'69 Ghia

[bren]

Back on 03/25/15 I bought two 1969 Karmann Ghia's from an estate.

I bought this one to keep:


I bought this one to flip. Came with a motor that was not in the car. Got that running on a stand and installed in the car. Had some nice 165's mounted on stock style rims. Fixed some wiring issues and got it running and driving. Sold it to a guy in New York. He never came to look at it. Many photos shared and a few conversations and he wired me payment and sent a carrier to pick it up. The sale of this car funded the purchase of the Blue car!


There was a bit if a fiasco with the titles.
Got the title for the Green car, that the attorney thought was for the Blue car. Turns out the plate for the green car was used on the blue car.
It took a LONG time for the attorney to get the title for the Blue car. She had to track down the original seller in Oregon to get a replacement title.
Was a extremely frustrating process. Was clearly not the attorneys highest priority to get this sorted out. In the end it was worth the wait.

[clintonddk]

Nice, I love ghias.

[bren]

Thanks!

I spent a bunch of time trying to decide what rims to use. I had two sets of Riviera rims. Turned out only the one set would clear the front calipers.
So, this is my 'street' combination:

[gokart]

I like 4 spoke BRMs on ghias. Just my opinion.

Love the Ghia. '69 is the Best year.

[81pumagtc]

I LIKE it! Hubba hubba!

(Love the color too!}


Dave Riedle

[MadMike]

Hey Bren,Were those mine? if so I should of kept them (rofl)JK

[bren]

Nope, the ones I got from you did not clear.
I am surprised how many versions of the Rivera I found.

[bren]

Took the car in for an alignment once I got the title. Needed tie rod ends and ball joints. Got that done and had it re-aligned. Right side was leaning out at the top both front and rear. I bought a stock spindle and that helped he front a bunch. At Rudy's suggestion I took the car to a frame shop to have the rear trailing arm straightened. They did the best the could but it still needed more. I gave up and bought used ones. Got all new bearings and seals from Towns End Auto Parts and rebuilt the arms.



During this time I updated the seats, shifter, and steering wheel.
I bought SCAT ProCar seats. Bit of a pain to get them low enough in the car. Drivers bracket had to go back to them for re-work. They center the seat on the steering wheel. VW did not. As a result, the seat could not go low enough. It is much better now. Got the Vintage Speed shifter as I like the stock look. Wanted a smaller steering wheel to make getting in and out easier. Got a MOMO Prototipo wheel; often used in Porsches. Not the greatest photo....



I am going to put the 2109 engine from the bus in here. Pulled the stock engine. Jerry helped me with the engine bay. Removed air cleaner bracket and battery bracket. Sand blasted it all clean and painted it.




Decided I really like the look of the original radio that came with the car. It was not working well so I sent it out for repair. Seems to work well now.



In order to clean up the engine bay I want to move the battery under the rear seat like a beetle. I did a bunch of research and came up with this battery and box for mounting.



I spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what exhaust to get. I really wanted it to all fit under the car. I also wanted heat.
(I drove the car to US131 for a test and tune one night. Was cold on the way home. That heat was really nice! Was not willing to give that up with the new set up.)
I called Tiger at A-1 and he actually had this on the shelf. Had it in my living room within a week. And, it was much cheaper buying direct rather than through distributors. It looks really well made. Can't wait to get it installed!

[81pumagtc]

Looks fabulous Bren...

Gona be a real looker!


Dave

[bren]

09/07/15 Rudy and I participated in the Furrin Group Autocross at Grattan.
This was my first autocross ever.

[gokart]

That's cool. I've never autocrossed in the rain. What engine were you running?

How does that shifter compare to a Hurst?

[bren]

It was a stock 1500 single port.
I like the shifter. It is short throw like a Hurst. To go to reverse you pull the shifter up which is a little odd. It is a nice tight shifter.

[bren]

Test fit the tins and exhaust before paint....