Hello from a newbie....

[thmpptrck]

Suppose i should say hi,

HELLO....newbie to the forum and club,

My name is Patrick and with my partner Sam we are the proud owners of a 72 Ghia...
I have been a big VW fan for a few years owning many beetles campers etc. I currently own a 76 Devon camper, and sam has a 72 beetle, i also had up until recently a 64 Eagle RV buggy based on a beetle chassis. (Sold to pay for the ghia resto)

O.k been a massive admirer of the ghia for many years, however the usual children and cost has prevented me for owning one! So when trawing the free adds on Volkszone was amazed to see Karmann ghia free to good home pop up!
Of course i had to have a think about it as it was miles away cost for transportation, logistics etc etc etc.. so about 2 seconds later said yes please..! i promptly emailed the owner with my details and requested he called me!

About an hour passed and i received a call from a nice chap called Chris saying it was his car and started talking about it. it appears he bought it in the late 80s from a guy who had repaired the car after a bad accident he used the car for 6 month b4 putting it in the garage for the following 10 years while he intended to repair. at this point it was removed from the garage and put on the drive for a further 9 years!
At this point he had decided that it would never get repair and that it had got too much for him and that it needed to go but he wanted it to go to a good home where he would be assured it would be put back on the road!

I said it was my dream to own one and assured him that it would be very well cared for and looked after as restoing cars was my hobby and that it would be back on the road as soon as possible, he was happy and said patrick i would like for you and your family to have the car!

Excitement was an understatment! I asked if there was anything that i could give him for the car and he refused saying all i want is a good home...
We ended the conversation and i then had to arrange collection the car as i was in notts the car was in london.. at this point a good friend came to my rescue, Andy or big nut to his friends aggreed to collect the car for me the following week as he was working in london...and the following tuesday the car appeared outside my house....(im still smiling that was 4 weeks ago!).

I have since sent a basket of wine down to Chris and family for his car as a thank you!

Now with all cars that have been stood for as many years there are problems! firstly locks seised! engine??? body and structure..

Well locks easy sorted bit of wd40 AND A FIRM SMACK all sorted,
Engine was in a state the years had taken its toll..but it did turn and was not seised! so trip to GSF new plugs, leads, dissy cap, rotor and points and some fresh fuel....she turned fired stalled....tried again same problem...so following day stripped the carb to find it was full of treacle as was tank and lines (20yr old petrol tastes bad!)..odear..so tank came out and was flushed..(House still smells Sam loves me) lines blown through, and carb stripped cleaned and new carb kit fitted....fresh fuel...bang she came to life!
and sounds really good...

since i have been compiling spares as although she is complete and inside in great shape the exteriour is lets say in need of tlc.
although other than channels and sill is very soild!
work will start soon as we are in the middle of a house move and i will get some pics up to show progress, as an ex welder fabricator i do all my own work and im good (not blowing any trumpets). Then hopefully down to my friend simon at The VW Factory for some fresh Paint.

So thank you for the exceptance to the club, i spoke to a few of you guys at stanford and look forward to meeting more of you soon.

All the best

Patrick and Sam...

Some pics here:
http://www.volkstorque.co.uk/vt/readers-restos/53147-ghia.html

[mez]

HELLO and Welcome
Woooow
You lucky thing!!! I’m so jealous
Still … that’s a lot of work to do, Mine was looked like that a few years a go too. But you will I’m sure get her running and looking beautiful again. Show us some pics as you go along.

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[orwullie]

good luck with all that.