Just installed one on a 59 Karmann Ghia for which I built a n 1835 semi stocker with stock cam, bandito heads, twin Kadrons.
The build quality is fantastic. The flanges are heavy gauge, all welded and flared and ground in smooth, the welding is first rate. It fitted the engine perfectly without any modification (as you would expect). The spacings are all spot on so that it all just slid together and clamped nice and firm. The exhaust on the Karmann cannot be seen from behind the car so a lot of design has gone into making it exactly right for that car at least, and I suspect it would be the same for others. The stainless is heavy gauge. This exhaust went a light bronze colour (as they do) after it was run for a while
As you would expect, the sound for such a almost stock engine is very quiet and throaty and the owner is in love with it. Dave Becker tried to break into my shed and steal it 😉. I think it would be reasonably noisy on anything with a cam in it.
No I dont have any connection with George at Classic VW except to say that I am one happy customer of his.
The exhaust was complete from start to finish with a BIG stainless steel glasspack resonator. It was off to the right hand side of the engine tucked up beside the engine. You could not see it from the back of the car. It has the biggest dump pipe Ive ever seen on a VW exhaust, (3 inches at least). George actually had to grab the correct resonator for me as the same one does NOT fit a bug. I understand that it is the same size and the inside is the same but it sits somewhere else under the car.
I thought it was supposed to be a magna flow muffler....but it's not.... is still of nice quality though but can't comment on the flow characteristics unfortunately.
Sorry for coming in a bit late on this one since you've already bought one Reub...I'm running one on my 1955 motor which I ran in portland with the muff on. But they are a copy and not a real one from A1 in Cal as Humpty pointed out. Mine was finished beautifully and looks and sounds awesome but the fit was appalling.😢 Yes the flanges are nice and thick but the stud holes are way too big making it impossible to centre the port in the flange for best flow-i ended up making 8mm washers with a half moon cut out of one side to centre it. Also had to elongate the holes on both J tubes sideways so the flanges would meet the head squarely. You get what you pay for i guess but i would still buy one again despite the necessary tweaking required because the design is great, ground clearance is great, and George's service was excellent.
