My first Ghia project

[DaveB9]

Once the body was back from blasting, the welding and panel beating marathon began. These may not be in exact order, but I think Andy started at the front and worked his way round:

[DaveB9]

The fresh air duct front sections were made from scratch. Because I hadn't trial fitted the front end, I decided to have a diagonal recess to avoid the tyre touching. Not stock I know, but better than the previous lump hammer effort!

You can see the finished item here:

The trailing edge of the front driver's side wing front needed some repair, but as the only other rust was a small area by the headlamp bowl, Andy didn't think it was worth using the NOS wing front on this side:

Rudiger Huber only sells pairs of some body panels so I would have had to buy it anyway - ironically this side that I didn't need was the last one he had. If anyone needs one give me a shout.

The bottom of the spare wheel well was next:

[DaveB9]

The photos underplay how much work went into all this. All the pattern parts needed modifying, such as the nostril boxes needing drain slots adding as the originals had.

If you look closely you will see that the shelf for the washer bottle and brake fluid reservoir was not just repaired but modified to take a 1967 only twin chamber brake fluid reservoir (two holes underneath). The metal strap to hold it in place, which was broken anyway, was also replaced with a longer one to suit.

The hole for the breather line from the tank was enlarged slightly by flaring it so a 4AN hose could go through it. The bonnet was on and off many times as the nose was worked to get the shut line better. The spare wheel was tested in place with the bonnet shut before the spare wheel well was welded in fully. It all takes time.

Next up was the heater channels:

[DaveB9]

The sills were built up with the inner convertible strengtheners and on the passenger side the wiring conduit tube, which was made using the original as a guide.

[Rome]

An immensely ambitious project! You are so lucky to find and work with such a metal expert.

A few ideas:
Consider finding a genuine VW parts kit for installing a high beam switch inside the turn signal stalk. I did this for my '64 Ghia Cabrio and it replaces the large foot switch on the front firewall. Euro-market Type 1 may have already been factory-equipped with this switch for the "flash to pass" headlamp feature.

The spare tire floor repair panel should have an oblong hole for water drainage in the longitudinal center groove. Here's a shot of my '64's floor which is original. BTW I moved the '70 style brake fluid reservoir to this location because the body is on a '70 IRS pan which has the dual-circuit master cylinder.

[DaveB9]

Thanks Rome - that is one super solid original spare wheel well! Andy added the drain slot to mine later, after that photo was taken. Another example of repair panels needing adjustment. I was very lucky because he has a completely unwelded Ghia coupe in his garage and we used that as a reference for some things. It is a later model, and a coupe, but it was still really valuable.

I might well see if I can find a dimmer switch for the inidcator stalk - I have one on my UK market '66 Beetle, but I think they came in after '61 as standard fitment. I hadn't thought about not being able to flash the headlights with the floor switch - we use that to say "You can go" at junctions here.

[DaveB9]

My original plan had been to bring the floorpan back home once the body was off so I could work on it, but it made sense to keep it at Andy's so we could keep trial fitting it under the car to make sure the heater channels lined up.

So I made a few trips out there and Andy was good enough to let me use his tools to sort out bits and pieces on the pan.

The replacement pans fitted by the PO were pretty good, but they had beetle seat runners:

Once these were cut out, I welded in some proper Ghia runners. I also made the cross-members out of sheet steel and Andy folded them for me. A big Thank You to Scott Doonan for the measurements for these, which I got from a thread on here:

[DaveB9]

A hole had previously been cut in the side of the centre tunnel, so before this was closed up I used it to help mount seatbelt reinforcement plates (location copied from my Beetle) and a new aluminium fuel line:

A bracket was welded to the frame horn to support the fuel line conection at the back.

[DaveB9]

Once all that was done, the pan went to be blasted. I had to choose between powder-coating and painting it afterwards. In the end I opted for paint. I have had a few things powder-coated before where the coverage wasn't perfect, though I am sure a good powder coater could avoid that. But I also wanted to seam seal the joins between the pan and spine to stop water getting in and that works better after primer but before topcoat. I opted to have the bottoms of the floorpans and bottom of the framehead coated in gravitex stone chip paint before topcoat.

