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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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 Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:59 am Post subject: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once-in-a-Lifetime Restoration topic)
Hello Samba friends, and greetings from a cold and rainy Munich!
After reading LOADS of threads (and quite a few restoration threads) in the Ghia and Bug sections of this forum, I'd like to share with you my (Ghia) story! I will try to do a chronological story as best as I can. It has nice but also some tragic stuff inside, so please bear with me while I try to write the long text and add in some pictures along the way.
(At the moment the car's shell is painted and I am driving to Romania for a short New Year's Eve-trip with a trailer to trailer it back.)
@John Moxon, if this qualifies, I kindly ask this to also be posted in the "Restoration Topics"-Stickys
But to the beginning, I'm Vlad and as you may have guessed I come from Romania (no relation to Dracula, I think....although I have some sharp fangs  ) and live in Germany from 2002. Please excuse my english, as a small side-note. My work is now developing/designing the chrome trims for many (mainly German) car manufacturers, mostly VW Group, BMW and Mercedes. If you would like to insult some of the newest BMW Grille creations, I gladly direct the insults to my colleauge 
Allthough it's not THAT long ago (but it feels like it), in 2016 I sold my then 911 (996) because I wasn't using it that much (only driving to my girlfriend on weekends and that was about it.....). Of course, being the car nut that I was, I thought to buy something as a "weekend car" that maybe at least keeps its value and is tax-excempt and has very reasonable insurance rates. (oldtimers cost about 100-300euros/year, instead of the typical 1000-2000 euro/year insurance for fun stuff like an M3 or something like that). So I started dipping myself into some classic cars. My work colleauge's (owns 2 Bugs and a T2) stories that he replaced the pistons and made some engine overhaul for only some couple of hundred euros made me even more interested. (Growing up in Romania, our perspective for a good "value for money" is maybe even more developed than the avarage european/german).
So while browsing for some Bugs and Ghias (which were more appealing), I kind of came across 3 types of price brackets. Cars that may need some small work here and there with no tech inspection for around 10.000, cars in good mechanical order with passed tech inspection for 15, or (at least in pictures) VERY good models with good mechanicals and a nice paint/interior for close to 20.000 euros. The tech inspection is quite strict here regarding older cars, especially concerning rust, so that is something to consider for me (I had some good car knowlledge but less so with old cars).
To be honest I looked at some cars but decided to ditch the middle ones (neither here nor there, and maybe needed further investments). Furthermore, I could hardly come to terms that I may pay 20k for an old car with 50HP to replace my 2004 Porsche 911. So the economical side of me kicked in, and that is where the story REALLY starts to go south.Had I known what I was getting into, I would have HAPPILY payed the full price for a nice one, may that be even 20k 3 years ago. Keep this in mind when scrooling down to the pictures in the later posts.
This puppy is what I aquired for something around 9k. A late 72 Coupe, brick-red with a quite nice tan interior, that needed mostly some "cosmetic work". I had a really good family friend (and his son) back in Romania that would help me with bodywork if needed, so I thought hmm how bad can it be? It would be great, I get to choose a color, and all-in, it would come in to under 20k total for a partly restored Ghia.
On the trailer, bringing it home, it looked quite good (from a distance), and both me and my dad were happy. Like 2 kids in a candy shop, as he also likes the Ghia very much and seing him happy also made me happy 
What I DIDN'T pay attention to and what I regret, were the obvious red flags.  Despite bringing a magnet (which stuck about everywhere), the worst part was ignoring the lower 15-20cm of the car that were covered in some undercoating, before being painted. The wheel arches had some cracks, the bumper supports were rusted and the paint job really looked unprofessional. After putting some minor stuff right (darn funny was when activating the washer, I took a HUGE shower with washer fluid before getting out of the car), I almost thought I can get away with it and try to do an inspection before a repaint/small restoration. I fell off my cloud when I realized that the seat rails were going through the floor. So even if I would get it to drive, for the first drive I would land with the seat on the tarmac!
