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| Member |
Was loaned one to get some parts for my 68Torino back in the late 60's. Interesting trying to fit into it and drive it. I am 6'-5" and weighed about 265# then. Size 14 shoes. More of a smaller person car! Jim | |||
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Not really from Vienna |
I owned an unrestored convertible 1971 model for about 20 years starting in 81 or 82. It was my good car. I also had a ‘66 beetle for bad weather, and a ‘59 Chevy Apache 3200 for fishing trips and hauling junk and stuff. Then I got married to a woman who doesn’t like “fumes”. The Ghias made after around ‘71 had bigger, uglier bumpers than the older ones. And none of the bumpers much protected the nose of a Ghia. As stated earlier, the Ghia was pretty much a beetle chassis with an Italian designed body on it. Sold mine to a friend who basically ruined it by having it “fixed” and repainted a different color by a Jakeleg outfit, after he wrecked it. | |||
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Delusions of Adequacy |
wanted one... closest I got was a VW 411.  I have my own style of humor. I call it Snarkasm. | |||
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Member |
I still have a '69 KG. I started restoring it, did the interior first. My immediate environment was more important than other people's perception of it. I say first but I had rebuilt the engine a couple times over the years. I only dealt with VW guru Gene Berg's parts and info. On paper maybe about 105 HP, sounded good and surprised more than a few riding my bumper on a freeway entrance ramp. I'd walk past one every day going to class at college. One day I realized it should have been a WWII fighter plane, Spitfire, ME109 or something and I had to have one. Got one, friend's dad had a body shop, we spent a summer redoing the body. A semi backed into it, days before the new paint had allegedly cured. Drove it dented until my own fender bender classified it as totaled. Got the one I have now in the late 80's. Gave up on the restoration when leaded gas ended, the carbed engine needed lead to keep the valves alive and another engine rebuilt w/ fuel injection went to the back burner. I'll never finish this car unless I win the lottery. Such a shame, I don't think any car of that era looks better. Even in it's sad state now I can stare at it and feel the love. Of course no AC in the summer, and in winter, stuck in the rush hour, only the outside of your left foot will be warm so there's that. Set the controls for the heart of the Sun. | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
It does not need a lot of lead in the gas. Our Little Airport has a self-serve pump. Many people drive up and fill one or two five-gallon cans with 100LL -- that's 100 Octane Low Lead -- aviation fuel. One gallon of this stuff in a tank full of gas station unleaded should do the trick for you. I'm not familiar with your area but I'll bet that there's a small rural airport with a self-service pump somewhere near you. In it's "native" form, the blower for the luke-warm air from the heater was proportional to engine RPM. There was an auxiliary electric blower that as available as an option, or as a third-party add-on. These helped quite a bit. You should be able to find one of these in one of the mail-order places that specialize in older VW stuff. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Conveniently located directly above the center of the Earth  |
another plus to the Ghia: it was the ONLY VW I ever had, that at idle in the drive way warming up, was actually capable of defrosting the entire windshield. **************~~~~~~~~~~ "I've been on this rock too long to bother with these liars any more." ~SIGforum advisor~ "When the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change, then change will come."~~sigmonkey | |||
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| Member |
Are you the member who was talking about or did just buy a 20ish year old black mercedes sedan? Just curious. | |||
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Hop head  |
always liked them, but never owned one, or know anyone who did, all the ones for sale thru a couple VW shops that used to be in this area were heavily modified and too much $$ or rusted out and too much $$$ re the comment on page one about the lancia, friend traded a badly running Triumph GT6 for a Lancia Beta, when it ran, it was a fantastic car, unfortunately, it did not run long,, she traded it on a mid 70's Honda Civic, or CVCC whatever they called it, https://chandlersfirearms.com/chesterfield-armament/ | |||
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goodheart |
I actually looked at a Lancia, I think an Aurelia, before buying a used Beetle. It had the first production V-6 engine, which sounded really sweet. If my Fiat took all my money, imagine what the Lancia would have done. _________________________ “Remember, remember the fifth of November!" | |||
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| Member |
Karman Ghia: It will float! Don't ask me how I know. I believe the KG motor had more HP than the stock Bug had. Pan rot is real. If it should come with the accessory gasoline cabin heater, learn the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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Raptorman |
