Not sure if anyone is interested in this stuff, but one way to find out. Story time.

My Dad totally rebuilt this Karmann Ghia circa ‘78/‘79.
It’s a ‘67 body on a ‘69 pan. Myself and several guys from the neighborhood lifted up the body and set it in place.

He had started working on the ‘67 when a ‘69 came up for sale, the 69 looked bad as every panel was a different color.
However, it had a 2180cc stroker engine with Okrasa crank, EMPI cam and oiling system, and dual Weber carbs.
The heads had bigger valves, case had been shuffle pinned and all the tricks of that time. The crowning touch was it was also modified
(Crudely) for a Porsche 5 speed trans.

So he kept the pan and whole chassis that had all the cool stuff he wanted, but swapped on
The entire body from the other one in better condition.

He rebuilt everything and painted it complete, at home in the garage.
The color is late 70s Chevy truck red, i believe good old DuPont Centari enamel.
He wasn’t happy with how it came out at first, because he didn’t have enough air capacity/orange peel city but the car looked really nice once he sanded and polished it.

When the red car shown was driving, he then went and got a new (used) air compressor and spray
Gun, and did the same thing to the ‘69. He also used a late model (at that time) truck color, this time it was
Beige/tan. The job went much better. He then sold off the ‘69 to an elder cousin of mine.
In the end he didn’t have much into that red car and had learned a ton. Nobody seems to have pics of the beige one.

It was a big deal for awhile but by 81 or so the red ghia hardly saw the light of day, as by then he’d picked up a project 1970 911 and was tinkering with that. Eventually he also painted it complete at home in the garage, but something changed: basecoat/clearcoat had come out and he tried the brand new
Materials. It was champagne silver metallic and a tremendous eye catcher on the road. Nobody else
Around us had a Porsche. This is why I know first hand what it’s like to adjust valve lash on
A solid lifter Porsche, and why I never had any delusions of owning one (huge pain in the butt). Unfortunately
This amazing new paint material was lacquer based and when it eventually failed decades later,
It did so spectacularly.

Summer of ‘83 I’d blown the second engine in my Beetle, it was dead and would take
Time to rebuild. I also wanted to volunteer to go to summer school to avoid taking a full load
Of classes the next year/my high school senior year. Dad loaned me the ghia to
Drive to summer school. It was fun.

Dad did all that stuff in a 24x24 attached garage, in a suburb. Nothing special.
Has no heat or water. Doesn’t even have 220 (240). Dad didn’t own welding equipment
Of any kind. Many years later he told me a story of an acquaintance at work who lost
Everything due to a welding related fire. Looking back I believe that was why he avoided it.

I haven’t any pics of the Porsche, or of his ‘57 Fury, or (the brand new car that had the
Biggest impression on me as a 3 year old) his ‘68 road runner.