^yes that's my finger poking through. Note to self for future, avoid non-removable sound deadning on the floors 
So the gut-wrenching decision was made to restore it straight-away, after only having driven it a total of 3 times around the block with no tags on it. So on the trailer it went, to my friend Lucian, to have "some bodywork" done, and then a paintjob. What the last 3,5 years since then brought me, is a roller coaster of emotions. My finances did not get in for the ride (as they only went down  ). As you will see, this (among the fact that I won't have acces to a reasonably priced bodywork or paint guy in the future) inspired me to do this restoration as a once-in a lifetime thing. So it won't be a perfect original Ghia, but a one I could afford and with stuff I would want.
(---end of episode one--- I will try to follow up as soon as possible with the next episodes. Didn't think writing and editing pictures takes so much time)
Best regards and look by soon!
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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ZENVWDRIVER
Samba Member
Joined: November 07, 2008
Posts: 3338
Location: N.E. Oklahoma
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| Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:00 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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… great looking Ghia - looks like it needs a little rust repair and once completed, it'll serve you well - using the car on weekends is a good idea - will last a long time, that way.
Your thread was quite long. keeping it shorter will encourage more readers and more responses -
Hope we hear about your trip to Romania
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON
All super-heroes, wear a MASK |
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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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| Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:13 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Thanks for your response  The long text was more a background story and to set the tone.
I think I gave away too little hints of what was beneath that dandy red paint
Because you're the first responder and as a warning to what MAY be lurking beneath, here is a very short preview to what is to come:
Thanks, I will write and update it the next days, and then after New Year.
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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Braukuche
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2004
Posts: 11231
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| Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:39 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Yeah, when it comes to Ghias if it seems like to good of a deal it usually is.
Problem is the cars are not worth the price of doing a proper restoration unless they are early lowlights or early convertibles. otherwise, as you discovered, it's a labor of love.
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!
Retirement is here!
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now
1989 Westfalia |
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ELFRIED
Samba Member
Joined: August 09, 2017
Posts: 420
Location: belgium
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:49 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Hi Vlad,
sorry to hear your story. Nevertheless I hope you'll have a nice ghia at the end.
It's too late now but it would have been better to search one in the US.
Prices in Europe are way too high , I think even unreasonable high.Same for the pieces.
Even taking into account the cost of transport and immatriculation you can get a fairly good ghia for half of the price .
Good luck |
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Evil_Fiz
Samba Member
Joined: May 06, 2011
Posts: 1113
Location: Jacksonville, FL
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| Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:47 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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I tend to be a long winded poster so for my penance I will make sure to read all your posts
Looking forward to more of the story.
-----
Emil
_________________
“…It's not just about what's interesting. It's also about what's helpful, and it's helpful even if it helps just one other guy working on a Ghia.”
kiwighia68
See my build on TheSamba at:
The K_R_A_K_E_N_N : a 70 Ghia Convertible reinterpreted |
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TRS63
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Joined: December 17, 2017
Posts: 1134
Location: Stuttgart - Germany
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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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| Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 3:08 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of the SAMBA community 
@Zenvwdriver : The trip to Romania went well and apart from being quite sick since at least a month, the Ghia is back home, freshly painted and all. I will keep the thread in chronological order from now, it will be easier to follow.
@Braukuche : That's true, especially on the late cars. It wasn't even a too good to be true deal to be honest...
@Elfried : Thanks, I hope that too. It's true, but I had really zero experience with importing an old car from overseas (apart from my then zero experience with old cars in general), that would have been maybe too much
@Evil_Fiz : comming right up! Thanks. Only the first post was so long, as I said, to set the tone and present myself 
@TRS63: lots of stuff comming up, getting myself motivated to write a story is (makes me look quite stupid here) almost as challenging as working on the car itself 
So, back to work! Since arriving, may I post a small question, could you guess what this is ??
Ok, Ok, let's be less abstract.....but what about this?
I bet you know where I'm going on this. For it not to become an even fatter bondo queen (no offence against fat people, I am one myself ), of course we had to take the old paint(s) off.....You may think the original coat and maybe one repaint, right? WRONG!
How about 4 complete layers, in places summing up 1 - 1,2cm (almost half an inch) including bondo, filler, color and so on.....
So the story goes that the car was originally green, over which came a layer of yellow. After that, 2 swift layers of brick red were applied. No need to remove the rubbers, or the wind laces, or chrome trims, or the bumpers, or anything.
