Just before Christmas I happened to be surfing the KSL classifieds. (Actually, I religiously check the classifieds at least twice a day, usually more.) Upon my screen appeared a '75 Volkswagen Standard Beetle. It was cheap, it was the year and model I want to modify and take to Alaska and it looked clean. I called the guy up, shot him an offer, and he accepted. This all happened in about 15 minutes start to finish. I had my brother, who lived in the same city, pick it up and take it to his place. It was a couple of months before I could go pick it up. Sad to say I don't have any pictures of it currently. You know what old Bugs look like though. This one is Silver.
Perhaps you've run across a program called "Chasing Classic Cars". Most of you reading this blog probably just continued surfing past it. The program is about this guy who deals in high end classic cars- Bentleys, Mercedes and stuff. He has clients who hire him to find and fix up cars for them. Then he sells them for these clients, supposedly at a profit. I have a commiserating car junky as a neighbor and I ran this idea past him. He mentioned that he'd always wanted to own a Karmann Ghia and that was it. A suitable specimen was found and the purchase was made.
This is a picture of that car being picked up in California. My friend in Napa was nice enough to keep the Ghia at his house until the weather over Donner's Pass cleared.
I actually didn't learn that the car was orange until after the purchase. (it looked red in the 60+ pictures I was given) Orange is pretty fetching though. It's a clean car that needs some TLC.
This particular car is a 1970 VW Karmann Ghia. These cars were designed by Ghia of Italy (a design firm there) and the bodies were built by Karmann (a German coach builder in Osnabruck). The bodies were then shipped to Wolfsburg where the VW underpinnings were fitted. Billed as the world's slowest sports car it's no less fetching to look at. The fixing up part hasn't started yet. We've just been enjoying it some. It really gets lots of looks. It currently is the only Karmann Ghia in Ely. I'm hoping to have it ready for showing and selling this summer. My neighbor might not be willing to let it go though. I think he may have been bitten by the bug (no pun intended).
The new car hanging out with the first car down at the shop.
3 comments:
Looks like fun. You'll have to tell us all about it when you come out to see us.
I might have to hire you someday...though I think I would keep the cars for myself. Look forward to seeing pictures of the silver Bug!
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