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1968 "California-look" VW
I decided to post photos of my 1968 VW Karmann Ghia build even though I realize there are more of the Domestic "hot rod and motorcycle" enthusiasts on this forum. Having grown up around Hot rods and vintage cars, I certainly love and appreciate them, but I've always been more into the vintage foreign car crowd for some reason...Don't ask, my father doesn't understand it either, and I can't explain it. :D Something different I suppose. Sorry I don't have early photos of what the car started out as, I didn't get internet and a camera until a few years into the project.
So this build has been going on for several years, and I started with a $300 purchase from my neighbors that was all but "rust-free." To top it off, the car had been hit in the front and rear lightly multiple times from the owner living on a hill in S.F., California (where everyone parallel parks and "bumps" the car in front of and behind them routinely), plus there were signs of a heavy collision in the front (T-boned, perhaps?:O). To top it all off, under the cheap orange paint job from the nearest discount auto paint shop during the 70's, lied some of the worst bodywork you could imagine! The day I bought this heap, I brought it home and washed it, and that's when the 3/8" thick chunks of bondo started falling off the car in 5" long sections (revealing rust underneath).
Fast forward to now, and after my father and I doing the major rust repair, collision repairs throughout (areas around the headlights and tail lights, the trunk, fender wells, engine compartment, and door jambs), replacing both full floor pans, welding in seat tracks, welding all the trim and emblem holes up, and him doing all the bodywork on the car, it now sits in final prime, waiting for me to do minor welding to the interior before color can be chosen and applied.
The theme here is the typical 1970's "California-look" VW with no trim on the body, a lowered stance, "big n' little" tires, rims from a select group of aftermarket or Porsche choices that are period correct, a high performance 2 liter engine with dual Weber carbs, custom stitched plaid or houndstooth upholstery, and a light sprinkle of interchangeable Porsche parts throughout. Plain and simple is the idea... no "frills", no wild or custom paint jobs, outrageous body modifications (like hood scoops or fender flairs), out of proportion tire combos, flocking or other trendy 70's interior designs, etc. Minor "stealthly" upgrades that look factory are welcome. The wildest body mods we did to this car were smoothing off the decklid (no lic. plate or light there...it will be mounted to the bumper in a factory-type fashion like the Porsches were), removal of the radio antenna, and removal of the windshield squirt nozzle.
One of my favorite "details" on custom VWs built during the Cal-look days was plaid or houndstooth fabric inserts in the seats and door panels, and Zolotone texture sprayed in select areas of the engine compartment and trunk, so of course I chose both details for my car. Even in recent years Porsche has still used the fabric inserts stitched into their seats, which is where this trend came from with the Cal-look cars.