I repaired them for a living back in the '80s to put myself through college. Everything about them was stock VW, but the body which was manufactured in the Karmann conversion factory, where all convertibles were done. They used ready to go running gear and just dropped the hand rolled, one piece bodies onto them. The rest of the cars were beetle parts, from the instruments, switches/knobs, electrical, door handles, door inserts and seats. Before 1966 will have link pin front suspension and drum brakes and after will have the more reliable ball joints and disc brakes off the Type 3. The engines went from 1200cc, 1300cc, 1500cc to 1600cc. After 1967, it will have CV joint rear axles and a 12v electrical system. Also, when working on the engines, 6v systems have a 180mm flywheel and 12v has a 200mm flywheel. Starters are not interchangable. However, a 6v flywheel WILL fit in a 12v tranxale, but not vise versa. You can REALLY spin up an engine starting it with a 6v starter on A 12v system. They make heads with hard valves and seats for unleaded fuel. They are dual intake port 041 heads. Dual intake systems were common after 1973. Body rust/rot is extremely common as they never dipped the bodies back then, only applied primer and the dip applied to the beetles was ineffective to salt. I have built these engines by the gross and restored more than I care to count. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| Raptorman |
That was only the Type 4. The Porsche engine cars. 411/412 and 1900cc Bus. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| Conveniently located directly above the center of the Earth |
I had a 56 oval window Beetle that came with what I was told a factory-installed gas heater. Mine was mounted in the front-boot area, with exhaust pipe exiting under right front fender. We were all too young & stupid to recognize potential hazards, but did marvel in it's efficiency and seeming reliability. Never had any monoxide issues with it, in spite of learning quickly how to make it backfire and belch voluminous black clouds at convenient times for mirth & entertainment. **************~~~~~~~~~~ "I've been on this rock too long to bother with these liars any more." ~SIGforum advisor~ "When the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change, then change will come."~~sigmonkey | |||
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Seeker of Clarity |
That's me! My 98 e430 is pretty well squared away now. New shocks, flex disc, tires and alignment. Engine oil and filter. Brake fluid flush. A few odds and ends plastic and rubber parts. Air filter and two cabin air filters and two carbon air filters. And a wiper blade. Yep! Only one!  . Still have to do the tranny fluid change with filter. And maybe next year flush the coolant and do the rear diff fluid.It's a great car. Not sure how long I'll keep it as it's seemingly more of a highway cruiser (ok, Autobahn) than a round-the-town car.  | |||
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| Seeker of Clarity |
WOW! I know who to call now if I end up with this one!!! So the question is, would you buy one today? Naaa, not at today's prices I'm sure, as you've been there done that. But should I? Are they that fun? I think the style and passion will be the fun part. Unlikely the handling or power. If I can run it on normal gas (plus additives is ok). | |||
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| Member |
About the time I gave up on it, I was shopping auxiliary blowers. More importantly, I really wanted to go fuel injection. I was at the point I felt the engine case had lived it's life. Finding a case I could trust became increasingly a problem. The thing about VW's, particularly then, there were a million sources for parts but so many were nothing you'd want if you expected the car to live. As mentioned, other priorities replaced the KG. I don't know if anyone ever dealt with Gene Berg, he was the best source of VW parts and info going. I'd call with questions, if Gene answered, I'd be trembling. "Are you an engineer?!" After enough calls over the years, if I didn't get Gene on the other end, I was disappointed. He always pointed me straight. Getting a VW running was a piece of cake, adding performance just as easy but keeping it alive took more attention than many realized. There was a time if a car was dead at the side of the road, it probably was a modded VW. Set the controls for the heart of the Sun. | |||
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| Raptorman |
I used Gene Berg cranks, cams, followers, flywheels, rods, billet piston/cylinder sets for performance engines. The Mexican solid aluminum blocks set up for 1600fi were the best. 041 heads fly cut to fit the larger cylinders. VW used a shitty magnesium/aluminum blend that would beat out the mains. I never built one over 1900cc, but you could shoehorn a 2100cc into the block. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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Spectemur Agendo |
I had a '71 with surprisingly little rust. It was fun to drive, but I didn't have the time or money to invest in maintaining it then. If I wanted a project car now just for the heck of it I would consider one again. SIGforum's triple minority "It can't rain all the time." - Eric Draven | |||
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| Member |
Friend of my dad has had a convertible one for ~50 years. Always garaged at night for at least 40 of those years but was his daily commuter most his entire career he’s 70ish and retired now. He was a bit anal about the car and it was a California car since day one never had an issue that I’m aware of. | |||
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| Member |
Body rust was the main issue on the KG. So was front end body damage done by idiots in a parking lot. A dual port 1600CC motor would get the KG up on it's feet. One fellow I worked with at Reinhart VW in Miami put a Corvair motor in his KG. Another co worker put a Porsche Super 90 motor in his '63 Beetle. With four of drinking beer and zooming along at 90MPH on the Tamiami trail, I must say was lot's of fun. I'm only 5'10" but I had a hell of a time getting in and out of a KG. IMO, it was a small persons car. ********* "Some people are alive today because it's against the law to kill them". | |||
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