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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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 Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:50 pm Post subject: '70 Ghia |
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So it just occurred to me that after all these years I never made a thread of my wifes ghia. I've was to occupied with my T3, sorry. So the story is, My wifes grandfather traded in his '66 bug for this beautiful '70 ghia he saw on the showroom floor one day in San Diego. Moved to FL and brought it with him. One day he had a yard sale and put a "for sale" sign on the window. my wife, 14 at the time sat in the drivers seat and told everyone that came to look at it "IT'S SOLD, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!!!". So with that her grandfather "sold" it to her. Between her grandfather and dad, they fixed it up and she drove it through high school & collage. She later moved to AZ (where I got lucky and met her) and the poor ghia was left in her parents garage to kinda rot away. Fast forward 10yrs..... We move back, get the ghia and slowly (very slowly) start working on it. A few years later grand father past away and left her some money. We decided to use that money and completely bring the ghia back to life in his honor. We are about 90% done with it as of right now. I'll post some pictures of it back when we got in and i'll post progress pix up till now as I load them up on the site. That original light blue is a nice color isn't it?
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1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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sputnick60
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 22, 2007
Posts: 3916
Location: In Molinya Orbit
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:09 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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A family heirloom on wheels! Now that can't be all that common.
I hope it gets the restoration it deserves and might someday be passed on in the family, time and time again. Welcome to the Ghia forum and I hope to see this story continue well.
The original blue is a nice colour. Are you going all the way back to that?
Nicholas
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'66 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet...
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
2005 Mecedes Benz C180 Kompressor Estate
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!
Last edited by sputnick60 on Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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KGCoupe
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005
Posts: 3580
Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:06 am Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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According to the Karmann Ghia Paint and Upholstery Chart found here under The Samba Technical tab, the correct light blue color for the 1970 model year would be L52E (20) Pastel Blue as seen in this reference photo:
That is indeed a great color for a 70s vintage Karmann Ghia.
I particularly like the story of how your wife sat in the Ghia for the entire duration of the yard sale and told all interested potential buyers that "IT'S SOLD, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!!!". 
I could definitely see my own daughter doing something just like that when she was that age, so I think I have a pretty good idea of just how her Grandfather must have felt about that.
I'm guessing that your wife is too young for it to be true, but I can't help but wonder if she may have been inspired by Molly Ringwald's character in the 1986 film Pretty In Pink.
It was very generous of her Grandfather to make a gift of the Karmann Ghia to her, and he and her father must have done a pretty good job of fixing it up if it lasted your wife through the rest of her high school and then college years.
It's always a "plus", IMO, when the restoration is inspired by and dedicated to the memory of someone special.
It can provide that little extra bit of motivation often needed to keep the project going when the inevitable frustration of unanticipated problems, delays and blown budgets threatens to derail the whole project.
Now when that "someone special" actually leaves a gift that helps to finance the restoration, it's definitely a "Win-Win" all the way around!
Good Luck with everything - I look forward to following along as the project progresses. |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:15 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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thanks guys, and everyone that has looked. @KGCoupe, you are correct. That is the exact color and the color it has been painted. The dark blue was "cool" during high school, lol. While in high school she also got "coolest car of the month", lol. She has a school news paper clipping of it, lol.
@sputnick60 it really is a family heirloom. The Ghia is actually the very thing that got us together too, lol. it was known at work that I was a huge VW nut and I found out there was a "girl" in another department that had one, lol.
So on to more pictures. We took the ghia to a shop to have all the paint & body work done to as well as a few other things.
And while it was there, she really hated the "wood grain" dash. So she had them fill and paint it.
_________________
1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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The other thing she had done was put a rag top in it. Many didn't like this idea (her father included) but it's what she wanted and they did a great job with it.
_________________
1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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jeffrey8164 
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2018
Posts: 3817
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:49 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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Cudos for your efforts. Looks really nice.
I’ve got a question for you. Can you put up some pics that show how the front charcoal canister is connected to the fuel tank?
I’m putting mine back in and it’s been so long that I don’t remember. |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32591
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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Rome
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 9641
Location: Pearl River, NY
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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Great progress on your family Ghia!
