kod38 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Hey guys, I just started hacking at this ghia body today. I think I will try to retain some of the rear bodywork? Maybe not. I made a couple centerline wheels and may make and use those instead of my trade mark BFG's.LOL! Here is a really rough mock up. What do you think of the body look? Keep in mind it will have alot of cage and bumper work. Thanks. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jairus Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 WOW Doug, that would look cool with curb feelers and mudflaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildrice Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Great start Doug. Any thoughts about a color yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kod38 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 Great start Doug. Any thoughts about a color yet? This is all I have Bobby. Need to get the body right first,then build a sweet chassis and suspension. Maybe charcoal gray with flo green cage and flo green and black checker graphics? I will know when I open the can.LOL! Stay tuned. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chromecop Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 That'll be a cool baja-racer!!!!! Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zebm1 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Kool idea, good thing it's a model cause yu could never do that to a real ghia --- one piece body, front fenders thru to tha rear fenders were integral to tha chassis structure. Tha Karman Ghia was one of tha first uni-bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
455 Rocket Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Great idea. Growing up a friend of one of my neighbors did something similar to yours. It was wrecked in front, so he cut off the nose and head light area and mounted the spare tire in front with a pre-runner style bar wrapping around it. In back he had a tube bumper and left off the trunk lid leaving the engine exposed. For wheels he had the factory skinnys in front and I believe 31" tires in back. The wheel wells were radiused to fit the tires. I look forward to seeing the end result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhadman Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Hey zebm1,are you in for sa surprize...lol This thing is going to be COOL! i love it...i never liked this car until i saw it built like your doing it...I am really looking forward to seeing more progress on this one.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratrodder Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Jarius, draw us a sketch with the mud flaps.....ratrodder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronster Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 That's cool! A friend's brother built a baja Ghia when we were in high school. White coupe. Wish I had pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsoder Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Hey Doug I think this is an exceptionally cool idea 8) lookin' forward to seeing how it turns out!....Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kod38 Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 Hey Doug I think this is an exceptionally cool idea 8) lookin' forward to seeing how it turns out!....Brian I will throw some more pics when I get something done.LOL! I hope to have some cage work done by this weekend. Not sure if I will build off pan or go full tube chassis. Thanks. Doug R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve H. Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 That is a really cool idea! Anybody can build a Baja Bug or truck, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kod38 Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 That is a really cool idea! Anybody can build a Baja Bug or truck, right? Absolutely! I hope to see more people doing them. I mastered a baja body that I hope will be cast soon for people so they can build a more mdern style baja bug from a revell kit. I better get something done on this ghia soon. Thanks for the input guys. Doug R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zebm1 Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Oh I'm sure it will be kool looking, I was just remembering that if yu took a major crash, front, rear or side it was a total. Fenders and body were one piece, as I remember them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VW Dave Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Tha Karman Ghia was one of tha first uni-bodies. Actually, the 411/412 were the first unibody VWs; the Ghia was on a widened Beetle floorpan. As far as 'yu could never do that to a real Ghia', 1:1 baja-style Ghias have already been done, so I say it's definitely feasible: Looking great so far, Doug. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve H. Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Aren't regular Bugs Unibody? I would think Baja guys aren't shy about cutting and welding! About the pic above... Don't cut the rear off your Ghia like that! Your mockup pics look much better with some rear sheetmetal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zebm1 Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 OK guys, I stand almost corrected, yall are almost correct, as am I. I found tha Karmann Ghia-GBMH website. http://www.karmann.com/domain-karmann-100-...tory/index.html in which I found...true tha Ghia uses a Beetle frame, But a Beetle won't fit on tha frame because tha frame was widened. As to tha body, it is all steel with welded seams on which VW used pewter as tha solder.....so in effect tha body is a one-piece body. As to tha uni-body, tha passenger cabin is a single unit, to which they welded on tha fenders. Which I would guess if yu cut thru tha passenger cabin to make a Baja bug...yu would destroy tha integrity of tha body, my structural background leads me to suppose this possibility. Oh one other fact, all Ghias were handbuilt. Check out tha website, it's really kool, has tha complete history of tha Ghia....straight from tha German Shepherd's mouth so-to-speak. Oh and yeah, tha website that lead me to tha above-mentioned webpage... http://www.karmann-ghias.