Picked up a '71 Karmann Ghia with a 1900cc motor
 

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I've never owned an air-cooled VW before. I grew up with in a household VW Thing and I've wanted one in recent years, even if I hated it as a child. A friend found this Ghia on Craigslist and sold it to me. It's rust free and the motor is brand new and feels to be about 80 horsepower as it moves quite well for what it is. I'm learning how different these are than our Porsches, a lot different than I expected.

My Lotus seems to be stuck in a year-long process of restoration and I'm getting soured on it, wanting something simpler with easier access to parts, but similarly nimble and the VW fits the bill given 356s have hit a stratosphere I'm not willing to spend.

I'm taking a crash course in what I need to know and thankfully there are an abundance of resources. I'm also happy that I can now share the same oil I keep on the shelf for the 911. I was shocked to find out they only take 2.5 quarts and they don't have oil filters, a simple design indeed.

Anyway, I figure many of you have owned or own these as well and boy, is it a fun car to putt around with on the local back roads. Now let's hope I can get it through inspection as the prior owner installed a slick set of LED headlights but didn't include any high beams.

Congratulations! I’ve had a couple of Karman Ghias. Fun cars. With 1900 ccs it ought to get out of its own way.

Thank you! I remember my father's Thing and how dog slow it was. I was blown away by how much torque the little 1.9 puts out and how eager it is to get to 50 MPH without any real effort.

Now let's hope it can manage summer heat without any fanfare.

Looks pretty solid. I've had many early VWs including one Ghia. Loved the way it handled. Maybe you could just put two 7 inch sealed beams back in for the inspection. Weird that the PO didn't make provisions for high beam??

Yeah, I thought it was odd as well. Since I basically bought it through a friend, I didn't get a chance to ask him. Seems like an easy item to add if necessary but I'm going to try the "it didn't come with them" angle at the DMV and see if they let it slide.

Your supposed to use a flashlight....for the high beams...

So if you are asked about the high beams upon inspection pull out your trusty flashlight..and say "here it is..."

Reminds me of a friend of mine who bought an Autozam. To get it through inspection, he kept a handheld horn in his hand to get it to pass.

With the original 1600 it didn't go fast enough to need high beams. :D

Wolfsburg West is a great place for parts, some Chinese, a lot of Brazilian and Mexican, some OG (original German), and some of their own reproductions that are pretty good. They treated me right on a couple of problems.
West Coast Metric is another good source.
Jbugs advertises heavily and has some bargain basement stuff and some good parts. Shop carefully and be aware if you ever contact them you will be inundated with email ads.
The Samba web site is a terrific place for information.

That looks really nice. Congrats!

The WW website is infuriating and not user friendly. Get a hard catalog to know what they have then you can track it down on the website.

+1 on the Samba, very similar to the tech forums here with the amount of knowledge.

Mechanically speaking you probably don’t need it but a fantastic resource for air cooled VWs is the John Muir book: “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive...for the Complete Idiot”. A must read!

The on line catalog could use some improvement. They are very good on the phone and their hard copy catalog is very informative. I have a copy in my office and a copy in the shop.

Good stuff, thanks! I’ve been casually reading Samba. Once I dive in deeper I’ll probably use them as a resource more often.
I just started reading this! It’s very easy to read.

I covet your car.

Nice Ghia!

I wound up with a friends 69 Ghia back in about 94 or so, one that he had already "customized".

1835cc engine with dual solex kadrons, later bug transmission with taller gears, lowered with empi 8 spokes monster wide 45 series tires on the back, narrow damn near dragster wheels on the front WITH the GM Space Saver "Don't go over 50 mph" tires (good to at least 113 mph....don't ask!), Fiero bucket seats, T handle shifter....that little car would flat out get it. I regret selling it....for $2300...., but in the end that little car moved me way up the ladder on some others to follow.

I recently rode in a friends really nice 65 356SC and as far as I was concerned, it was a boundy little car nothing close to my old Karmann Ghia. I wasn't impressed one bit.

If you want a fast 356 put a VW engine in it.

Thanks!

I am really amazed by the depth of the VW aftermarket. I guess I’m so desensitized to Porsche pricing that I’m blown away that you can have a monster flat four built and at your doorstep for well under $10,000. The sheer simplicity and frugality of these cars is fantastic.

I spent a lifetime yearning for a 356 but I’ll take this as a budget substitute. It’s also an interesting stablemate to the 911 as there is a hint of core DNA shared between them, even if the 911 is far more refined and serious about its purpose.

So the inspector at the DMV was going to pass me on the lack of high beams but had to call the manager over due to an emissions sniffer technical problem (which I passed) and he made note that these cars did in fact come with high beams and I would need them to receive title.

Great.

Beautiful car. Enjoy!

Oh well, might as well sell it to me here in Mississippi. :D

Up until a few years ago, The State of Mississippi required a yearly "inspection sticker" for motor vehicles. The cost was $5. Some shops that performed the "inspections" would just fill out the back of the sticker and the corresponding page in the book of stickers, scrape off the old sticker and slap the new one on the inside of your windshield, take your 5 bucks and send you down the road......where sooner or later you would encounter a pulp wood truck with NO windshield and the driver slowing down to make a turn off the rural highway with his left arm out the side window (or where the window WAS at one time) flexing his hand extending his fingers in and out.....that's a Mississippi blinker for a left turn.

On the other hand, the more scrupulous "inspection" shops would find anything they could to flunk your inspection in hopes of making money on the task in order to pass you. This happened to me once, as my reverse lights weren't working. "Oh, we can fix that, might be a bulb, maybe the switch on the transmission...."

Now the ONLY entity that has the legal authority to write you a ticket for an expired inspection sticker was the Mississippi Highway Patrol. The BIG DOGS. The Governor's own Gestapo.

So I ask the guy at the inspection shop that I failed because my reverse lights didn't work....."Do you really think the Highway Patrol is going to care that my reverse lights don't work.....IF I DON'T BACK UP THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY BECAUSE I MISSED MY EXIT?"

Needless to say I went to another shop to get the inspection sticker, a few years later the voters in the State were really tired of this "unwarranted yearly $5 tax burden" so one politician lead the charge in getting it revoked and now we run around sticker free with an extra $5 in our pocket every year.

But that's not the end of the story....

You see, the receipt books that the stickers came from once devoid of stickers were supposed to be turned into the State DMV. There they became public record so that entities like Carfax could denote on their report that on this day at this mileage the inspection was done. Now that data doesn't exist. Wouldn't surprise me one bit the used car lot Barons lobbied the legislature to get rid of the sticker, as it's one less bit of evidence of odometer rollbacks!