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Vehicle Description
Up for sale here is one 1971 VW Karmann Ghia Convertible. It is a mostly restored car originally from California and I'm offering it with no reserve. This was the the third year of Ghia to be equipped with Independent Rear Suspension and the second to be equipped with the ubiquitous 1600cc dual port powerplant. This was also the last year to be fitted with the 1956 onwards style bumpers.
It has a new 1600cc dual port engine, brand new rear brake cylinders and shoes, brand new master cylinder, brand new weatherstrips (hood, decklid, doors etc.), brand new front window seal and door scrapers, brand new door check straps and window guide rubber, brand new engine compartment seals, brand new hinge covers, brand new transaxle mounts, brand new shift coupler, repainted interior, wheel wells, luggage compartment, transaxle area, gas filler area, muffler area, fuel tank area, spare tire area, door jambs, dash board and engine compartment, good original glass including rear glass window with heating element and no cracked or chipped windows, original seat belts, good to very good chrome on all the parts of the bumpers, velour seats with vinyl inserts, velour door panels, brand new rear floor pan section, brand new front apron, brand new battery, brand new battery ground strap, brand new acid-neutralizing battery mat, brand new coil, rebushed Solex 34 Pict-3 carburetor, new chrome engine tin (I have a chrome 36 horse style fan shroud in good condition I'm throwing in for free to replace the black one), new fuel pump, 38 Amp generator (tested and in full working order) for big stereo system (not included) and new matching 38 Amp voltage regulator, brand new generator brushes, brand new OE German muffler, new heater boxes, brand new clutch disc and pressure plate, brand new clutch throwout bearing, new relays, three new tires with full tread, two slightly used tires with almost full tread, sandblasted wheels sprayed with rust preventative paint, rebuilt front brake calipers, brand new brake caliper seals, new front brake discs, new front brake pads, new brake hose, brand new hood and decklid release cables, new fuel hoses, bullet front turn signals with brand new clear lenses, new front and rear shock absorbers and much, much more.
The first thing you're going to ask me is what's with the front turn signals. The front end is NOT pre-1970. I installed the bullet signals because new fat type lenses cost $150 and the bullet ones are $10 each and still manage to look better. If you want to switch back to fat lenses it's still possible. The next thing you're going to ask me is what does the nose look like from the inside. The nose ridge/contour is intact as you can see in the picture and does NOT appear in any way to have been dented and hammered out. There does appear to have been some welding done on the front end but not near the nose contour. The next thing you are going to ask me is how are the rockers. I'm happy to announce that the rockers and heater channels are in good condition and have been sanded down and fully repainted on all accessable surfaces including the one that bolts to the floor pan. There aren't any holes in the floor pan. A decklid handle with bulbholders and lenses is included. The door hinge pillars are excellent and the inner cover plates look good. I repainted them on both sides. Headlight buckets look good. Rear apron looks good. The inside surfaces of the bumpers have been painted with silver lacquer as original. All hardware is unrusted.
All of the floor pan bolts were unbolted with little effort and were reinstalled without cross-threading. There are one or two bumper bolts though that stripped and the hardware had to be redrilled and tapped for oversize.
The engine is a new Brazilian made 1600cc Dual Port that starts up immediately on the first crank and runs smoothly. It idles well at 900 RPM or lower once warmed up. I compression tested it with the results being 115, 120, 120, and 125 PSI. I also vacuum tested it with the results being 20 inches of mercury at 3000 RPM. No leak down test was performed as I don't have a leak down tester. It currently has a Bosch 009 distributor and a fully cleaned Solex 34 Pict-3 carburetor with new throttle shaft bushings, jets and needle valve. The electric choke and idle cutoff solenoid have been tested and are in full working order. The throttle butterfly has been modified to be compatible with the distributor and I have an extra main jet as well. It's currently running a 130 main jet. At this time the engine has a thin profile oil cooler, fan and fan shroud but I'm throwing in the correct doghouse style cooler and chrome doghouse shroud (both in good condition) for free. The doghouse exhaust tin and fan I was going to use with them were thrown out by my landlord at the time along with the carpet for the luggage compartment. Sorry about that. The engine does not have a warranty. I took the bottom tin off to photograph the numbers (see picture) and then reinstalled the tin. I originally had dual carbs on the engine and an original air filter wasn’t necessary but I had a loan to pay off so I had to sell the dual carbs and replaced them with the 34 Pict-3 and the chrome air filter shown. The starter works well. The engine itself has somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 miles and these engines are usually good for 100,000 miles when properly maintained.
