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1965 VW Karmann Ghia convertible 2275cc Volkswagen bug bus type 2 1 notchback

Price: Ask a price!
Location: Ladera Ranch, California, United States
Condition: Used
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Karmann Ghia
Year: 1965
VIN: 145394388
Vehicle Title: Clear

1965 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Description

I've had the car listed for a higher price for a while and it's been a hassle receiving a ton of emails with various price offers and having to email back and forth with people. I thought the car was sold for $25k but his loan fell through at the last minute, so I'm renewing the ad and I'm going ahead and listing it at my bottom-line price which is $23k. Please understand that this is not an inflated price with room for negotiating, this is my non-negotiable bottom-line price. Also, I'm not interested in any type of trades at all.
Here are links to two videos of the car that I made in November:
part 1: https://youtu.be/ahBy18KotCE
part 2: https://youtu.be/wKhGUTlzzZI
1965 Karmann Ghia convertible on a '72 Ghia IRS/ball joint pan. Car is licensed/registered in California as a '65 (with the body tag number, and not by the newer pan number)
I bought the car about four years ago from the guy who did the paint and bodywork and the pan swap. When I got it I did the upgrades to wheels, suspension, engine, brakes, etc. but in the almost four years that I've had the car I've only driven it around 500 miles. . . I'm just too busy with kids, work, and my other hobbies, and the poor car just sits in the garage.
I took it to the VW Classic car show last year (2015) and won best Ghia Vert.
Here is a lot of info about the car:
Engine: 2276cc just gone through (about 200mi ago) with new heads, bearings, exhaust, oil cooler, etc. and I had the lifter bores sleeved at that time (by Brother's Machine). Complete engine specs are listed below
Trans: I don't have the exact specs on the IRS trans because it was installed by the previous owner. He told me that it is a "freeway flyer" by Rancho
Brakes: Front & rear disc brakes with drilled rotors. Front calipers are 4-piston Wilwood, and the rears are generic calipers with e-brake. Dual circuit master cylinder. Steel braided hoses front & rear
Wheels: Empi 17x7 chrome Fuchs style with ISP West center caps. NOTE: one of my photos shows the car with plain center caps, before I installed the ISP Porsche caps
Tires: BF Goodrich G-Force Comp2. Front 205/40/17, rear 205/50/17
Front suspension: Airkewld 3" narrowed Ultimate Beam (ball joint style) with Bilstein shocks
Rear suspension: To fit the wider wheels the IRS control arms have been narrowed (by Bugzyla) and it has narrower axles. Bilstein shocks. CSP aluminum "Kafer bar" (triangulated 3-bar rear chassis brace with trans strap). Urethane control arm bushings
Other misc engine related stuff:
Gene Berg motor mounts
Gene Berg trans cone mount
Gene Berg mid-mount kit
Gene Berg oil sump
Setrab oil cooler with automatic fan switch and steel braided hoses
Odyssey 925 sealed battery in aluminum mounting bracket
Gas lift-strut conversion for decklid
Interior:
Scat Pro-Car seats on adjustable tracks
grey carpet
VDO gauges
Forever Sharp steering wheel
Gene Berg shifter
4-speakers with 300w amp. No radio head unit. . . music plays directly from your phone or iPod
Crow racing seat belts (front) and generic seat belts (rear)
Original rear view mirror, but I removed the sun-visors because I only drive the car top down and the visors looked stupid sticking up past the windshield frame
Body:
