Aircooled VW South Africa

http://www.bader-racing.de/en/home/home_news.htm

Hello everyone

I have been looking for a new project recently. And a Ghia is what i have in mind.

I loved my Bugs, 'Thumper One' was a treat. and all the aircooleds that went before, beetle 65, beetle 69, 411, Thumper.. . However the better half did not enjoy sharing my love of aircooled beetles. "They are noisy" she said. "Smells like oil" Admittedly,sometimes they did, and had a distinct, fuel, oil, straw in vinyl seats smell. ( which is part of the charm).

However the shape, history, and beauty of these cars is what I really like.

So, why not take a leaf out of the book, from these Bader-racing lads?

A replica car, restored maybe from a wreck that otherwise would land in a crusher. Modern chassis, ABS disc brakes all round, Airbags, reliable engine, air conditioning, stereo that can still be usable over 100km/h. and so forth. And no oil smell..

First prize will still be a restorable and complete, or near mint condition Karman Ghia. But since they are getting scarce, and expensive, maybe.....

Ok gents, and lady, do I have a point? or will I be flamed if i arrive in a Karmann Ghia body bits grafted on to a Audi TT chassis??

OMG, Thumper is getting another project!!!

I think your hardest part will be finding a modern car that has a chassis. It would probably be easier to get a race chassis built to accept the Karmann body.
but hey, I think a braai is needed to discuss the finer details!

Yes Tony, I think a braai is in order. When are you back in town?

There is currentl a Ghia in the states that was built on a boxter chassis I lost the link but look it up
I doubt that the TT underpinnings would work unles yuo make it mid engined
Armand

Thumper wrote:Yes Tony, I think a braai is in order. When are you back in town?

Around 20 Dec

Build your own chassis. It really isn't that hard.....

First of all answer what do you want the car to be?

Figuring out packaging and placement of everything within the Ghia silhouette would be toughest if using a different driveline configuration. Go transverse mid engine and it is all pretty straightforward (but it will be a 2-seater...)

Know that you aren't going to build this for R30K and have it modern, comfortable, reliable, stylish, well finished etc.
But compare what you would spend on buying even a second-hand modern sh!tbox and what you could end up with if you do it right....

Its a no-brainer for me...

This is the one that IMPI is referring to...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533546

Very nice but I suppose it's not going to be cheap.

The Tony Miller car, with Boxter under the sheetmetal the best example of what I have in mind. However I prefer the tin top.

To do this right is going to cost....

Hi All;

I saw the Boxster/Ghia on The Samba. It's well done but, for some reason, it didn't grab me as much as Jochen Bader's effort.
If you're going to go down that route, the aesthetics need to be right IMO.

As Barry rightly says, it's not going to be a R30k affair and it'll take time.
Looking forward to seeing your vision.

AKG1600 wrote:Hi All;

I saw the Boxster/Ghia on The Samba. It's well done but, for some reason, it didn't grab me as much as Jochen Bader's effort.
If you're going to go down that route, the aesthetics need to be right IMO.

As Barry rightly says, it's not going to be a R30k affair and it'll take time.
Looking forward to seeing your vision.

I also like the Bader Ghia more

I could think of a couple of things I would sacrifice from my anatomy, for that Karmann! Porsche 993 underpinnings....

Mmmm Nice Thumper...