"Shamrock Shake" Kathy's 1971 Karmann Ghia Coupé

[DadaCheese]

Typically I stick to/am in the Split-Bus forum [going on and on about nothing in particular (except VW meets, and trips and such)], but we took Kathy's Ghia to a nice local meet-up yesterday.

Organized on Facebook as a "locals only" (Bay Area of California) group, this was the second meet-up and there were a lot of fantastic folks who made it out.

It was held at Faction Brewing on Alameda Island, CA.

A friend of ours who lives on the island dropped over with his drone and made this high-up-top video of the Ghias:


Link

If you have a Ghia and live close enough to the Bay Area to attend meet-ups for fun, you can send me a private message and I'll help you find the Group on Facebook, run by a nice and enthusiastic Ghia owner named George.
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[Basketcase]

Beautiful !
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'72 Karmann Ghia Coupe (the Boss's)

[Big Bill]

I wanted to go the the Nor-Cal show yesterday but something came up. They really had a nice turn out and the parking lot by the ship docks looked comfortable, dont have a Ghia ...yet.. but just wanted to check out the Nor-Cal members. Beautiful cars. I had forgotten you and the wife had a Ghia I thought it was just your camper.

[Marcdeb]

Some great pictures and such a wide assortment of colors. The straight line overhead shot would look great framed.
Curious about why you have 2 sets of front seats at the beginning of your thread? And was this the same upholstery pattern (basket weave) that was in the car when you got it?
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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

[DadaCheese]

[Marcdeb]

I think the ones you have look like the 1970 upholstery pattern. They patterns in the vinyl changed almost every year. Here's the one year only pattern for 71.

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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

[John Moxon]

[DadaCheese]

New (to us) bumpers. ...and gathering opinions on engine

Months ago I picked up some bumpers that someone had chromed, and since the VW enthusiast selling them didn't need them, I got a pretty good deal.
That's what's great about VW folks selling to other VW folks; we all want one another to succeed.

Been dragging my heels (mainly driving/working on our 1967 Westfalia Spilt Bus), but I finally got around to putting them on to Kathy's Ghia.

OH; before I forget. There's another Ghia meet this weekend.
Although heavy rain is predicted for Sunday (Dec. 12th, 2021) here in the Bay Area of California, there is a Ghia meet at the Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville.
I'll paste those details below as a "quote" from the event's page.

The bumpers that the Ghia came with from the previous owner(s) had typical regular wear, but the back bumper have several holes.
The "no ivy" sticker on there was covering the largest, so it was nice to get this better set onto the our Ghia.

Before:

In Progress:

...besides the 1001 other things I'd like to do to improve/restore on our Ghia, one thing I've been musing about is a different engine.

The wacky cobbled together 1903(?!?) engine of a previous owner, with dual Kadrons and J-tubes is peppy and all, but I've been thinking that something like a 1776, single carburetor and heater boxes (for heat!) would be peppy enough and easier for an old school mostly-stock kind of guy like myself to maintain.

I DON'T have money burning a hole in my pocket, but a reputable place that sells reliable well-built turn-keys (with all the accouterments: tin, clutch, heater boxes, exhaust, etc.), would be nice/ideal.

Open to suggestions (of tried and true rebuilders/places that sell them), opinions and such.
Let's open the Pandora's boxes of your minds.

Here's the info for Sunday's Ghia meet:

[c21darrel]

New bumpers look great!
Nothing wrong with a nice 1776, i had a 1750 with kadrons(virtually the same as 1776 just with the old 90mm pistons) as a daily driver for years. I never had to touch them after initial set up. Great power and MPG.
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GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[DadaCheese]

Typically I am posting on the split bus forum since Kathy and I are often traveling around/going to meets and camping with our 1967 Westfalia, "The Toaster".
However, we've been meeting up with lots of northern California Ghia owners monthly with the "NorCal Karman Ghia Enthusiasts" group.

Here's a photo of the George's Ghia (the group's main organizer) with our Westfalia.

