The resurrection of my 1960 karmann ghia

[Antoine_P]

Hello all,

As I always loved reading build thread, I decided to take the time and document my journey here too.

A bit of background: I am a 30 years old french mechanical engineer living in Germany that felt in love with metal shaping. I always wanted a ghia and was already part of the local club as much as collecting everything I can about this car before getting one.

My first aircooled is a 62 ragtop bug I bought 4 years ago as a barn find and it is now enjoyed every day when there is no salt on the roads.

But back to this topic: I bought in September 2017 a 60 (sept 59) strato blue ghia here on the samba. Originally from Portland, Oregon but I bought it already imported. As the pictures were showing, it was in poor condition (and still is..) but I decided to save it. It will end up as a vintage/oldspeed restored ghia.

Here is a picture from the ad:



And when it came home:













I am of course already much further, and doings as much as I can (I’m a father of a young boy) to finish it for a meeting in june 2021.

I will bring the thread up to the actual stand in the next days, should I detail all the restauration here or just the metalwork?

Antoine

[rewdco]

Bonjour Antoine,

If it's up to me to decide, yes please, show us the whole restoration proces! Always interesting!

Mechanical engineer, working in Stuttgart...? You're not working at Trumpf in Ditzingen are you?

Keep up the good work!

[Fasteddie]

I would like to see it all, if you have time. Love the old VW's.
I think you are allowed to post the whole build. Looks like a big project.

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot guys for your positive reactions! I will then post everything I have but please, if it's too much and you want the focus on metal only, keep me in touch!

@Jan: "sadly" no..working for the automotive industry but my shop is quite close to Ditzingen

So, after its arrival, I did a bit of disassembly and created some reinforcement to "replace" the doors:












And then it was time to build a dolly and take off the body:







Now you can enjoy the view on the terrible fiberglass pan riveted by the previous owner :shock: :evil:





Stay tuned! :wink:

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

As I am firstly just bringing it up to the current status, it might give the feeling that this moves fast but in fact I started on september 2017 and I am not that far. Also bought and moved in my new shop during this time which didn't help with progress.. Normally I am working 4h on it every wednesday and sometimes a couple hours on the weekend.

So, the next update
I first decided to start on the frame, removing the undercoat:




And then preparing to its opening as the fuel line was untight:




Opened!




Then it was time to change all the rusted lines and close it back..




Of course with rust protection!




Closed:




And protected:


Stay tuned

Antoine

[Gojeep]

Great that you are showing the whole project.
Were able to pressure test the fuel lines before closing it all back up?

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot Marcus!
I am trying to do my best on it, doesn't want to do a show car but a (really) nice driver
To answer your question: I replaced the entire fuel line with a new one that I tested. All the tubes that I repaired as seen on the pic are only for cables like gas, clutch, heater,..

So, let's continue the topic

Now that the bottom was ready, time to turn the frame and do the same, clean and primed:




And then I started to adjust the half pan:




Used the future heater channel to adjust:


And then after cleaning/primering the half pan, it was time to weld them:




I also finished to clean/put in primer the back end:






To be continued

Antoine

[Peter Tommasini]

BIIIIGGG job. But so far ...well done
Peter

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot Peter, it really means a lot to me! I will do my best to not disappoint you!
Well, as I am already here, I can also show you some of the parts I already found/bought
I got myself some NOS front fender panels:






The 60 only rear light backplate:






The 60 only nose grill with their 3 screws:




A NOS indicator switch:


And 1 NOS and 1 good used chrom trim for the door, also a 60 only part:






Antoine