I just bought a Ghia that sat for the past 41 years.

[xoo00oox]

A nice lady called my shop the other day saying she had an old Karmann Ghia sitting in her garage that she needs to move so the house can sell and asked if I was interested in it. I didn't really want another project but it was only about 8 miles away so I figured I'd take a look. She says It was her fathers car she believes it has not been on the road since 1979.
I made an offer on it and all the other VW stuff they had and they accepted it. I'll probably be picking it up next week. The other VW stuff was lots of beetle engine and miscellaneous part and a wooden slat Beetle roof rack.

These are the only pictures for now.

Andrew-

[Marcdeb]

How cool . What year? I can see it has a glass back window so it's late 69 to 74. Trying to figure out what the tail light area looks like but the picture is not giving it up. Looking forward to seeing more pictures.
_________________
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

[xoo00oox]

[Marcdeb]

[dc]

Beats the slumber of my project car by a year or two
My '63 was off the road from late 1980 through November of 2019
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1963 Karmann Ghia

[anthracitedub]

The black rattle can paint around all the “sweet” spots could be indicative of rust. Hopefully it’s minimal.

[PolarBearVW]

Sweet find. Your post instantly made thousands of us a tad jealous😉
Have fun with it!!
_________________
1974 Ghia Coupe

[xoo00oox]

Thanks for the comments guys. It’s always fun to get a call like this. I always like to look around at what other stuff they have. A couple years ago when I got a similar call about a Bay Westy that had been in a garage for 20 years I also came home with a really cool mountain bike, not one you’d typically buy at a store but one made for racing. This time I’m also getting an antique outboard engine I’d guess to be from the ‘50s. They also had a bunch of old rifles WW2 era. Tons of them, maybe 60-70? My brother is coming with me to pick up the car and will be probably also be bringing the guns back with us.


Back to the Ghia, I’ll have to really get a good look at it once it’s home and see what kind of shape it’s in. I did not see the bumpers anywhere, hopefully they turn up. The roof looked to be in pretty good shape surprisingly. I opened the door and took a very quick look then closed it up again so I could breathe. Looked to be complete but mouse nests everywhere.


Andrew-

[xoo00oox]

Quick question for the Ghia experts. Will the typical Beetle tow-bar work on the Ghia too? I seem to remember that will not, it needed to be longer to reach under the front of the car to the beam.

Andrew-

[TDCTDI]

Yes, it does work. BUT, you have to be careful when turning, the Ghia fenders protrude out further & may get crunched by the tow vehicle if the turn is too sharp.
_________________
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.

[djkeev]

Be smart, get a 2” receiver extension for your hitch. Why risk mangling a front fender, crap happens even when you are careful!

Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/2-inch-hitch-extender/s?k=2+inch+hitch+extender


Dave
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[xoo00oox]

Thanks guys. I do have a car trailer I can use and probably will use. Just wanted to confirm in case I needed it as a back up plan. Should be picking it up Friday afternoon now. Hopefully some more photos for to share then.

[Burman]

Cool find!! Congrats! Looking at the a taillight-area I would say it´s at 1972-1974 modelyear.
Shouldn´t be that rusty then. Only maximum 7 years on the road, I mean.
White with a black top. Real classy if you ask me. Love white/black ghias!!

[xoo00oox]

Thanks Burman, I was really happy to have the opportunity to buy it!


So we went back to pick it up yesterday. The Very nice grandson of the man who owned the car had cleared out a path in the barn so we could access it. He said he was in his thirties and in his life he had never seen the car out of the barn.
As I expected, all four wheels were seized. We jacked each one up, removed the wheels and spent about 40 minutes hammering on the brakes, a lot less work than I thought it was going to be. We were able to get some air in each of the tires, the all appear to have tubes in them.
Wheels back on and jacks removed, three of us were able to push it out into the daylight! Sure enough, the last registration card and the registration sticker for the windshield say ‘79! FORTY ONE YEARS!!
We winched it up on my trailer and strapped it down and then spent another hour loading my pickup up with all the VW stuff they had along with a very cool old outboard motor and the guns.
I still have not had a chance to really look things over closely. The car has had some rust repair on the body But for the most part looks very solid. I glanced Underneath it at the floor and it looks like it has never even had a rust hole under the battery, the floors looked perfect.
The nice woman that I got it from said her father was in the military and possibly had brought it back from Germany but was not sure. What do you Ghia experts think? The radio looks a bit odd to me and the emblem on the trunk says “VW-1600-L”, I don’t remember seeing the “L”. There is also a sticker on the dash in German.

[Marcdeb]

WOW!! A true time capsule!! How fortunate you are to have gotten that call. I've never seen original Red interior for a 70-71 so I wonder if the US during this period ever had red interior?? That radio does look to be a European radio. The door panels and seats are beautiful. If you can see the color code, is this Light Ivory, (L 80 E)? I'm so envious.

There just can't be many barn finds like this left to find. You must have had such an exciting day! Congratulations and I really look forward to seeing you bring this beautiful 70 Vert back to the road. I'm putting a 71 Vert back together now. It's Ivory with black interior but yours seems to be lighter than mine.
_________________
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

[Braukuche]

I agree with Marc, I’ve never seen a 70-71 with anything other than black or brown interior.
This is clearly a German deliver car, the bands on the radio are German designation, and the badge must be German market only.
I guess the Euro market had more choices than the US?
Looks like a lot of lower repairs done.
Hopefully that original interior will clean up well. What a nice find!
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
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

[xoo00oox]

Thank for the comments guys. What do you think of the “L”? Was that ever on the US market Ghia? What can you make of this?

[Marcdeb]

[Braukuche]

Euro market car would have yellow and red rear lights.
It could be the L designation is for a different engine option. 70-71s in the US would have the 1600, but in Germany it would have come with a 1300. So it was likely a designation for the 1600 maybe with different gearing??
What are your plans for it?
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
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

[xoo00oox]

Not sure yet what the plan is. I’m thinking maybe a decent body job and just try to clean up and reuse as much as I can. I don’t think it’s worth it to try to make this car museum quality but rather a nice driver. I think I’d even leave the windshield in and the roof on for the body job. I don’t mind some imperfections here and there, it adds to the character of the car. The engine will be pulled out during the re-spray and taken down and put back together using as much original parts as I can. Wheels repainted and new tires and brakes and only replace what’s bad for the suspension. If the ball joints and tie rods move freely with no play and the boots are good, I’ll leave them be. I’m hoping to just remove the interior, clean every thing and put it back in.
Both doors seem to open and close very nicely. The door gaps look great. The windows also roll up and down perfectly.
It’s funny looking at that Cape Cod brochure, Look at a modern picture of the Cape- so much of the Cape IS now missing!