Earlier in the week I worked on a couple of simple interior projects. Typical for a car of this age the sun visors were beyond their useful life and the window crank handles were miss matched and coming apart. These parts are easy to source and really help clean up the appearance of the Ghia’s interior. As you can see from the picture, the headliner is in good shape and the new sun visors finish the look nicely.
This morning I got up early to take part in a gathering of car people at what is called Donuts for Derelicts. Any Saturday morning at the local donut shop you can often find over 100 unique cars. The local vintage Volkswagen group shows up there about once a month. This was the first introduction of the Karmann Ghia to the local Volkswagen people.
One of the unknowns when purchasing a car that is 46 years old is when was the last time the brake system was given close attention. So, after my morning drive, the garage was turned into a brake shop and the car put up on jack stands. The plan this week is to replace all of the major brake components so I will be confident the car will stop when necessary.
In an earlier post I showed how the rear bumper was out of alignment, both side to side and horizontally. So while the car is up on jack stands, I have pulled off the rear bumper. The new bumper brackets are at the powder coating shop and I have ordered the new seals that I will be able to install when I put the bumper back in place. Hopefully, when I am done the bumper will look as it should.
Getting the bumper and wheels out of the way I can get a close look at the lower body panels and the wheel well. I am pleased I am not finding any rust.
