1965 Type 3 Karmann Ghia

[58758]

Last week I drove out to Marysville, Ca to pick up my T3 Ghia that I placed in storage back in 1990. I was taking an autobody course at the local college while I was stationed at Beale AFB when I received orders to go overseas for a couple of years. I had removed most of the parts from the car to include the engine and I was in the process of removing the bondo and repairing the front end metal when I had to find storage; one of my classmates was a retired Chief and offered to keep the car in one of his large garages. I checked out his place and he's a car collector of sorts and felt comfortable storing my car in the back of the smaller garages. I wasn't able to get the car when I returned to CONUS and kept it there with the intention of collecting it soon. Well soon turned into a few more years then a divorce and then a move cross country, etc. So yeah, it's been sitting in the dark for 29 years until this last week.

My acquisition of the car is not exactly conventional but it used to belong to my grandfather, he was the second owner, and it was his daily driver until his passing in 1986. He lived in La Mirada, CA and when he passed, my grandmother sold it to some woman that lived in Encino, CA in the same condo building as my Aunt. One day, while talking to my Aunt on the phone, I asked about the Ghia. She said it was in the parking lot of her condo and it's been sitting outside for 3 years with a broken driver quarter window and untouched. Well, she bought it back and gave it to me to get it working again. I drive down to Encino with a couple of friends and we pick it up; we started it with a battery jump and drove it onto the tow dolly and made it back to Beale AFB.

I left on Jan 18th at 1am after working a full shift and already awake for 10 hours or so. I get to a hotel at 10pm in Deming, NM. That's 21 hours of driving and I'm tired. I wake up around 8am and head to Chirco in Tucson to pick up a flywheel/brake drum torque tool because the last one I had was stolen, along with all my other tools years ago. I had to pick up this tool because I found out my rear is locked up, I'm probably going to need this tool anyhow.

Leaving Tucson, I see the familiar aircraft grave yard and take a quick pic while driving:

The guys at Chirco mention that there is some awful road construction on I-10 and to take I-8 toward Yuma to bypass Phoenix. Interstate 8 has very light traffic compared to I-10:

Nearing Gila Bend I stop to view the scenery, I forgot how nice the desert is during winter:

I make it to I-10 again and stop at a rest area. I notice the sign and see some lady walking her big-ass dog at the edge of the rest area zone and the start of the wilds, good thing it's winter:

Once I cross into California I was to bypass the Los Angeles area so I head north on Hwy 95 and head to Needles to get onto I-40 to Bakersfield. In the middle of the Mojave I refuel and find this place to eat at the gas station, I'm temped but I don't want to have to find a toilet in the middle of nothing during a panic:

Check out the fuel prices for 87 octane in the middle of the desert:

I make it to a hotel in Yuba City by 11am on Sunday morning, I check in and catch a nap. I call Bill, the guy that has my car, and I head over to his place. I empty the car of all the boxed and bagged parts to place into the bed of my truck to make the car lighter to maneuver out of the garage. Keep in mind that both rear wheels are locked up so we have to use a wheel dolly to get the car out. At this point I forget the car is parked in the garage sideways on dirt behind some hotrod, a kit car and multiple motorcycles. So now we jack up the car, place plywood on the dirt and set the dollies under each rear wheel. We shuffle it out like a dance of some sorts:

Once we get the car out, we have to cover it as it's going to rain like hell that night. We also find my bumper in the rafters, both doors, the trunk lid and my towbar. The sun drops and all of the sudden it's cold and windy, I'm done. I head to the hotel but need to eat first. I have eaten here in about 30 years or so:

Monday arrives and it's cold when I pick up the U-haul trailer and head over to Bills. We now installed the doors and hood, secured with heavy gauge wire and bungies. We use a come-along to load the car onto the trailer and since we couldn't get the dollies to ride up the ramp, we removed them and lubed the metal ramps with WD-40 and let the rear wheels slide up. The car is secure, we say our good byes and I'm on the road to Modesto to have dinner with the ex-wife's parents and brother...they still like me. I'm stuffed when I get back on the road, destination, back home to the gulf coast.

Refueling in Tehachapi pass, cold and windy:

Tuesday at sunrise I'm just across the stateline in Ehernberg, AZ., less cold but still windy:

Entering New Mexico with cautions:

Tuesday evening approaching and heading to a Best Western hotel in Deming, NM.