If You look through my photos, you'll see plenty of Ghia photos from the various meets we go to.

Back to Kathy's "Shamrock Shake" though...

We bought this "STOP" light at February's OCTO meet in Long Beach, CA (2022).
I had it newly re-chromed, bought a bumper fog light clamp/holder and got it onto Kathy's 1971 Karman Ghia, "Shamrock Shake".

Kathy has not been one for many accouterments on Shamrock Shake, but she really liked the idea of this not stock item for distinction.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out and looks.

Hope everyone is out enjoying their Ghias!
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[rollinwithwillie]

Hi Bryce, I caught you and Shamrock Shake in a Treffen video by Mike. YouTube one year ago. Do you know anything about Treffen 2024? Would love to catch on somewhere along the way! Thanks!
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~let the good times roll~

[DadaCheese]

[rollinwithwillie]

Thanks for checking in on any Treffen info and posting info. Thought it would be fun to meet up for a portion but need advance notice/info to request off from work. I’d love to meet up with you all again or if interested in a west Marin / Sonoma cruise lemme know. Look fwd to a future cruise!
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~let the good times roll~

[DadaCheese]

Jim sent me a message back:

"Highway 1 Treffen Cruise starts in mid July...roughly starting around July 19, 2024 to July 28...that's what it looks like.
Airhead Parts FB page will post updates typically around April"

...and yes! would love to join a cruise in the Marin/Sonoma area.

If you've got a route in mind; let's figure out a month/date for a cruise that we can invite folks to. I'd even help organize.
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[rollinwithwillie]

Great thx for the info! Will keep an eye out and check their fb pg.

Ill put together a couple routes and get your feedback.
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~let the good times roll~

[rollinwithwillie]

Somewhere I read (…and I read in too many places) that there is a cruise planned for Saturday 11/18 but I can’t figure out where I read this or where it’s to be, if I’m remembering correctly, lol. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Probably raining Saturday. Thx
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~let the good times roll~

[DadaCheese]

[DadaCheese]

Put in the new repro. steering wheel!

Before:

After:

There seem to be innumerous times that I have had to do something with the steering wheel/steering column over the amount of time that we have owned "Shamrock Shake"
1971, I believe, has some one-year-only oddities, as well as what I would consider to be design flaws, but somehow I always make it work.

The repro. steeting wheel, with horn ring, I bought from JBugs.com and it's quite nice.
It's designed for Bugs and Ghias, and they designed it so that you CAN use it with a 1971 as long as you buy the correct Horn Contact Ring to go with it.
Many pre-1971 steering wheels don't have the hole needed through the center ring for the wire, but this repro. wheel DOES have that (if you need it like ours does).

Although the steering wheel came complete with a nice black horn button with a a silver Wolfsburg logo, I also bought the following from eisparts.com just for a little distinction.

HORN BUTTON, BEETLE, RED/BLUE/WHITE,’61-’71
SKU: 113951532RBW

Here's the part numbers for the Jbug.com parts:

Stock VW Steering Wheel - Ivory - 1962-1971 Beetle - Karmann Ghia - Type 3
113-WHEEL-IVORY

VW Horn Contact Ring / Cancelling Ring - 1971 and later Type 1
113415660A

My only complaint, however is that the Horn Contact Ring (for a 1971) wasn't made very well and did not fit well into the underside of the steering wheel, and the turn-signal cancellation part that sticks out actually prevented the wheel from seating entirely onto the spindle; it hit against the turn level assemblage.

Had to shave plastic with an Exacto knife and a file to get it to fit properly.

Now the horn WORKS every time! Our old wheel's silver horn armatures were slightly bent, and any time I took the wheel off I'd spend forever trying to adjust the three spring-loaded screws so that it would work somewhat normal.

Kathy's pretty pleased with the end result, and I am too.
Are there other things on "Shamrock Shake" that need attention, improvement, repair, etc? OF COURSE, but sometimes just a fun single cosmetic change like this gives a real sense of satisfaction.

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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[Blue Baron]

[DadaCheese]