My 1974 Karmann Ghia

This is my 1974 Ghia. It was a hunk of junk when I first purchased it. Five years later after taking it compleatly apart it's now my favorite toy. 87mm pistons too. The gauges on the dash are VDO, but I purchased three "BUS" fuel gauges from junkyards. I removed the chromes rings and installed them on the new VDOs. Now they match the originals on the dash.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Karmann
• Ghia
• convertable
• VW
• volkswagen
• air
• cooled
• restored
• sports
• car
• veedub

[Randreash]

And the window washer was powered by the air in the spare tire.

[Randreash]

Danke.

[Randreash]

Danke!

[dkulawik]

Randreash -- Beautiful work. I'm looking at buying a 1974 Karmann Ghia that's actually in pretty good shape (relative to yours). I'm wondering about the possibility of retrofitting the car with AC. Do you happen to know if it's possible. I can't find definitive information on the topic. I'm guessing you'd know.

[Randreash]

Hi dkulawik. There were dealer installed AC systems available for most VW air cooled models. I had an AC system for my Ghia, but finding the missing parts is impossible. So i sold what I had. You would try as I did to put an ac system in the car. All I can say is good luck finding the parts. But when i was re-building this car there was not internet. You just may find an AC system out there. One thing is for sure, it will not be cheap. : )

[TheStarbull]

Oh I forgot. The flip up back seat was so small that the only way two people could ride back there was if they were in love. And if they weren't they would be by the time they got where they were going!

[TheStarbull]

I owned one of these back in the day and I loved it! This car had so many quirky features that I will never forget it. There was nowhere to put your left foot when driving it due to the wheelwell protrusion. The heater didn't start working until ten minutes before frostbite got your toes. The defroster only cleared about a four inch circle in front of you that you had to lean forward to peek through.  All the doors and lids froze shut in the winter. I still loved it.

[henriquezanicotti]

check out my fathers ghia at my account!

Nice Car!

[Annihilator1111]

the Germany 1955–1974 Brazil 1962-1975 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia was assembled in

Osnabrück, Germany

São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

[Tryvaltor]

Gorgeous Ghia! Your story reminds me of my Super Beetle. Back in 2001, it was in an extremely sorry state. It had no rear bumper, the tailpipes were rusted through, the rims were rusting and one fender was painted black (the original color is Sumatra Green) The previous owner restored it had it re-painted the original color, put new rims (from a Porsche 914) on it, and now the car looks flawless. He did a number of other things to the car as well. I just purchased it last year and I love it.

[dogshock1]

OMG my first car... to the tee. year, color and all and the numbers were late off the line in Germany..... graduated in 76 and bought this car in 78... drove the damn thing from Cleveland to Pa to Florida to Michigan and then back to Michigan. sadly i used it to run fire wall trails in Northern Michigan and sold it for 100 bucks to someone who wanted to restore it. Bet if i looked hard enough i could find Px of it even in Canada. Damn I was a dumb kid.

Beautiful restoration...love to see it.

[greyone308]

great work.....

[Vikingdescendent]

Beautiful. What a great car. 

[CrashBurn24]

Gorgeous! I just bought a '70 basket case,(near Pittsburgh!) and have a long road ahead to get it to your car's level. Thanks for showing your Ghia!