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FJCamper wrote:Hi Carl,

Impressive and skillful work. Expensive as well, I'd imagine. But now you have a solid Ghia, and one that gets more valuable by the year.

You've really saved one, Carl. Thanks.

FJC

The friend doing the welding is definitely skillful, I'm so pleased I didn't attempt it ! As for the cost, this has been kept down by him making some parts rather than buying some of the expensive repair panels and just using bits of them. I made the choice to start from scratch with a cheaper car so I could build on a solid foundation, rather than buy something that looked more shiny and complete and risk it being rotten underneath. Good Ghias in the UK go for many times more than I paid for mine in it's un-restored state.

Went to see the car tonight, the nearside heater channel is now on, as well as the repairs to the pan. even though it's in pieces, it looks better than when I dropped it off (if that makes sense!)

Quick update, got this photo through last night, the passenger side has been transformed from the picture in the previous post to this... including a new door bottom skin plus bottom inner frame

Update for this week:

The rear popout windows were hiding some nasty rot under the seals so these have been cut out and new pieces crafted and welded into place





I was a bit worried about this repair as you can't buy a repair panel for here but the results are some real nice metalwork






On to the boot, which for those of you who have restored a Ghia before will know you can't get a repair panel (at least not that I've found in the UK)

The old rusty section cut out:


inner frame ground and prepped


New section fabricated... (I've no idea how he does this, I dread to think what it would look like if I tried)



Fitted





With the boot rubbers fitted and a quick skim of filler and you'd never know

Final push on the Ghia welding this week sorting out the front of the car. The spare wheel well was rotten plus some of the bottom of the front wings, including some of the sides of the wheel well needed fabricating. As with the rest of the car this didn't seem to phase the guy doing the welding !







Repairing the wheel well







From the inside


And the end result, one very solid 1969 Karmann Ghia

Hi Carl4x4,

Wow, your welder is good.

FJC

Been a while since I've updated this thread but here's how the Ghia is coming along, New set of clothes in the old 60's VW colour Anthracite grey:
Amazed how different the colour looks in different lights/shade:









Now with a windscreen for the first time since I've had the car !






On it's way home (desperately need to sort out the wheels now !)

Hi Carl4x4,

What you've done is overwhelming.

Do you have a shelf large enough to set it on, as is? Surely you're not going to set it free on the road?

FJC

It certainly is looking a bit shiny isn't it !
It's had 2 pack water based paint with a clear lacquer over the top. As in what modem cars now get from new. I'm told it should be a lot tougher than the old paint

Got to fit it all back together now !

Been a while since I've updated here, lots of progress I have still been lurking on the forum as it's a great source of wisdom !

New dash design and Porsche 914 instruments fitted


Fitted the Red9Design front end (bit of a saga but I think we have got there in the end!)









Yesterday we had a big push and went from this;


to this...


Although it's not all wired & plumbed in yet, quite pleased with the progress

This is what the outside looks like now


Lots still to do with plumbing, wiring, glass and the interior but it's more looking like a real car now.

the dash looks very smart, as if it was meant to be.

Well...?? dont leave us hanging...!!

What's the story with the Red9design front end? did it go on ok ? or can you offer some advice based on experience. I have it on my wishlist for a similar build.

by the way, you will love the sound of the vintage speed exhaust, or is it one of turbo thomas's pieces?

Wow! Very nice work ..

Forgot to update this thread, here she is on the road last summer











Managed to get to a local VW show where she won on her first outing plus a fair bit of driving to places like the Goodwood Revival, Ace cafe, and a few country drives. Also managed one sprint in October where the carbs started misbehaving (again)

This year's work is to move to fuel injection with the help of kit from the speedshop uk. So I expect I will be back on Shoptalkforums scouring for EFI resources soon

Great work! I really love that color.