The lady that owned it 20 to 25 years was getting old (and probably partially blind by the looks of things) to oversee the poor work done on her car after (presumably) each time there was an accident or rust came gushing out  To some more happy tunes, under some think layers of bondo and paint, the right fender turned out quite good!
At this moment I think it's enough with the one good news, let us dig deep beneath all the mascara, light up the torch and see what holds the body together. Please have your drinks prepared 
I know it can be worse, but not by much, I presume 
The doors weren't quite as bad, so apart from the bottom 10-15cm (which to make matters worse, were covered in some goopy underbody protection beneath the paint) we could save them. What gave us headaches (and only learned much later on ) is that the left door (the car was hit on the left on the whole side) was from a 70 or 71, and the right door was original (mid 72). It may not seem esential to many, but the differences are profound, especially when comparing the top parts, to where you attach the chrome trim and rubber parts. So my bodywork guy had to modify the top of the left door to look the same as the original one. Now they look nearly identical, but learning about the differences was no easy task
To cast a better shadow, the engine hood was almost perfect actually. That, and the roof, may be the only really unscathed original parts of the car....
That's about it for this part, please stay tuned to the next episode, where I may present the horrors of the A-Pillars, heater channels and outer rockers.... 
Best Regards and thanks for looking by,
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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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
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Braukuche
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Typical unfortunately.
At least you are doing it right. Keep us posted.
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!
Retirement is here!
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now
1989 Westfalia |
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TRS63
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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: Sat Jan 11, 2020 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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| Vladiiiii wrote: |
...
So, back to work! Since arriving, may I post a small question, could you guess what this is ??
Ok, Ok, let's be less abstract.....but what about this?
I bet you know where I'm going on this. For it not to become an even fatter bondo queen (no offence against fat people, I am one myself ), of course we had to take the old paint(s) off.....You may think the original coat and maybe one repaint, right? WRONG!
How about 4 complete layers, in places summing up 1 - 1,2cm (almost half an inch) including bondo, filler, color and so on.....
...
Vlad |
Unfortunately I am probably telling you this much too late (as I imagine at this point in time your bucket full of rough "gems" has long since found its way to the trash heap, but ...
Having spent some time hanging out in a Rock Shop while on vacation in Michigan, I was able to immediately recognize the "mystery item" in your first photo as a "synthetic gemstone" known as Fordite (a.k.a. Detroit Agate).
There are, no doubt, many crafty people around the world that would have gladly paid you cash money for that Fordite (or Detroit Agate) for use in their various artsy projects that they create and sell on the internet (and in small local shops like the Rock Shop in Michigan I visit often each summer vacation).
Don't feel too bad, though.
Realistically, I doubt that selling all of that stuff you would have even made you enough money to cover the costs of having someone scrape it all off of your poor old Karmann Ghia's body.
Still, it would have been fun to be able to polish some of it up and use it as custom dash knobs or perhaps a custom horn button.
Anyway, it's always both interesting and amazing to watch someone such as yourself tackle what seems to me to be the almost impossible task of bringing such a rusty, crusty Karmann Ghia back to its original glory.
Here's wishing you the Best Of Luck with your project! |
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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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| Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:45 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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@Darell : That only applied to THAT particular fender only, unfortunately 
@Braukuche : Yes, unfortunately that became clear....It's only the fact that it's happening on my first classic car (which I have quite some money tied into) made it quite bad. But I am going through like a knife through frozen butter
@TRS : Antoine, I remember someone mocking you about your torn gloves in your Thread. I would like to donate you some pairs of gloves! I'm not familiar with the message system here. If you have a German address please PM me your name and address to get them to you
@KGCoupe : That's interesting to know! As you guessed, those remains are long gone, but made some interesting pictures nonetheless! Thank you for the wishes! Unfortunately, maybe I haven't made it clear enough that the welding and subsequent bodywork prior to painting were tackled by people very close to me, but more details on that later.
Because it was so artistic, here is another pile 
After such bad areas discovered, there was little hope to find much better ones at the rockers, rear areas or A-Pillar. But oh, why should I keep it to myself?
