John Moxon's Lowlight from 1958

[John Moxon]

[TDCTDI]

I was talking about what appears to be one almost in the center of the door.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[John Moxon]

[sputnick60]

[John Moxon]

Blowing out a few cobwebs this morning. Too much wet weather over the last few weeks.
Took the Ghia out to a New Forest pub that has a "Pride and Joy" event every month.

Took the scenic route to the pub.

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John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Trylon]

[calexican]

Hey John! I’ve always wondered about your stickers, what they are, and if you or Betty or both applied them. Any close ups?

[iowegian]

[John Moxon]

[iowegian]

[John Moxon]

[John Moxon]

OK, here's the first three...

1. Audubon Society Member water transfer decal.
This is one of Betty's original water transfer decals. I did a quick search and was surprised to find you can still get these from various sources, this being one: https://picclick.com/1960s-Vintage-National-Audubon-Society-Member-Decal-Blue-254349333769.html I won't give Americans a lecture on John James Audubon as I'm sure most are familiar with his definitive bird illustrations. Want one of his original book of illustrations?...one sold a couple of months ago for $6.6m: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/the-b...es-audubon

2. Judson Magneto water transfer decal.
I bought a NOS Judson Magneto about 12 years ago. I paid about £80 for it, opened the box and there it all was, pristine Magneto, all the instructions, guarantee card, HT cable and windscreen water decal. The trouble with old water decals is they are fragile, they dry out and it's a bit of a lottery to know whether you will be able to use them. If you look closely at the picture mine made it to the rear window but in several pieces. It's a bit alarming when you soak a rare decal in a shallow dish of water and it starts to float apart in different directions, however if you can get it back on the backing paper you can apply it to the window by sliding the pieces together.
I fitted the Magneto to my Ghia in 2010 and ran it for a couple of years before replacing in with a conventional coil. The Judson Magneto itself has always been the subject of controversy. Some say it was fraudulent but my take on it was it was simply a coil in a smart jacket but back in 2011 a man emailed me after finding my Judson website (The VW Judson Register). His name was Rocco Antonelli and he ran the Judson Supercharger department in the 1960s. I asked him for the background story on the Judson Magneto and this are his words on it...

"What it is, in its last and permanent form is as follows:
Very high output GM ignition coil, wound ,and dipped in sealing wax, and checked for high voltage on an oscilloscope up to 6,000 rpm & 40,000 dc volts. Coils are then placed into a thermo-plastic base, secured by a self tapping screw into the coil wire base. The original design had a small circuit board and a circuit consisting of a real transistor, a zanier diode and some small electronic devises, all of which failed too quickly. Construction: Coil connections were soldered, heat sinks were pressed onto coil bases, epoxy was used to seal the unit. Hot tar was poured into coil and circuit, a rubber gasket and a thermo-plastic cap was screwed on. Then back to the oscilloscope for final testing.
Did it work ?? Was it worth it?
YES, and YES again !! Compared to stock coils, and if you knew what to look for, this simple but effective coil ignition did all that could be done at that time.
Stock coils tend to die off around 5500 rpm, the Judson kept firing strong at 6250 rpm. This was verified on an oscilloscope, a supercharged Corvair, a turbocharged Corvair, a modified Falcon Sprint and a race prepped Falcon Sprint.
The problem with introducing a new performance product is the scrutiny it comes under, does it work ? does it do what it should do ? is it worth the money ?
The finished product retained the transistor, but did not have it wired in, the circuit board was eliminated, the diode was retained and was wired in. In this form it retained its electronic standing, and if you took your car to redline, it kept firing. Did it slam you back in your Recaro ? NO, it's not supposed to. Did it help you win races ? Yes! So, was it worth it?"

So in the early '70s it was called a fraud. Personally I don't think it was. It was an honest attempt initially to produce a reliable high performance coil, using the technology of the day. Unfortunately a small company having spent a large amount of capital having the shells of this smart performance coil made, found the components used couldn't stand the temperatures produced and it broke down very quickly. With all the smart jackets lying around they found the best and most reliable high performance coil available at the time and bought them from GM by the box load...the best solution in what could have been a financial disaster.

3. San Francisco Fire Department - Truck 5 sticker.
The sticker was a present from Scott Doonan, we've been friends for 15 years.Truck 5 is Scott's fire truck and he kindly sent me a couple of Truck 5 "T" shirts and window stickers after I helped him with some NOS parts for his '59 Ghia Convertible. Scott's also the man who went at short notice to check out my KG in Berkeley in 2007. If you don't know Scott check out his amazing 'vert restoration...you'll quickly realise he was the ideal man to check out my Ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=418455
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John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[calexican]

This is great John, I knew there must be some interesting stories behind those stickers, love that picture of the magneto factory too. Thanks for the post, and look forward to some more. Cheers!

[John Moxon]

[John Moxon]

4. Karmann Ghia Owners Club of Great Britain - current membership sticker.
Self explanitory.

5. Vossenova Burglar Alarm sticker. 5a. Burglar Alarm activation key switch.
My Ghia had this alarm fitted back in the '60s. By the time I took ownership all that remained were the two warning stickers (one on each side) and key activation switch on the back panel near the rear lights.

6. Robin Allen memorial sticker.
Robin was a founder member of our local VW Club. He was a lifelong VW man from his childhood in Germany (his father was in the British Army) until his passing in June 2018. He was very well known to the hobby throughout Europe and always attended the major VW shows across the continent in his beloved '52 Split Window Beetle. You could always spot Robin at shows in Germany, he usually dressed in Lederhosen and Trilby. When I imported my '58 I called him to come and give my Ghia it's official check, (he worked for the government vehicle licensing authority) he gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up and I gave him one of its original license plates for his collection. Robin at Hessisch Oldendorf 2017...

a classy exit...

Robin's '52 at the graveside...

_________________
John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[John Moxon]

7. Karmann Ghia Owners Club of Great Britain.
General membership sticker.

8. 5th International Vintage Volkswagen Festival - Hessisch Oldendorf - June 2009.
Probably the best vintage Volkswagen festival in the world. It takes place every four years in the German market town of Hessisch Oldendorf. In 2009 I drove my Ghia from southern England to Hessisch just 60 miles from its birthplace in Osnabrück.

The centre of the town is closed to all but the registered VWs for the whole weekend...the video was taken by my passenger for the 1000 mile round trip Pete.

Link


The 2017 Show.

Link


Sambanistas 2017: Left to Right: Rinie (56GoldeGhia), Me, Rinie's son, Nicholas (sputnick60), Undis Kanepe (Undis)

_________________
John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[iowegian]

[John Moxon]

[iowegian]

[John Moxon]