My 1958 coupe

[ghiarossa]

Many years ago I got a chance to buy off eBay a 1958 KG coupe. Bought it off the second owner who had done a resto-mod... or resto-butchery. Metal dash cut for CD player. All the knobs and waffle pattern sun-visors now black. Interior all black. Sold off the original split-case and 2d 36HP motor. Put in a 1600DP. Only to have his son say no to the car. Hence eBay and how I got it.

Started collecting parts. Drove it a few times. Got the split-case and motor back from the buyer. And then did the worse thing possible, I let it sit.

So now starting the process to restore at a worse state. Any and all help/advice/info and clues to parts is greatly appreciated.

A bit of history. The car was sold on 3 Jan 1958 in Trier Germany. It is a Type 143US. L343/L41 were the original colors. Original owner kept it for the next 40 years it seems. Then second owner and now I have it. I would like to return as close as possible to how it appeared when delivered.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[John Moxon]

Owning a '58 David, means you're in good company on this forum. If you've not already found the stickies at the top of the forum you'll find amongst them a topic listing some of the best topics from which to draw inspiration: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=433370

As you have the know-how to construct a blog on your '58, posting pictures won't present a problem but just in case you'll find an easy tutorial here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6

Looking forward to following your project.
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John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[ghiarossa]

John thanks for the links and warm welcome. I am seeing a lot of familiar names from back yonder when I was more active like Loren, Bill, Dave Ruby, and a few others.

Loren's labors on his cabrio leave me in awe. Your 58 John I wish mine turns out that good.

I am building up a list of parts to find.

Second owner put these into the door top for the outside chrome trim - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-owN2bewcQLg/T2OcFR-EHkI/AAAAAAAAAEs/AQSDf9nUbQc/s1600/DSC01249.JPG
Notice how the sides of the Philips screw has been grounded flat. The channel in the trim seems to be fine but had a dickens of a time making the trim finally pop off.

And the screws for the lock pillar ornamental plates were Torx screws. Need eight of those. Or is there a common screw that will substitute?

Finally the biggest headache for now - correct headlight buckets. Found these in a box of parts that also had Type 3 headlight assemblies. Are they correct for my Ghia?
http://omiaghia.blogspot.com/2012/03/headlight-buckets.html

Thanks in advance and back to spelunking the threads.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[Karmann Gheezer]

Hope this helps.

Dave, those headlights are not correct for your car. I just saw this ad for the kind of Ghia headlights you'll be needing. Easier to show you this than remove from my Ghia and take a photo.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1279753
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[ghiarossa]

[ghiarossa]

Has anyone ever seen an electric washer pump in the low-light Ghia before? Mine has one and I am curious.
http://omiaghia.blogspot.com/2012/09/washer-pump.html

Meanwhile the dis-assembly continues along with finding possible rust. Usual culprit is the battery area. But won't find out true extent until I strip the body down to bare metal.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[djway3474]

do you have pictures of the rest of the washer fluid system I have two holes in the front cowl, one nozzle and nothing else.
Also many people I know call the metal part welded to the fenders the bucket and the part you have pictures of the "adjuster". Not saying everyone uses those terms.
I had someone sell me some parts like you pictured before I learned what the correct parts were. he swore they were correct.

[ghiarossa]

djway,

I just looked at my pictures and I don't have a single picture of the whole system. I am going to reassemble everything while I still remember and photograph it. Then post online.

Thanks.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[ghiarossa]

Here are the pictures.

First set of pictures I took with my iPhone before taking everything apart.
http://omiaghia.blogspot.com/2012/09/washer-pump-pics.html

And what I took with my camera today after reassembling everything.
http://omiaghia.blogspot.com/2012/09/washer-pump-re-assembled.html

Hope this helps in figuring out the mystery.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[djway3474]

that is very interesting. looks like something that would have been done back then. I read another guy had a foot pump to power his.

[ghiarossa]

Late this afternoon got back to my project, the 58.

Put the lug nuts back into the drums before I lost them. Put the tires against a garage wall to get them out of the way.

Removed the passenger front seat and placed it next to the already removed driver seat. Both sitting on the garage floor until I make more shelves or find space.

Then tackled the rear seat. Found this weird grayish particle board covering the gap between the top and bottom of the rear sear. It was glued to two red support braces. Is anything supposed to be there?

So removed the bottom seat half and found rat nests. What I did not find was any rear heater tubes or the round heater openings. There is no Y pipe, the heating pipes go straight to the rockers. Is this supposed to be?

Fold down rear seat is held to rear sheet metal by cabinet hinges. Glad those are common items and not some super rare 1 year only items. More on the shopping list.

Here is one other mystery, my black dyed plastic waffle pattern sun visors.
http://omiaghia.blogspot.com/2012/10/waffle-visors.html
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[djway3474]

hinge looks like a cabinate hinge on the 59 and 60 over herre and no y pipes on either be careful with those sun visors as they are EXPENSIVE You can probably paint them back to an ivory yep there is a weird pressed board material covering that gap and one of the cars over here had a piece that looked like it came off the back of the seat

[John Moxon]

I hope you don't mind me saying David but your posts here would be better served by including pictures of the issues of which you speak.

I know you have your blog but it won't diminish it by posting your pictures here in The Gallery and linking into them. You'll find more Lowlight Ghia specialist visit this forum than anywhere else on The Internet.
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John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[ghiarossa]

John oh no I don't mind the advice.

So here goes a picture.

I decided to strip down the front fender because there was a huge blister under the paint. I was afraid there would be rust underneath. So used aircraft stripper over the whole side of the fender. Waited only a few minutes and the paint bubbled up fast. Wiped/scrubbed it all off.

Safety note - if using aircraft stripper wear breathing protection, eye protection, gloves, and be well ventilated. Still managed to get some of the residue on a wrist and it burned! Quick wash with water solved it. So be careful.

As the above picture shows there was no rust under all the paint bubble. There is a dent in the wheel arch to fix plus it seems Bondo in other portion of arch. Once I was happy there was no rust, I painted the bare metal in red-brown primer to protect it.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[ghiarossa]

Okay here is the mystery cover plate that goes between both parts of the rear seat. As you can see the mice had chewed on it before I accidentally finished it off by finding out the hard way there were tacks holding the strip in. Whoops.

Next picture is of my steering wheel. It has the metal cover but the Wolfsburg badge has some damage. Does anyone fix these badges?

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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[John Moxon]

[djway3474]

[djway3474]

[ghiarossa]

Well I will be shopping for a new badge. I knew it was gouged on the right side of the castle. But the on the back of the metal horn cover is epoxy holding it on.

The wiper fluid reservoir and pump staying where they are at once everything if finished up. Sometimes I wish I had gotten a body shell with boxes of parts. Instead of playing detective on some items - did the second owner do this or the original or was it factory.
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet

[ghiarossa]

This is what the passenger front turn signal looked like after stripping the layers of paint off. All those cracks it seems it came from the factory this way. Could there be that much lead filler?
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David Odenwald
1958 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
1971 VW Karmann Ghia cabriolet