So yes, at least once the rockers were cut, bent downwards, and new rockers welded on top. This, while succesfully ignoring the heater channels (just look at them) 
In the area behind the rear wheels (see picture above) I even found some newspaper. I have the feeling that somebody really took the piss on this car and made some REALLY lousy repairs 
To bring up the morale a bit, after cutting the rotted front parts of the nose (or.....the nose alltogether  ) the Dad of my Godfather put the new nose on as a mock-up just to see if everything may fit. It kind of does, even if the parts are not the best quality, so major future work had been done here. But here are 2 pictures, just to see how the car may look like a car again....
Surprisingly, the last owner decided to put brand new ball joints on the otherwise acceptable front beam. The only area needing attention is the top shock mount, where water was trapped by the rubber stops and rotted away some metal.
That was welded later on, but let's keep the chronology here
The next update will probably include me cleaning the engine and some other metalwork.
Best regards to you all!
Vlad
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Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic)
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Marcdeb
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Joined: May 22, 2019
Posts: 3267
Location: Vermont
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| Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Vlad,
I am enjoying your car's journey. Good for you for adapting to the needs of your car. I think sometimes we don't choose the car, the car chooses us. When the car is back on the road you will rest easy and enjoy the car more knowing you uncovered all the bad surprises.
I am unexpectedly in the same situation. I understand all too well about the "rollercoaster". It's not what I planned, but I feel good knowing the car will be done right. Looking forward to your future posts and seeing the end result.
_________________
Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio
Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata
68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc |
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TRS63
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Vladiiiii
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2019
Posts: 518
Location: Munich, Germany
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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Another dark and cold day means it's story time for the Ghia! 
So let's get back to a quite a sad sight that the more unfortunate of us had to endure :
So many potential issues, so many repair possibilities  It's like the bottom 30cm had been sitting on the bottom of the lake maybe? Fortunately, help was at hand, and it allowed me to tackle a less distructive, but equally clean (NOT) site : THE ENGINE. Taking it out was no huge issue (I didn't really care about the odd small scratch that may occur. Putting it back in may take 10x as long). Even if it sounded very good and made good power, a VERY good clean was really needed. Many of the cooling fins were partially blocked, and the whole engine was caked in dust, gunk, some oil, and a combination of those....
To be honest I'm not that familiar with this type of pressure plate? As the new one really looks like the ones from modern cars.
Behind it, the seal was not sealing so good as you can imagine :
Meanwhile, Lucian was working his magic on the dog leg? (I don't know how that part is called) and the join between the B-Post and the outer rocker cover. The heater channels became really beefy square steel beams, 50x50mm and 3mm thick (2" x 2", about 1/8" thick?), in order to make the car somewhat more rigid and be stronger against rust
The right rear got somewhat tacked together and covered with....I forgot Epoxy filler? I simply don't remember, it must be the age It was removed later, with only a very slight layer remaining.
(Pshh, the caps for the rear torsion beams will be added later on )
As a logical follow-up, the first new pan (passanger side) was welded in, and this was the status of the car, looking (somewhat) like a car again, after missing it's nose, underpants, hands, legs
Unfortunately, this post cannot be ended happily, as something happened. Because of heart problems (that affected the rest of his organs), our dearest family friend, Lucian, that did most of the bodywork up to this point got extremely sick, even more than before. The months after this were hard, especially his mentioning to his family that he is worried that he cannot work on the car, of what will he say to me each time knowing that his progress is slow, and so on His last wish was to attend to my wedding, which he achieved with his last strength. Not wanting to give up, one day he went all out and started to do something on the car. Impressed by his (temporary) well-being, his son took a picture of him working on my car. To my knowledge, it was the last.
Rest in Peace, good old friend. Please enjoy driving your 66 Mustang on the highways up there...
Vlad
PS: Just for reference, I had bought the car in June 2016, and this happened in November 2018. Much time, compressed in only a few posts and pictures.
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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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c21darrel
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Braukuche
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:46 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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A sad ending indeed.
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!
Retirement is here!
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now
1989 Westfalia |
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jeffrey8164
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2018
Posts: 4221
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:21 pm Post subject: Re: Vlad's 72 Ghia (Once in a Lifetime Restoration topic) |
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RIP Lucian.
It is immensely depressing when an old craftsman passes.
We aren’t replacing them as we need to.
So what happens now?
Does the the title change to “Once in Two Lifetimes”?
Maybe it becomes Lucian’s Ghia in some way?
His spirit must celebrated in some way.
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Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.
“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
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TRS63
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