Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi All,

So begins my first restoration journey... Ever since the very first time I saw a Karmann Ghia I have wanted one!! I have waited more than a decade and now have the time and funding to start this Project. I have to add that I am glad I am only now able to start the project, as I would have ruined the Karmann Ghia with my hotheaded visions had I started 5 years ago. I feel what I intend to do might offend some purists, but I have the confidence that it will not do the Karmann Ghia any injustice.

My serious search for a Karmann Ghia to restore started about 2 months ago, and I eventually came across one advertised close enough to me at a fair price. It was advertised as a '58 model for R20 000... After getting hold of the Seller upon his return from holiday, only to find he was contemplating not selling anymore, I had to start looking around again. However I decided to keep bugging the Seller and try to convince him to sell the Karmann Ghia to me. After a few weeks of grovelling and begging we settled on R30 000 (a bit expensive in my opinion, but hey, I was desperate)...



Here she is, as collected upon completion of the sale...

I was quite clear to me the Karmann Ghia was infact not a '58 model, and upon further investigation it became apparent it was a mid to late 60s model. I wouldn't say I was dissapointed as I quite like the non-Lowlight look. The Vin Number indicates it as being a '65 model.

The idea I have however is not going to entail restoring the Karmann Ghia to 100% original condition, but rather a "Something Old, Something New" restoration job. Mostly the original look will remain with as few as possible modifications. As is visible, the suspension is slightly lowered and I quite like the look it has. I will maintain that look, instead of the slightly higher original suspension. Other modifications I have planned will include:

A slightly more modern paintjob, in the sense of using metallic paint (with a hint of classic)
5 Spoke BRM 15" Wheels
Slighlty Modified 1600 TwinPort with Twin Carbs (currently stock 1600TP with Single Carb)

The rest of the Karmann Ghia will be as close to original as possible. Interior will be original. Original Chromework will ALL be there, bumpers, trimming, badging, etc.

Further inspection of the Paintjob indicated 3 Layers of Paint, each with a base coat.

Original colour being Turquoise, after which it was covered in Ferrari Yellow and finally Black. This made for a whopping total of 4 - 5mm of paint covering the metal. All this is being stripped away, should take a few weeks. I will post pictures as I go along.

That looks like a very nice project.

Good luck, and keep us posted with lots and lots of pictures

congrats u must be exited looks in good shape would love to see more pics of it

Very excited indeed. can't wait to drive her around all shiny and new!

I do not have many photos of the Karmann Ghia, but I'll post what I have.



As you can see, the chrome will need some attention as it was painted with silver paint to hide some nasty scratches



The entire dash of the Karmann Ghia was covered in foam and fake leather. What a mess



Nice Pipes!! NOT!!





The stripping has begun, so I'll post some of those at a later stage too.

thanks gsi31099 it looks like a nice project

Some more pics







No Rust

What method did you guys use to baremetal the car?

Paintstripper and eventually onto grinding

The layers of body filler was insane!! Paintstripper just was not going to cut it, and Sandblasting would probably have caused the body to get too hot due to the thickness of the the body filler.



I will post an additional pic or two of the filler that came off which will make it more clearly visible than the picture above.

Wow...what was wrong with the original car....it looked great in black

I also like the black, but with that many layers it was probally chipped and cracked all over? Where do u plan on getting the brm wheels from?

Yeh the black does add a mean look to it, but I am not a big fan of black cars. Other thing was the paintjob had quite a few bubbles all over.

I will be importing a set of BRM's as soon as I start working on the Suspension and Brakes.

The engine is still sound, so that will be the last thing I work on.

While there is no paint, can you see where Karmann joined and lead filled the mud gaurds to the main body? If you can, would you take a pic of that and send it to me, please? Thanks

Good luck, Ron

PS I went to high school at Hendrina...

Ron,

I will try and get the pics you need. Just too make sure: Are you referring to the inside of the wheel arches?



My word, Hendrina is a stone's throw away

Project is on hold. In general I was not impressed with what level of work they intended on doing.