How did the rust repair go under the battery in the engine compartment? |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:27 am Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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| Rome wrote: |
Great progress on your family Ghia!
How did the rust repair go under the battery in the engine compartment? |
Thanks. Not to bad. Under the battery area was still pretty solid. The brackets were welded back to the new section without issues and it all turned out great.
_________________
1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:30 am Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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| djkeev wrote: |
That looks really good!
A question though.......
i too plan to paint the dash of my 69 and will weld the holes up.
On the dash, Karmann never deleted the hole for the dash mounted ignition switch even after moving it to the steering column. They just covered it with wood grain plastic.
You didn't weld that hole shut.
What are your plans for the hole? (To the right of the steering but to the left of the wiper switch hole)
I am thinking of enlarging mine to fit a cigar lighter socket.
I also plan to weld up the in dash brake warning light and utilize an existing unused instrument cluster light. Or maybe make it a USB port?
Or.... maybe vice versa.......
Dave |
A USB port is exactly what the plan is. I found one with a little black plastic cover that will hide it so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, lol.
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1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:01 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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OK, back from the dead. The wife has finally gotten back in to it once again, lol.
Long story short, we stalled on this build, I got a squareback, got it up and going driving it regularly, now she's motivated once again to finally finish it up.
So, we got all the seals for every part of the car. I'm at the point where i'm putting the seals in for the front turn signals. I don't see a place that the "come apart" to change them. Do I need to cut the wire to change them out??
I'll post up some more pix in a bit of some of the small work we've done to get us up to date.
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1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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jeffrey8164
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2018
Posts: 3817
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:01 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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You need a really thin piece of metal with a kind of L shape at the end.
The connectors have a tab on them to hold them into plastic part.
Crud. I know I have pictures of it but apparently I didn’t put them in my gallery.
You can probably grind a tiny flat head and make that work too.
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Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.
“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1) |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 4:45 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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| jeffrey8164 wrote: |
You need a really thin piece of metal with a kind of L shape at the end.
The connectors have a tab on them to hold them into plastic part.
Crud. I know I have pictures of it but apparently I didn’t put them in my gallery.
You can probably grind a tiny flat head and make that work too. |
Ah, ok. So you have to release the clips and pull them 1 by 1 through it. I'll giver it a shot tomorrow and see if I can get it. I was just going to cut the wires, lol.
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1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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jeffrey8164
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2018
Posts: 3817
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:16 am Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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Here you can see the tab on the connector and the slots on the housing to slide the thin metal piece to release it.
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Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.
“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1) |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:06 am Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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| jeffrey8164 wrote: |
Here you can see the tab on the connector and the slots on the housing to slide the thin metal piece to release it. |
thats perfect, thank you for the help. I’ll get those changes out now.
_________________
1971 Squareback, fully bagged, 1776.
Build thread here.....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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car barn
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2008
Posts: 137
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:07 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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Great story! Thanks for sharing it.
Do you have any pictures of Grandpa with the car? |
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oxsign
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 607
Location: Sanford, FL
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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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| Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:32 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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| oxsign wrote: |
| Quick question, what do the screws look like that hold the door sills and dash down?? |
Mine is a 72 but maybe it helps The dash is held in place with quite a few plastic screws sticking out from the dash pad (if it's a padded one. If not, you will have to glue some screws on the dash pad cover), and on the other side with fitting M8 (maybe?) plastic nuts.
Kind of like these (But as I said they are fixed in the dash pad, same goes for the knee pads) :
The door sills (if you're talking about the aluminium plates), they are held in place with some screws like this (or close):
To be honest (from my opinion), that's a useless extra way to let water into the rockers. I will cut some screw heads, glue them in the indents of the aluminium trims, and fix the aluminium trims with some thin 3M double-tape to the rockers (that have no holes!)  Not complete strips but with some space between them, for water drainage too.....
Greets
Vlad
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Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9237746#9237746 |
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John Ghia
Samba Member
Joined: April 13, 2004
Posts: 281
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| Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 7:45 pm Post subject: Re: '70 Ghia |
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What brand of rag top is that and where did you buy it?
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BUS BOYZ |
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