The brakes have been tested with the car up on jackstands and all of them passed the test. The brakes and e-brake appear to work OK on my driveway. However this is the one thing where I must insist that the buyer take it to the shop and have it looked over. I can't guarantee all the work I did on the brakes and I can't sell the car to you unless we both agree that you need to have this particular system professionally checked out even though they work. The brake fluid hasn't been changed in a couple years and you could have them change it and bleed the brake system and also have them fully test it out at the same time. I have a receipt for all the brake components somewhere so you could show it to the shop so they don’t replace the parts and charge you for them. The rear brake drums are the only part of the brake system that should need replacing in the not too distant future. They are on the thin side.
The transaxle appears to be ok and when asked the previous owner stated that there were no problems with it popping out of gear etc. I haven't had it pop out of gear but I've only had a chance to drive it as fast as 3rd gear without downshifting it. I don't know the mileage on the transaxle because the odometer may have rolled over. It appears to be the original transaxle. The odometer reads 31,687.8 miles.
All lights except for the interior one were working when last tested and if there are any of them not working when you pick up the car I will get them working for you. All four tires hold air well. The spare tire doesn’t hold air so well. I can offer a valve core replacement though I’m not sure how much it’d help. The windshield wipers work at both speeds.
Now for the parts I'm not so proud of. The fit of the convertible top is poor and can be difficult to close. I added some shims to the shock towers prior to paint to improve it but it seems like more need to be added or the top adjusted. The two corners of the top cover have tears as pictured. My wrists are totally thrashed and in need of surgery so unfortunately I'm incapable of adding shims or doing any other hard physical work at this time. There are some rust bubbles on the passenger's side corner of where the hood closes. The entire seal area was stripped down to bare metal before primer and paint, apparently this just wasn't a good place to put body filler as it seems to be a place where water tends to drain. The same thing goes for the bottom of the decklid and there are a few rust bubbles there too. I'm including pictures of the bubbles near the hood, on the decklid and some much smaller mystery bubbles on the doors in the pages of my photobucket gallery, the URL is http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d97/tstracy39/ The car was sanded down to the factory paint in most places and down to bare metal in others before repainting and any rust I found at the time was ground off.The carpet for the the back of the rear seat and luggage compartment was thrown away by my landlord along with the fan and exhaust tin for the doghouse cooler in a cardboard box and I wasn't able to find a replacement. The remaining carpet is in good condition as is the velour. Vinyl overall is fair. Vinyl rear seat is good. Vinyl headliner is good. No radio. The car currently has only a gallon or so of gas in it so if you're driving it home you'll probably have to fill it up if I don’t add gas before then. I bought a car once that turned gage out to be running on fumes and it wasn’t fun when it ran out completely so I’m just making sure you know. The fuel gauge is intermittent however I repaired and tested the sender so I’m guessing it’s from the fuel being low. I was installing some carpet one day and left a stick of hot glue on the vinyl part of a front seat and a few more on the carpet on one of the rear footwells and the temperature rose to 110 degrees that day and melted them and I wasn’t able to get it all off though I did paint over what I couldn’t get off with vinyl fabric paint. The red vinyl you see was sprayed, it's slightly tacky but dry. There’s a place in the engine compartment where I filled a dent and the filler cracked. I replaced a CV joint boot because it split and re-used the circlip for the axle. I later read that you're not supposed to re-use circlips so it would be a good idea to install a new circlip at some point. I’m pretty sure that’s about it.
Now for the part you're not going to like. I'm not interested in assisting in having it shipped beyond giving directions and the key to the shipping crew if necessary when they come to pick it up. If I assist you beyond that it's likely I'll end up spending a full day or more on it, for which I won't be reimbursed. I will NOT forward funds to a shipper. Buyer must pay the price specified by ebay, NO MORE, no less. Arranging shipping will be 100% responsibility of the buyer.
