1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia Find

[PeteSC]

[VeloMikey]

Where did you find the dash bulbs? They look nice and bright.
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'58 Ghia 2387cc with a Berg / Folts 5 Speed

Ghia Build Thread https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768748

[PeteSC]

Nice job. This car keeps getting better and better. I recently bought some wiper replacements, but I can't find the confirmation email. I believe it was West Coast Metric. *EDIT*, I think it was Airhead Parts: https://airheadparts.com/vw-part/wiper-blade-refills-141-955-429/

[OTO X58]

Last weekend, I left bright and early to drive the Ghia out to the 1st Saturday EASY Porsche gathering out in Emeryville. I left at about 5am with very little traffic over the hwy17 mountain pass. The 6V headlights did their best!

Slowest car at the meet by a lot, but also got a ton of positive attention.

On the way home, I drove over the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, hit a vintage BMW swap and show, then cruised Skyline Blvd/ Hwy 35 back home. Hit a lot of moisture on 35, got to test out the wipers. Anyone know where to find inserts for the original blades? Mine are cooked.

It's so nice to cruise this car alone in the woods. It's like therapy or meditation rowing through the gears, planning for inclines, steady curves, the whine of the split case.. just super chill.

managed a picture in the same spot as I took of my old 58 ragtop!



At the EASY meet, I picked up a nice nearly NOS bias ply 5.60-15 tire from a friend to use as a spare. It's a Mohawk Meteor tire.

I love the pie crust shoulder and the tread pattern.

Looks great in the trunk.

One thing at a time, the car is getting better and better.
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find

[OTO X58]

Kelley Park 2025 was a success! I cruised with my son to Red Barn Saturday morning and then Kelley Park on Sunday. It’s always a good time catching up with friends and hanging out with family.
We just barely made it into the show before they closed the gates! I’ll get there earlier next time.

Highlight of the day was meeting Loren and getting a great condition front hood pull from him to replace my broken one. Awesome guy, and it was really nice to put a face to the name. He also talked me out of spending too much money on an original but hacked up blue front nose badge. Thanks, man!
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find

[OTO X58]

Another small job. I tackled installing the trim molding on the interior under the quarter windows. The car came with the molding, but the clips have been on back order for many months. So I decided to just make some spare extra body clips work.

Rear without molding.


The body molding clips did not fit into the interior molding because they’re too big. So I had to modify them to work. I’ll outline what did here in case anyone needs to do this too.

I used a sanding disk on my drill to shave the nubs off the corners.

I also shaved a taper onto the ends so they’ll
Met esr slide into the molding easier.

You may notice a groove at the base of the cylindrical “peg” as well. I had to place that groove because they’re too big interior molding is tighter than the body molding. I added that groove with a hacksaw blade.

There’s has to be installed differently than the rocker trip. I had to press the tensioning leg down first, then file the clips to the right shape. Then slide them into the molding and space them correctly to pop into place. And then Snap! They popped in.


It worked!

Turned out fine. It’s good to have that trip on place instead of a bunch of holes.
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find

[OTO X58]

[PeteSC]

^^ That work you did to the nose is a 1000% improvement.

[OTO X58]

Got a couple of other small things done.

I changed the worn out striker on my drivers side door. It’s nice to have the door sitting properly now and not rattling. Kind of a shame to lose the original style striker, but I guess now it matches the passenger side.

I got this from KGPR/ Airhead.

I also wanted to find some mesh screens for my fresh air grills, but prices seem a bit steep.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2710033

So I searched around for a while and found some thick wire 1/8” stainless mesh that looks pretty close. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find the correct mesh at a swap meet someday.

Here’s the real deal:

This is my budget solution:

I paid $12 for the roll and could probably make 10 more pairs, if anyone wants some- just pay shipping.
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find

[OTO X58]

[PeteSC]

Depending on how much of an investment you want to make in correct metal, Fred Bouillon on France hand makes lowlight parts that are nearly NOS in quality. He made me a set of unobtanium rear quarter panel lowers that look perfect. You can reach out to him through Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009086462758

[Teeroy]

You could try Gab Fab and see if he has or will make a specific section. Or same question to Jason (WrennMetallWerks)
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Pres. Rivercity VW Club www.rcvwclub.org
Founder Derr Wheat Panzers (DWP)
ARR #3
www.autosportsnorthwest.org

[OTO X58]

[Braukuche]

Damn! Nice job on the nose repair. Blends right in.
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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

[Braukuche]

After market metal is absolute crap. It has to be heavily modified to come close.
_________________
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

[akokarski]

wow Thomas so much progress before I can even reply back with "I am good"

With jp metal its seems to be either too thick or too thin. I guess we should just be thankful that somebody is making something. I've been holding off on pulling a trigger on front quarter panel because of this and also the fact that trying to weld too different thickness panels is way quite a bit more difficult.

Cheers!
Anton

[OTO X58]

[PeteSC]

That appears to be a mis-match. The earlier festoon housings were mounted on the inside of the panel using that soft gray seal, the later 58-59 housing is mounted outside using that thick black rubber gasket you have. Later models have a horizontal brace inside the opening that the housing attaches to (and would prevent mounting from the inside unless removed, part #80 on the chart below). Were your housings mounted inside or outside of the fender? The link below is a good comparison of the exploded parts for each type.

Not the best shot, but I bought a reproduction housing several years ago and it wouldn't fit with modifying that inner bracket - the housing didn't have a deep enough relief to accommodate it. But it gives an idea of how the later housings go on the car.

[OTO X58]

I think I bought the wrong tail light gasket. The one I bought goes in between the red lens and the chrome ring. The one that I wanted goes between the chrome ring and the body.

Is that correct?

I keep reading that the grey body gasket is like a foam material and is very rare. And if so, that’s probably best used on a restoration. I need to find an alternative.

My car has two piece lenses - (the chrome is not attached to the lens)
But my housings are the regular bulb type, not festoon bulbs.
Does that mean I have a mismatch? And if so, can I just use 58-59 body gaskets like these:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2198171
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find

[OTO X58]

I was excited to find my first batch of parts had arrived! That is, until I opened the box and found issues with most of it. I know aftermarket parts are a crap shoot. I guess today just wasn't my lucky day.

The replacement metal for the rear quarter panel behind the door is nice and thick, but the fender lip is way too skinny.

And then the metal for the front fender/rocker section showed up with a big scraped dent in the only section of it that I intended to use. What are the chances!

This one I need your opinion about. I tried searching but didn't find anything definitive. I think that early 56-57 Lowlight tail light gaskets were thick and molded or foam. The ones I got are very thin cut rubber.

Are these correct for my car? I don't think that my chrome bezel fits tight enough against the car to even hold these things in place. They'd definitely have big gaps all around. They were pretty cheap at $33, but I guess I expected better.


On the bright side, the master cylinder seems OK, and the nose gasket fits fine!

This one doesn't have the right texture to it, but it looks way better than what I had, which was a modified beetle emblem. I hope to find an affordable original one someday in my travels, possibly a damaged one.
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RIP HBB 10.10.84 - 12.25.09
1958 Ragtop Bug Build - Subaru Swap!
1957 Gazelle Beige Ghia
1957 Dove Blue Kombi field find