The paint and body was done by the previous owner. He told me that when the body was removed to do the pan swap that it was stripped to bare metal and every spot that had rust was replaced or repaired before being painted. I have no way to verify that, I'm just passing on the info that was given to me. The paint and bodywork are by no means "show quality" but the car does look pretty good and gets a ton of attention. Every time I drive it I see people in other cars pulling out their phones and taking photos while driving, lol.
The right rear fender has a scratch about three inches long and the paint is chipped with some body filler showing in that spot. The car came with a quart of the red paint that he used, so I just touched up that spot on the rear fender so that it is red, and blends in, instead of seeing the beige-ish color of the body filler. . . so that spot looks decent from like 10 feet away, but if you're up close you can see it.
Obviously for mechanical stuff I can just list the parts, but for the body it's not so easy to describe because everybody has their own idea of what is nice, or perfect, or not so nice, etc. I know mechanical stuff (I was a mechanic for a living for 26 years) but to be honest I have no experience or knowledge about paint and body. Ideally I would like to sell the car to someone who can come and inspect it in person before buying, rather than someone buying it sight-unseen (I'm in Orange County, California)
Convertible top:
It has a new black vinyl top that the previous owner had installed before selling it to me, so the top and rear window look brand new. It also has a black canvas boot that snaps on which really looks nice and clean when the top is down.
I think I've covered just about everything as best as I can remember, but if I'm forgetting something then just ask. Like I mentioned, a lot of the stuff has been done since I've owned the car, so that stuff all has less than 500 miles on it. . . stuff like wheels, tires, brakes, front beam, narrowed rear suspension, etc.
I pulled out the engine (about 300 miles ago) and did a lot of upgrades, including new (expensive!) cylinder heads, new powder-coated tin, new oil cooler, I had Brother's Machine install lifter bore sleeves in the case, I replaced the bearings (cam, rods, mains), different carb linkage, etc. . . I also took the car to Tiger at A1 Muffler for a new exhaust at that time. Here is a complete list of the engine stuff:
CASE: AS41, shuffle-pinned, lifter bores sleeved
CRANK: Scat 82mm Pro-Comp, forged
RODS: Scat I-beam 5.394" length with ARP 2000 bolts
BEARINGS: Main: race style with split #3 (STD) Cam: double thrust (STD) Rods: (STD)
PISTONS: AA cast, 94mm
HEADS: DRD Racing Heads L7, 44x37.5 valves, 61cc combustion chambers
DECK HEIGHT: .050" - using .090" barrel shim
COMPRESSION RATIO: 9.3:1
SPARK PLUGS: NGK D6EA - gapped at .035"
CAM: Engle FK-8
CAM GEARS: Magnum straight cut
LIFTERS: Engle
PUSH RODS: aircooled.net aluminum, 11.060" - valve adjust .006" cold
PUSH ROD TUBES: CB Performance #1565, large diameter for 1.4 rockers
ROCKERS: Scat Pro-Comp forged, 1.4 ratio
LASH CAPS: .073" thick for 8mm valve head
CARBS: Weber 48 IDF
CARB LINKAGE: SyncLink cable linkage
IGNITION: Mallory Unilite distributor, MSD coil, MSD 6A C.D.I. box
PLUG WIRES: Taylor 8mm pro spiral core
DISTRIBUTOR CLAMP: JayCee
EXHAUST: A-1 ceramic coated 1-5/8" sidewinder header with stainless muffler
OIL PUMP: 30mm
PULLEYS: Scat serpentine belt system #80316R
FLYWHEEL: Scat chromoly forged, 12.5 pounds, #60007
GLAND NUT: Scat chromoly, uses 1-1/2" socket
CLUTCH: Kennedy stage two, 2100 lb.
SUMP: Gene Berg #210A (3.5 qt.)
SAND SEAL: Scat, aluminum external collar type
TIN: Scat, powder-coated color #RAL 7043 "traffic grey B"
FAN: Welded and balanced
OIL COOLER: Setrab with 190* fan switch
OIL FILTER HOUSING: Scat #50073 with oil pressure bypass
BREATHER: Empi breather #C13-17-2941 with AN8 lines
FUEL PUMP BLOCK-OFF: JayCee with AN8 fitting
MOTOR MOUNTS: Gene Berg #GB642P
MID MOUNT: Gene Berg #GB643
TRANS NOSE CONE MOUNT: Gene Berg #GB642A

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