If you're having the car shipped you can only leave it here for a maximum of three weeks after the sale. My place is safe but if you fail to pick it up in that time my landlord will either file a storage lien or have it towed to the impound lot where they'll file a lien of their own and get a title for the car 30 days after seizure. If you claim it within 30 days after seizure you have to pay them their storage bill which won't be cheap and you run the risk of them trying to sell it w/o a title. Not to mention getting parts stolen off of it or other damages incurred at the impound lot after seizure. People have lost cars in such a situation I'm totally not kidding about that one. So please get the car from me within 3 weeks. Please don’t ask me for a shipping quote, you’ll have to look into that yourself.
If you live far away and want to drive it from here I wouldn't discourage it but because I haven't been able to thoroughly test the transaxle and CV joints I would recommend towing or at least signing up for AAA. The engine itself has been thoroughly tested and shouldn't have any problems making the trip. Insurance and a trip permit will be the buyer's responsibility. A tow bar can be purchased at a nearby shop or you can rent a dolly from U-Haul if you’re towing it. Oh and I would want you to put a different type of oil in the Ghia if you’re driving it in high temperatures, the oil that's in it right now is for winter driving. If you want to install the doghouse cooler and shroud before you drive the Ghia out I can give you directions to the shop where you can buy the fan, exhaust tin and oil cooler seals and loan you my tool set plus give you a place to do the job but only if you're confident you can finish it in a day.
When you win the auction I require that a $400.00 deposit be sent within 48 hours with the balance being due upon pickup. I take paypal or a Post Office money order for the deposit and cash or money orders for the balance. Only the few extra parts described here come with the car. The beetle in the background doesn't belong to me so it's not possible to canniballize it to provide the buyer with spares.
I will honor requests to send additional pictures of any part of the car that can be photographed w/o taking it apart. Ebay has a 24 pic maximum so any additional pictures will be posted to the photobucket account already linked. Some questions that may be of value may be posted along with my answers unless you'd rather I didn't. I'm open to viewings and test rides any time. This is a legit car and the ownership can be traced all the way back. I have a clear title and all the numbers match. The title is in a safe that only I have the key to. The buyer will be paying the fees required to get the title transferred to them. The car has two body tags, one in the luggage compartment and the other in the passenger's door jamb and both match the number on the frame. My feedback speaks for itself.
I've given an honest appraisal of the vehicle however it's always possible there's something I missed so I recommend that one check out the vehicle in person first. The paint looks good however it's not perfect and I don't know what kind of little tiny flaw might be an issue to someone so it's a good idea to come look at it firsthand. I'm a private seller and not a used car dealer so there's no warranties I can offer on my car which I'm selling as is.
If you wish to talk to me on the phone please request my phone number and I'll send it to you as soon as possible. I’m the only one who uses the phone number. Call me and I will answer. Serious only please. IF YOU DON"T HAVE A WAY OF PAYING FOR THIS VEHICLE DO NOT BID. Any payment in excess if $400 needs to either be sent through certified mail so it doesn't leave the system till it's safe with me, or given in person. My paypal account is secure but a paypal account isn't as safe as certified mail. Once payment is determined to be valid the car can be switched over and you can have the title. If there's anyone in my local area or close that's interested in having a Buy It Now option added, contact me. My name is Tim
On Jul-23-08 at 00:46:21 PDT, seller added the following information:
Everyone please look at all the photos available including the first 2 pages at http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d97/tstracy39/ if you decide to bid. I'm requesting for my reference that everyone contact me with the place they'll be bringing the Ghia to if they should win the auction. Contact me for any questions about the Ghia. Thanks for looking
On Jul-27-08 at 20:36:50 PDT, seller added the following information:
Five extra pictures of the Ghia have been added to the photobucket gallery. Anyone bidding on the car in the next twenty-four hours who I haven't talked to yet that gets a high bid needs to tell me where they're planning on bringing the Ghia in case they win the auction. This is as much to make sure that there isn't some 10 year old kid placing bids on my car as it is to make sure it'll be possible for you to register a left hand drive 71 Karmann Ghia where you are. Anyone planning to place a bid within an hour of the end of the auction needs to provide me with this information too and in a timely manner prior to placing a bid. I will be online at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM Pacific time tomorrow to answer any questions. If there are any bidders that can't comply with the terms of the auction their bids may get cancelled
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