Hi All I recently purchased this 61 which will look familiar to some of you, with the intention of giving it a new paint job, learning a bit about them and using it as semi daily drive.
After a rough trailer trip from Brisbane to Newcastle I noticed a crack in the passenger side sill. From there my game plan changed and I am leaning a lot very quickly.
I decided on a full body off restoration an the body is now off.
It needs a lot of rust repairs and so be it, my dillema is whether to repair the mods (guards&intakes) which was a look that attracted me to it in the first place or attempt to go back to original body?
My thought is that if I take it back to original it will cost me a fortune in panel replacement.So may be a better option to find another body that just needs rust repairs.

I change my mind daily on this at the moment but am thinking of working with what I have, reducing the front flares, leaving the rear flares and altering the shape of the air intakes to give it a bit of a 911 GT flavour whilst keeping it as tastefull as possible.
Any ides or opinions are appreciated.

looks like what a few of us suspected that looks like just a big bog job on the body i hope you didnt pay alot for it paint hides alot of horrors is that paper stuffed in the rust with bog on top?disgusting thats my opinion anyway try find another shell that looks like scrap

why waste all that money on dipping that shell is too far gone you can see even on a couple of photos besides the paper mashe and bog and rust maybe you can save the swinging panels ? whats left of the shell maybe the roof if your lucky

In my eye the ghia body is pretty perfect the way it left the factory, but the world would be pretty boring if we were all the same.

It's pretty obvious it's going to take a lot of work to repair this shell. I would say it's not worth it if you were trying to go back to original, but if the flared/scoop look is what you like it's better to do it to this one than an unmodified one. That would still take a lot of work and it's one less on the road.

Did you brace the body before you took it off the pan, it doesn't look like it would have much torsional rigidity.

Whichever way you go it will keep you busy!

dip it and make some tea with it vw tea expensive tea that cars a tea bag

yeah it will be x pensive but better off starting with NO rust as to say

it is quite a while since I saw the old paper sills,promax bread in the plastic bags,old cardigans,sox,plastic bags with bog mixed on them etc forming sill panels,I thought those days were over unfortunately i was wwwwwrong!.i am sorry that you have to endure this just by buying a vehicle that you obviously wanted.I hope you can find a better body and continue.Good luck Les.

So it's body hunting i'll be doing then.

Hmm, bummer... is it just the passenger side that's in this state, or driver's side as well ??? What's the rest of the body like ???

Finding another KG body that's in better condition could be difficult... you may actually be better of fixing this one, especially if you're keen on the flares and scoops.

Just a suggestion...

Both sides are the same and there is rust all around. The roof is good so are the doors and boot.

some more from the rust monster

i feel your pain got a dog like that years ago not a vw just an old ford but same toilet roll stuffed sills chicken wire cement and bog hope it didnt cost you an arm and a leg maybe you could get a good body from someone importing from the states maybe the aussie dollar will be in your favour you have a dash and bits to convert to rhd

Hi Ash,

It looks like a bit of a mess but all these things are repairable and all the replacement panels are available so I would pick up the grinder and start cutting back until you get a nice solid metal. Then at least you will be able to work out if the repairs are within your budget and skills.

As for stripping, I have heard great things about the portable soda blasting machines. They are available for around the $200-250 mark and will rip off that old paint and bog in no time.

If you ever find yourself down in Sydney, you are more than welcome to come and have a look over my 68 to see how the factory put them together.

Good luck,
Kevin

Best of luck there Ash, certainly got some work ahead of you. I've had a similar experience (an old 63 XL Falcon), and I learnt a lot from that car despite turning out to be a dog. Whilst I'm guessing it's cost you a lot of money, I hope you learn from it what you're looking for.

I agree, anything can be fixed but the labour cost may kill me.

Anyone know of people importing from the States?

dont remember the people possibly a member of the penrose family you say you are in newcastle?

Yes in Newcastle

someone on central coast was bringing them in and converting them anyone out there on the forum got more info just dont remember enough to say who it was hope fully this post may jog someones memory

cool, looks like Vics Bahn brings them in.
Has anyone dealt with them?

yes nice fellow good for a chat on anything vw his name also escaped me yes good thinking

fairly sure the guy in the central coast went belly up a few years ago and took some people with him. i had to search back for this a fair way.
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=74801&page=1#pid696346 
unless your talking about someone else L469

so sad to see so much damage. finding a dry ghia body at a bargain price will be hard. As others have said a US import may be the best option but then you have 2 ghias........ which makes your purchase a bit of a waste of money. I hope you didn't pay too much for it and that whoever sold it to you has trouble sleeping at night, unless of course they told you it was full of rust.

In the end it is still a ghia and modified or original they are a beautiful car, I've had mine for 24 yrs. Dave, (VW54) and Kevin are on the right track. I would at least invest another few hundred and get it soda blasted and then assess what panels you will need and work out the cost of this compared to buying a second ghia.

How handy are you with a mig? or do you have a good friend who can weld? If it has to go to a body shop then maybe buying a second ghia is the better option. So, in summary, get the paint and bog off and then do some comparison costing.

good luck with it. Lou

Thanks all for the encouragement I will keep going with it and see what comes along

No I don't weld there lies part of the problem

Yeah, pretty safe to say all ghia's have rust or have been repaired at some stage, it's thier poor design of the sills and guards. there are plenty of repair panels available. Not saying it's a easy job, but it can be done, and done well..IF..time or money or both permits.

nearly all unrestored ghias need new sills, spare wheel wells, headlight buckets and lower rear quarters/floors etc ash, i can honestly tell you ive fixed a lot of these ghias and a lot worse than this, if you buy another one you may end up in the same situation as like i said nearly all are like this unless you buy 1 for 20 - 30 thou, put new sills back on it and keep going, at least you know it will be done right.

I remember looking over this thing last year at dubs by the pub thinking it's probably like that underneath.

but I wouldnt give up on it though, replacement panels are easy to get hold of you just need to find a good welder.
I've seen alot worse than this brought back from the dead.

KGs especially early ones aint exactly falling off trees.