KG Daily Driver?

[mikeadams]

Curious as to how many Ghia owners driver theirs daily... I've had AC V-dubs for the last 20 years and the last time I was daily driving a bug I swore I would never do it again... but I would like to think I'm a little wiser now..

Most the stuff I have owned has allways been offroad based. I'm sick of the Hyundai I'm driving now and a Ghia looks like a good time...

[helowrench]

I have been DD my stock 1600dp 71 for ten years now

[mikeadams]

I have been DD my stock 1600dp 71 for ten years now

What mileage do you get? Do you garage it overnight?

Reason I ask is it sometimes freezes where I live and cold starts would be a pain when it's really cold out. Well... cold for the outskirts of San Diego lol...

[trbugman]

I bought mine a year ago to be my daily driver.
You just have to go through everything with a fine tooth comb to fix previous owners interesting or lack of maintenance skills.
You just have to remember that they require a lot more maintenance than your Hyundai or any other modern vehicle.

Mine is parked outside and I had the driver windshield wiper freeze to the window and it still started first turn of the key.
My mileage sucks because I hardly ever get off the choke, 16-18 city but have gotten 30 on the highway.

[mikeadams]

I bought mine a year ago to be my daily driver.
You just have to go through everything with a fine tooth comb to fix previous owners interesting or lack of maintenance skills.
You just have to remember that they require a lot more maintenance than your Hyundai or any other modern vehicle.

Mine is parked outside and I had the driver windshield wiper freeze to the window and it still started first turn of the key.
My mileage sucks because I hardly ever get off the choke, 16-18 city but have gotten 30 on the highway.

So besides the oil change and valve adjustment every 3000 miles what else do you need to maintain? My last bug I DD'd every maintanence item turned into an "upgrade" and I ended up spending too much on it to justify keeping it.

[helowrench]

It stays outside as I do not have enough garage space for everything else.
Dallas drops to the teens a few times every year, no problem with it starting.
I have the choke disabled, so it is rough for a few minutes, but then good.

Regular 3k mi maintenance is as follows;
Adjust valves, timing, carb, rear brakes.
Change oil

I do have a deep sump (+1.5qt) and a transistorized ignition, so criticality of the oil change is diminished, and points last ~50 k mi.

[helowrench]

The biggest gripe about driving it is that the heater hoses have deteriorated along with the door seals, and so interior temps wont go more than 25° above outside air temps, an dthat I never got the dealer installed ac working again.

[mikeadams]

Thanks for the info guys... I'm still kicking the idea around. How much more fun is a dd Ghia over a dd bug? If I had money, a mendeola 5 speed with a type 4 would be so much fun in a kg. I was looking at that one guys thread that is doing a Suby conversion... Money!

[helowrench]

901 5 speed (learn a new shift pattern) would be cheaper.

Love driving it, except the lack of freeway speeds capability.
(Around here that means 80mph+)

Caster shims are usually added for a little more stability.

[rustybusjef]

I have been driving a 1971 ghia and a '71 bus here in so cal for about 13 years .Befor that I was in the Seattle area with a '73 bus and a '78 rabbit . Every now and then I yearn for a/c or a heater but otherwise i realy enjoy old vws as daily drivers .

[mikeadams]

901 5 speed (learn a new shift pattern) would be cheaper.

Love driving it, except the lack of freeway speeds capability.
(Around here that means 80mph+)

Caster shims are usually added for a little more stability.

The freeway speeds are defineatley a problem. The last dd bug I had was wrapped out so tight every time I got on the freeway..