I sleep for about 10 hours and wake up Wednesday morning to 21F and a windchill of 14F. Hotel breakfast and back on the road. I make it through Texas again and toward Louisiana. I bought some beefjerky:

Sadly, I didn't qualify for the free burger:

I made it home to Gulfport, MS by noon on Thursday. I called up a couple of friends and they came over on Friday morning to remove the car from the trailer with the help of more WD-40, a tow strap and another F-150. A few pics before that happened:

She's garaged and I'll need to primer the bare metal before this humidity eats the car; it's been sitting for 29 years with bare metal and it has not rusted on those spots, awesome California climate. I'll be posted as I make progress but it's going to be a slow process and I'll need to learn more skills and associated learning curves.

[ALLWAGONS]

Cool Story and Nice Car. I am not the best person to give you advise, but if there is anything I can help with, I'll gladly will. I have owned three of these little cars and restored one and I am in the process of restoring another one.


Martin
allwagons
_________________
I'd be UNSTOPPABLE if not for Law Enforcement and PHYSICS.

I recycle old cars and parts, other than when I rot, that's as Green as I am going to get.

Thanks to my Tesla driving neighbors, I feel more relaxed driving my SUBURBAN and old VW's.

NON INFLUENCER APPROVED

[pitargue]

Wow!

Thank you for sharing and letting us enjoy your journey in restoring your car. Good luck. I'll be pulling for you!

Marciano
San Jose, CA

[Erik G]

If you get a chance, post the pictures here on thesamba instead? I can't see them, imgur is blocked in large companies, and if they ever go down, you'll lose all the history (like what happened with photobucket)

best of luck with the resto!
_________________
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[gt1953]

Nice back story and now for the front story.
you have your work cut our for you for sure.
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[58758]

[Mike Fisher]

Wipe it down with phosphoric acid solution rust killer to keep it from rusting.
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[nogoodwithusernames]

Too bad you're not local anymore, woulda loved to see a T34 around Yuba City. Only two other T3's, besides my square, that I see driving around on occasion and both are square backs as well, but a a T3 Ghia woulda been sweet! Good luck with the restoration!
_________________
71 Squareback, 1.7l T4 w/ crank trigger fuel and spark
(Conversion thread https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=732508&highlight= or https://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=151375&sid=f0542d44a322d290c29d6609fac7f215 )
74 914, 2.0L w/ D-Jet

-Derek

[Bobnotch]

Nice story, and a decent looking t-34. Look forward to seeing more construction photos. I will say your car looks to have the standard dent damage that most t-34's seem to get. The rear fender flares are something you don't normally see though.
Take a look at what I went thru with "Wolfie", as that was a project.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[sctbrd]

Looks like mine did- definitely an interesting project!

[chink13]

cool another type 3 on the MS gulf coast!

[58758]

[58758]

I've practically no time to work on the car; I was able to set up some LED shop lights, move to another rental garage, jack the car up and that's about it. I one of the rear wheels and could not remove the drum, apparently one of the tools that was stolen years ago was a 36mm socket. I'll have to pick one up in the next day or so. In the meantime here are a few pics and some commentary.

As you can see in the previous pics the wheels are of some unknown wire wheel type. I pulled the cap off the noticed some fuckery, on the inside you can clearly see "Packard":

Basic pic before removing lug nuts:

Top shot while on the floor:

Backside, no logos or numbers. I guess I should wash the gunk off and see if I can locate a name or numbers:

What the hell, an adapter plate:

I was hoping to have the drum off but I'll need that 36mm first. I'll post more when I do get it removed.

[Mike Fisher]

EMPI #5748 36mm Axle Nut Tool works good with 1/2" breaker bar or hammer.
Pressure wash your wire wheels & paint them gray if necessary.
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Bobnotch]

Or get a Torque Meister with gear set up. Those things make short work out of those nuts that are super tight. Plus you can use it to remove/replace the flywheel gland nut. I love the 1 I bought years ago.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[58758]

[58758]

[Bobnotch]

[58758]

I've had the torque meister tool before and have used without issues on my 61 bug, standard operation procedure, right? I just watched a few youtube vids that showed it being used and a 4 lug and another vid on 5 lug. So, I'm thinking that since I have a strange set-up on my wheel, the drum might not be VW and the bolt pattern is different for the tool to work. I'll have another look later to confirm this.

[Bobnotch]

It looks like it has the correct wide 5 t-3 drums. Maybe the tool you got was machined in China?
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120