[DaveB9]

All the trial fitting of the pan to the body was completed before the pan was blasted and painted, so once it was dry it came back to my garage to be built up. Rather than hire a trailer for this, Hayden very kindly volunteered to bring a big van to collect it. Then, while Andy continued on the body, I could start my favourite sort of jigsaw puzzle:

[tri356]

Terrific progress and thanks for sharing this journey Dave. One question I have. You say:

"but Andy preferred to make his own. This was to become a running theme! "

I see you mention Rudiger H and Atelier K as the places where you got the replacement panesl from. Was there something "off" with these panels? I will have some work coming up on my cabrio and was considering buying parts from these suppliers. Just curious if there's something to watch out for.

Thanks
Mike

[DaveB9]

Hi tri356 - no, the issues we had were with panels that I didn't or couldn't get from those guys. Rudiger's NOS panels are exactly as he describes them - not cheap by any means, but no-one else can match his stock. The Atelier K panels I used needed a little adjustment here and there - one heater channel was slightly bowed upwards, but they were better metal than the other repro panels and offer early shape panels the big manufacturers don't do.

To be fair, some of the generic repro panels from suppliers like JP Group weren't bad at all. The jacking points and front wing bottoms from them were good. The door skin wasn't close enough to bother with in Andy's view though and on parts like the airboxes, engine bay sides, inner rear wings, rear wheel arches and seal-holding channel in the engine bay, I could get repros but Andy didn't rate them and preferred to make his own.

I could have gone full house on NOS panels from Rudiger and got whole front and rear wings, nose etc etc, but the bill would have been huge! The car wasn't so bad to need that really either. Sure there was rust, but I've seen a lot worse and the dents can all be beaten out in the right hands.

[DaveB9]

Now the structural metal was in, the wing bottoms and rear wheel arches could be repaired. Fronts first:

Then the rears, starting with the inners:

This heater tube had been dented from underneath, but some heat and slide hammering saw it pulled out again:

Andy made up new sections to repair the rear arches, inside:

And outside:

Then the forward parts of the rear wing bottoms could be added:

[Loren]

This build is fantastic! I love the attention to detail and the level of craftsmanship is excellent. Well done!

As for NOS panels, even those can require some work, depending on the year of the panel and the year of the Ghia they will go on. I have also found that some NOS panels are still around for a reason and they have fitment issues. Just because a panel is NOS doesn't mean it will fit like a glove. That being said, there are still a lot of good NOS panels that make a restoration a lot easier, especially with reproduction panels that aren't up to snuff. All in all you just have to do some research and hope for the best. Glad you found a metal wizard to bring your Ghia back to life. Awsome!

[DaveB9]

Then the bottoms of the backs of the rear wings, using the panels from Atelier K, which have the correct shape for the back of the wheel arch for a pre-66 car:

Then it was round to the back and the damaged light area on the passenger side, which had been hit, badly pulled out and had then rusted quite badly. I had bought a cut from a car sinking into a swap for $30 which worked perfectly:

[rbsurfguy]

Hi Dave, great work, I too have enjoyed following your progress. In reference to your fuel line, at the ends where you adapted the AN fittings, did you flare those at 37 degrees? Or something else? I would like to do that to the line at the front of my Ghia where I had to use reducers from my larger fitting electric fuel pump to the hard line through the tunnel, possible winter project.

I just want to make sure I get the proper fitting and flare needed on the line. I still have the stock metal fuel line, I believe it's 4 or 5mm, and just wondering if it's too small or too hard to flare.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Jeff
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1971 Ghia convertible (Body off rebuild)
2019 VW Atlas 4Motion
2012 Passat-Sold


See my build on The Samba at:
Jeff's 71 Vert Restoration/Reassembly http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[DaveB9]

[DaveB9]

[rbsurfguy]

[TRS63]

Fantastic clean work! Thanks for sharing !
Antoine
_________________
Antoine
My 62 ragtop daily driver:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728873
My 914 restoration&lightweight project :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9698432#9698432
Resurrecting a 60 ghia : https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713906
My 52 Standard Zwitter :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10086685#10086685