
That rear bumper and the bumper guards look unique.

Love to see under the re-upholstry work too.
Congrats on your "find".
That bumper is a bit of a puzzlement to me, too. I wonder where it spent its previous life?

Thu Mar 30, 2017 7:28 pm

Cool color. Champagne anyone? Love the 58's. Congrats.

Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:33 pm

birth certificate arrived from germany finally. thanks for the advice. interesting it was originally sent to syria not sure how my late father in law acquired it.[/img]

Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:37 pm

bumpers may be from the studebaker gran torismo we also acquired (shrugs) forgive my ignorance im new to the ghia world.
c21darrel wrote: Something special about seeing one uncovered after a long slumber. Love that type of documentation. :)

Quote: Lights on tach lit up than I got the starter to click than popped a fuse
It has a tach? Pics ?
That rear bumper and the bumper guards look unique.

Love to see under the re-upholstry work too.
Congrats on your "find".

Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:49 pm

I havent had much time to tear into the Ghia yet, Also we were waiting on the birth certificate to get some direction. It looks like my hunch was correct, original color was dolphin blue. My main hobby is Restoring vintage Lambrettas and Vespas. Im completing a 2 restorations here in the next two or three months, so ill be able to shift attention and shop space over to the KG. Im meeting with my body/paint guy in a few weeks hopefullly i can get a ballpark idea on cost. my plan is to pull the body off chasis, send body of to be done, meanwhile Ill restore chasis, and a friend of mine and I will restore engine. Optimistically thinking I can orchestrate it all to go down like that :roll: . Any advice on how to proceed with the strip down?

Sat Dec 02, 2017 7:57 pm

I stopped by House of Ghia in Salem OR last week. I got some direction and motivation. Today I dropped the engine out. Ill probably start tearing it down this week.

[/img]

Sat Dec 02, 2017 8:41 pm

Ah progress! That’s always good to see.
Just wondering if that’s the original engine. This might have been verified in the letter accompanying the birth certificate.
I’m tuned in to the developments. 8)
Nicholas

Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:12 pm

sputnick60 wrote: Ah progress! That’s always good to see.
Just wondering if that’s the original engine. This might have been verified in the letter accompanying the birth certificate.
I’m tuned in to the developments. 8)
Nicholas

Yes this the the original engine as confirmed by the birth certicicate. Original split case transmission as well.

Mon Dec 04, 2017 12:10 pm

Congrats on the progress. I think you may be able to refurbish your dist cap. :wink:

Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:51 am

yeah, another lowlight will be back to the road. please let us know the following resto-story. lowlight regards from Germany, Udo

Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:35 pm

c21darrel wrote: Congrats on the progress. I think you may be able to refurbish your dist cap. :wink:
distributer cap is in excellent condition. besides cleaning up the bakelite how do you restore the points? is there a how to thread?

Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:55 pm

Ya know, i was being silly (i looked at pic and the shadow of the clip made it look broken). On second look its not :oops:
If the points have any pitting its better to replace them. Several guys here on thesamba sell dist parts, Glenn, Tasb...others too. The bakelite on caps lasts long time look on the inside for carbon build up at the 4 points and center.
Search distributor for lots of threads on cleaning and rebuilding. I've done a few and all worked flawless after disassembly, cleaning, new fiber washers, dist grease....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=606129