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Peterson Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Hmmm...I just finished a 3 hour drive between points in North Carolina (in the rain)...with plenty of time to think... I've wrestled with it and agonized over the Ghia being unibody in real life and on the verge of being rendered so errantly in scale. The abhorrent contradiction between reality and art is so glaring in this case...so...so irritating that I had to take some sort of drastic and immediate action just to get my head around the gross disruption in the time/space continuum that results from such a farcical representation of a Ghia. So I have decided, that in spite of the fact that it contradicts all that is true and believeable in our little scale Universe, I will simply tell myself that it is a fiberglass replica of a steel body. There, I said it. I am now able to move on and freely revel in the progress of what I am sure will be an absolutely ripping good model... I have found comfort in my new outlook and am now very much at ease. You may proceed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve H. Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Hmmm...I just finished a 3 hour drive between points in North Carolina (in the rain)...with plenty of time to think... I've wrestled with it and agonized over the Ghia being unibody in real life and on the verge of being rendered so errantly in scale. The abhorrent contradiction between reality and art is so glaring in this case...so...so irritating that I had to take some sort of drastic and immediate action just to get my head around the gross disruption in the time/space continuum that results from such a farcical representation of a Ghia. So I have decided, that in spite of the fact that it contradicts all that is true and believeable in our little scale Universe, I will simply tell myself that it is a fiberglass replica of a steel body. There, I said it. I am now able to move on and freely revel in the progress of what I am sure will be an absolutely ripping good model... I have found comfort in my new outlook and am now very much at ease. You may proceed. :shock: :shock: :shock: You spend WAY TOO MUCH time alone, don't you, Peterson? Yes, It will be a ripping good model when finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kod38 Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 Hmmm...I just finished a 3 hour drive between points in North Carolina (in the rain)...with plenty of time to think... I've wrestled with it and agonized over the Ghia being unibody in real life and on the verge of being rendered so errantly in scale. The abhorrent contradiction between reality and art is so glaring in this case...so...so irritating that I had to take some sort of drastic and immediate action just to get my head around the gross disruption in the time/space continuum that results from such a farcical representation of a Ghia. So I have decided, that in spite of the fact that it contradicts all that is true and believeable in our little scale Universe, I will simply tell myself that it is a fiberglass replica of a steel body. There, I said it. I am now able to move on and freely revel in the progress of what I am sure will be an absolutely ripping good model... I have found comfort in my new outlook and am now very much at ease. You may proceed. LOL!! You guys crack me up. No that is a metal car. Ghia's like bugs have a pan.I have seen my friends 63 ghia without the body on it. Here is a picture of one without the pan bolted up. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_pag...p?pic_id=312655 I have pictures of a few more baja ghias too. Check out "The Samba" for great vw info and pics A ghia is also known as a type 3. Doug R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zebm1 Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 I think yu just proved mah point Doug..... someone has stripped tha interior sheetmetal out, otherwise they wouldn't have put those stiffner bars in to keep tha body from collapsing in on itself, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VW Dave Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 I think yu just proved mah point Doug..... someone has stripped tha interior sheetmetal out, otherwise they wouldn't have put those stiffner bars in to keep tha body from collapsing in on itself, right? zeb - There is no 'interior sheetmetal' to strip out; what you're looking at is the body unit itself, separated from the pan. The stiffener bars in the door openings were put there because that particular car was having major body structural parts replaced. The shiny metal on the underside of the rocker panels and fresh black panel under the nose are dead giveaways. The diagonal tubes just ahead of the rear wheelwells(under the rear seat area) are not structural, they just carry heat to the rocker panel channels from the engine. Doug - The Ghia you're building is not referred to as a Type 3, as it is based on the Type 1(Beetle). There was a Ghia based on the Type 3, however......the Type 3 Ghia(type 34): Like the Type 3 notchback, the Type 3 Ghia was never exported to the US by VW; any of those cars you see here today were 'gray market' vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Doug - The Ghia you're building is not referred to as a Type 3, as it is based on the Type 1(Beetle). There was a Giha based on the Type 3, however......the Type 3 Ghia(type 34): Like the Type 3 notchback, the Type 3 Ghia was never exported to the US by VW; any of those cars you see here today were 'gray market' vehicles. AAAAAAACCCCKK!!! Someone please make a kit of THAT car, or I'll threaten to hack up a '64 Corvair Spyder and do it myself!!! I just LOVE those European Type 3 Ghias!! And yes, they were gray market cars as I remember seeing only one or two here in the states when I was a kid in the '60's. Heck I'd even settle for a (cough, couuuuuughhhh.....) diecast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kod38 Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 [ Like the Type 3 notchback, the Type 3 Ghia was never exported to the US by VW; any of those cars you see here today were 'gray market' vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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