The resurrection of my 1960 karmann ghia

[steve.murphy]

Looking good Antoine! Nice workspace too.

[cliffrod]

Very cool- looks good.

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot guys, really appreciated!

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

So, little update

I made some trial adjusting and it looks good:




And with the old air channel that will help to position everything right. Of course in the end I will weld my homemade ones!




But before all the welding I will bring it all to bare metal and in primer :wink:

While playing with the front part,I also decided to save the original bumper bracket:














Stay tuned for more

Antoine

[bill m]

Nice work saving that piece Antoine.

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot Bill!

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

So,in the process of cleaning and preparing to weld my front part, I had to fix a few parts on the way.
Like here on the driver‘s side:


Made a patch:


And welded, grinded, along with few other holes above it:




And the same on the other side:
Before:


During:






And After:


Cheers

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

So, as I was progressing on the front, I continued with cleaning it to bare metal:


[img]https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1929652.jpg[/



The driver‘s side was a bit damaged:


So I put it back to shape:


Also found as usual some rust issues:


Thought I can go with a small patch:


But as usual, it wasn‘t nice after opening:


So I had to open more until there are only surface rust to see:


A new patch including the indent had to be created:


Checking the indent:


Adjusted:


I will be welding it after replacing the rest behind, when I will be replacing the heater channel. In the mean time I progressed on the back of the ghia, stay tuned for more

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

So, I think the next update is really overdue!

As mentioned before, I turned my attention a bit to the back of the car..

My parcel shelf was really rusted:








So I removed it:




Which was the best decision judging the rust that was also hidden under it:






I fixed these issues (all pictures before final grinding):








Then I cleaned/blasted some parts:
Before:


After:


Oh, and because a restoration isn’t only about working on the car but also looking for the right parts and all the history around the car, here the latest arrival:
Guess what it is:


Yes the 60 only gearbox (thanks Mick!) that will be rebuilt:


Speaking of 60 only parts, also received (thanks Lee!) the water bottle and the horns with screw connectors:










Then I got this really rare 60 color chart:






Can’t wait to see those colors:




And I received the awesome decal from Jonas:


Stay tuned for the metal work on the parcel shelf J

Cheers

Antoine

[Antoine_P]

So, next update was about fixing the parcel shelf. I replaced every rusted through or heavily pitted sections. I did not rebuilt it all as it is finally hidden under a carpet so no show car rebuilt here, just being sure this section is solid.

I first started in the middle:








Then a bit further:












Next steps were the corners. Really tricky with the beads, the different curves,.. took me several attempts to get them right, including a lot of test fit on the car, with the rear seat,.. Here in pictures:




























Then the front part:


it was time:


adjusting:




welding:


welded:


the metal string welded on it also needed to be replaced. Made it in 2 parts due to material availability, and of course some welding primer where there are welded together:








Antoine