Karmann Ghia

The car show on the square in Sunbury is always a good time. I meet Mark Richmond and his very nice Karmann Ghia there this fall. This car is beautiful. (my appreciation for German cars working at PAP-Parts has given me) The overall look he tried to achieve was to blend some of the earlier (1956-1965) Ghia amenities with some of the late (1966-1971) improvements. For instance; Earlier Ghia's made more extensive use of fabrics and interior trimmings. As the years progressed the interiors went to mostly vinyl with most of the flooring covered in rubber mats. I thing the fabric and full carpeting make the Ghia look classier. He elected to paint the dash. A 1967 factory Ghia would have had a black vinyl padded dash top with simulated wood dash face. Early model Ghia's had metal dashes. The passenger grab rail in my Ghia is from a 1958 Ghia. The 67 would have used a black plastic handle. There are some many small details that generally go unnoticed to most. Perhaps the most interesting is the VW nose emblem. The badge on mine is from a 1958 model. The early Ghia's used a blue enameled badge regardless of the cars color. The later badges were aluminum. All new rubber seals were installed and the suspension was fitted with Bilstein gas shocks.

He purchased her in 1997 with the intention of doing a " Rolling" Restoration. He said it sort of got out of hand and ended up doing an 8 year full body off restoration.

The original color was Bermuda Blue. It had been painted at some point in the past navy blue. The body was stripped to pare metal and all rust repairs made and repainted By Craig Cline the owner of Clines Autobody and Restorations in Albany Ohio.

His wife Beth picked the paint PPG Arrival Blue Pearl. A GM Color introduced in the 2004 model year.

Re-chroming was done by Advanced Chrome Plating in Chattanooga Tn.

Every detail was looked after as you can see by the trunk.

Interior details include an Repro "Empi" Eliminator shifter with a Karmann Ghia logo'd shift knob. The steering wheel is also a repro "Empi" GT Wood wheel.

The seats were reupholstered by Bill Webner of Der WagenWerks in Elyria Ohio. Mark's wife again chose the colors. White vinyl with navy wool corduroy inserts.

Mark purchased the German Wool Square-weave carpet kit from West coast Classic restorations along with a headliner and installed them himself.

The Engine is a 1641cc from a 1971 VW and features dual 36mm Dellorto Carburetors.

The exhaust is a Stainless Steel reproduction " Okrasa" 4-tip muffler. The engine was rebuilt and detailed by the owner.

Other links about this car:

www.cardomain.com/ride/3091198
www.hemmings.com/users/172872/ride/3217.html

Life is good...