How to tell original mileage?

[SBusch]

My car has 38,000 on the odometer, and I'm wondering if there's an easy way to tell if it's 38,000, 138,000 or 238,000. I'm the second owner and it was sold to me by the grandson of the original owner. He told me he believes that it's 38,000 and not 138,000 but didn't know for sure. He told me it has been sitting for the last 15 years, and in the documents he gave me was a receipt from a garage saying it had been sitting for the 15 years before that. It was his grandmother's car, she didn't work, and it was just used for bopping around a small town, so it's entirely possible. It was kept in a carport, not a garage, in Georgia, so there's no cancer-type rust, but it's pretty crusty. It was definitely repainted at some point. But it still has all of the original horsehair insulation and tarpaper.

Unfortunately one of the first things I did when I first bought it was to replace the rubber on the pedals, not because they were worn, but because they were hard and kind of gross. And of course I threw them away.

So, lots of mixed data points. So, without dropping the engine, how would I go about guessing how many miles it has?

[Era Vulgaris]

Without direct firsthand knowledge, you can really only make an educated guess. The parts of the car that a person touches every time they drive the car will be your best indicators: door handles, seat upholstery condition, carpet if it is worn through, steering wheel, shifter knob, rubber pedal covers, dash knobs, wear marks on the dash itself around the knobs, e brake handle, etc.
A compression and leak down test on the engine can be a helpful indicator as well, if it's never been rebuilt.

But some simple math will tell a tale as well.
2021-1966 = 55
You say the car was sitting for around 30 years, so that leaves 25 years that it was driven.
138,000/25 = 5520 miles per year
I'm self employed and work from home, and I drive more than that per year just running errands, going out with my wife, going to meet up with friends, etc.

But if this is your car, I'm going to guess the odometer's gone around at least once. Missing and worn interior pieces and chipped dash paint aside, your seats have been reupholstered. That would be unusual to do after only 38k, but I suppose it could happen. Family pets using the seats as scratching posts or chew toys, etc

_________________
Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue

[Starbucket]

At 38K it would still have the original biasply tires and unturned brake drums with original brake shoes and would not need paint unless a major crash, the motor will have all the decals still there With out service records of oil changes and dates, around 12 service records, it probably has at least 138K.

[Glenn]

[Starbucket]

[SBusch]

Thanks for the help! I was assuming it was 138K, so if I found some reason to think 38K I would be pleasantly surprised.

One question, though, I assumed that my seats were original because I've seen a lot that were similar. These have been redone?

[Starbucket]

The problem with a car that's been stored for you say 15 years then stored for 15 more years is everything is dead and will need to be replaced and the replacement parts are not from Germany. So the actual mileage will have no bearing on it's value as it wasn't prepped for storage and stored in a heated garage. Get it road worthy and enjoy it.

[67 Florida Deluxe]

[Marcdeb]

I can't prove it but I'm pretty sure both front and back seats are not original VW material.
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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

[Era Vulgaris]

I don't think I've ever seen front seats like yours with a visibly stitched seam and no pleats on the insert. They're definitely custom done. The basketweave in the front seats (if you can call it that, it looks almost like perforated vinyl) is not even close to being the same as the basketweave on the rear seat.
The rear seat looks original, or at least correct, because 66 did not have any pleats in the rear seat, just a full face insert to match the front seat insert.
Those fronts were 100% re-done. There should be 6 pleats in the insert portion of the front seat (as 67 Florida Deluxe posted), and VW never had visible stitching on their vinyl seats, seams were heat pressed into the vinyl.
_________________
Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD

Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue

[Braukuche]

[SBusch]

Great information, thanks!

[67 Florida Deluxe]

[hitest]

As said, if your car has 38k or 138, it has little difference in value based on comparable condition. The parking brake handle certainly looks like it has rolled past 100k. At the end of the day- you've got a nice little coupe in a desirable color. It will be more fun than not to work on.
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