CJ from South Africa.

[calexican]

yep, nothing better than driving it around. congrats! i have been driving mine for 8 years and still get the biggest kick out of getting the groceries in my ghia.

[kgj]

Thanks Calexican. Yours and many others on here are the inspiration to keep at it. Then payday comes with a brief drive in the sunshine.
Happy days. Paint job booked for July 9th.

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[jeffrey8164]

Get some Bestine. It takes time to soften the glue and a lot of elbow grease for the residue but the paint underneath is unaffected. This worked for me removing Super 99 spear on contact cement.

[kgj]

Update.
Delivered the car to a local paint shop. Driven here under its own steam. The new engine now has 7 miles on the clock. They have done a few Ghia’s before so hopefully this one shouldn’t be too much trouble for them. She is now out of my hands for a while.

Atmospheric workshop photos

Turned my attention to working through some detail parts.

Nice electrical connections under the sticky tape....

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[Loren]

If you need some photos of an original switch to see what color the wires are and where they should go let me know and I can post them here. If you need some original color coded wire let me know. I have some old wiring looms in the garage that should have some of the colors you need.

Great to see the progress! Keep up the good work!

[kgj]

Thanks Loren. I got my electrical tester on the 4 wires I have coming out out of the unit, I’ll post a photo later, and I think it has been modified to run like a later model. The 4 wires I have seem to run in pairs when you activate a left or right turn. I’ve never quite got my head around how the flashers on these early cars work. Basically interrupting the tail light feed as there are supposed to be just 2 single filament bulbs out back? My car, unsurprisingly, has got twin filament bulbs but only soldered together. I have been contemplating getting a couple of the SAMS units and doing it properly.

Question. If you pull the indicator stalk toward you, is there supposed to be a headlight flash function? I don’t have a wire to facilitate this.
Is the unit supposed to be earthed?

OTHER HELP NEEDED from the wider community.

I could do with 2 instrument dial bezels.
And those bits that go in the door window slot that hold the window scraper.

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[kgj]

Update.

Popped in the paint shop to find some progress. Most the paint is now stripped.

And just when you think you have found every last bit to weld up.

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[kgj]

Hi. Long overdue update.

I too received one of these. Thanks Luis. All I need are the mats now

Progress has been slower than I expected but it’s progress none the less.

Dash, door pillars and reveals now bare metalled and primed.

I’m not having any of the footwell panels stripped and painted as they will be covered over by carpet (or something) and under the old glue is the original paint anyway.

It’s surprising how long it takes to restore a car when you are not working on it....

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[c21darrel]

Just an FYI, it takes a long time when you ARE working on it too. Carry on.
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GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[jeffrey8164]

I’m just glad to see some progress.
My shop had my car for four years.
I understood that they were churning insurance jobs to pay the bills and I knew the painter from High School so I only complained about how long it was taking twice. Came out good though.

_________________
Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.

“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1)

[kgj]

Today’s teaser shots from the paint shop.

We must be getting close to paint as the small body colour parts are now being prepped.

Trunk hinges removed for paint.

Detail help needed from the collective. See next post labelled “rocker drain holes”.

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[kgj]

Got some real momentum going here, well, the paint guys have.

Ok, some detail.
Aparrently, according to my understanding and research on lowlightregistry, the door hinge screw heads should be body colour. This means you need to paint the hinges on the door pillar confident you are not going to take them off again or adjust them and trash your lovely painted screw heads.
And after bare metal I would need the pillar painted first to get paint behind the hinge. Then mount the hinges. Then hang the doors. Set the door Position. Take the doors off (door off the hinge leaving the hinge in place, all set and never to be adjusted again) then paint the complete interior in one go including the hinges and screws.
My theory is, the above process should make mounting the painted doors easier with the added advantage of not worrying about adjusting hinges after paint seeing as all door adjustment is on the pillar/hinge not the hinge/door. Got it?


Anyway here are some photos.

Made sure we got some original screws to go in here. Paint to follow.

Hang the doors. Final adjustment then off again.

Did the final hang of bonnet and boot as well.

Body colour body next week......maybe...

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[Ian Godfrey]

A thought for you, I'd load up the doors with the weight of the glass, regulator, big chrome trim, lock mechanism, handle etc as this can make the doors sit a bit lower. You can adjust for that extra weight now before paint.
The first time I did it with empty doors and after assembly, had to re shim the hinges, clean up the cracked paint on the screw heads and hinges, then respray it all with a touch up gun
Your build looks excellent

[kgj]

You make a good point and have reminded me that I was going to do exactly that.
And it’s not just a good idea with ancient Volkswagens.
About five or six years ago my wife and I took a tour round Jaguars Castle Bromwich production line. We were shown the entire process start to finish but the one thing of note that I felt I could transfer to any future car build of mine was to copy how on the Jaguar XJ and XF production lines they had weighted sand bags to hang on the bare doors during alignment. The sand bags being equivalent in weight to the glass, door trim etc.

I shall now do this tomorrow morning.

All could not be lost on the painted screw heads issue however as it can be possible to adjust the effect of the completed door weight by shims between door and hinge. You don’t see these screws so easily and these have to be painted separately or afterward anyway. This is in fact where all my shims are already in an effort to not be messing with hinge and pillar finish.

Thanks for your input.
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1958 coupe

[kgj]

Update.

I have a painted dash.

And some other bits and bobs needing clear coat.

Thanks for looking.
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1958 coupe

[xzener]

Beautiful work so far. Two tone looks good.
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>!

[kgj]

Thanks.
A milestone for sure.
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1958 coupe

[udo dreisoerner]

We want to see it back on the road. Lowlight for ever
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Searching for a 1956 lowlight karmann ghia with a VIN number between1273054 and 1273440, and the matching engine with an Engine Number between
1525510 and 1525519 PLEASE OFFER ME ONLY THE CARS THAT I'M LOOKING FOR, THANKS!!

[sputnick60]

[kgj]

Aerosilver and white roof
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1958 coupe