The swap meet was cool.  The wife summed that up perfect, “Nothing we can’t live without”.

Now it was off to the car show portion.  We tripped over bugs and busses, but had to hunt down the Ghias.  We saw 5-6, and only two verts.  I think we’ll be driving her’s up next year.

Click on the picture below to see the rest of the photos.

Loveland gave privy to the Ghia’s first showing at a Euroberge GTG.  My wife did not want to spend 4 hours in the sun so she drove the Mini Clubman as the chase vehicle.

The couple has bought a 1971 Karmann Ghia hardtop in the Northeast United States and is driving it home.  There journey really starts about here, scroll down and start reading where you see the young lady eating a biscuit.

Just got this from a good friend and client.  Candis, who owns DenverDeafInterpreter, was thinking of my wife and I this morning.  Yes we are ramping down from our long weekend with the Mini Folks and got this little burst of VW love.

Thanks for thinking of us Candis.  Nicole misses her Ghia now.

EDIT: Added some pictures today 6/18/09

The first step was to use my label tool to badge all the electrical wiring. Removed some engine compartment floor shielding. Heater cables and hoses were next. Then four bolts and she dropped out.

Now for the bad news. The clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing are all in great shape. The clutch still has the manufactures ink stank visible on it.

So now I am surfing the net to try and find some more information.  I am at  a loss to the cause of the vibration.  It was vibrating when the clutch was released.

The tranny shaft does have some up and down movement, but nothing more than 1/32 of an inch.  Slight pressure yields a tick/tock tick/tock clicking as the shaft moves up and down. This could mean a bad bearing inside the tranny. I would expect more movement if that was the case though.

The Samba has give me some ideas. One poster said that it may have been as simple as adjusting the clutch cable. Gosh…I hope not. Pulling the motor when all I needed was a simple adjustment would be the ultimate screw up on my part.

MORE PICTURES

Through out 13 years of marriage I have been the “car hog”. Always choosing the new vehicle. During these times I would always ask…what she wanted. She would usually just agree with the decision at hand and move on with life. i mean thsi girl has been through Jeep after Jeep. Some brought home on flatbed trailers. Some she didn’t even know about until they pulled up out front. She has been through a lot.

Every good husband notices things though. Like when I would mention my days of driving my 73 Super Beetle. Which by the way is sitting in my garage, needing work. She would mention that she has always wanted a Volkwagon Karmann Ghia. That was quickly followed-up by “a convertible Ghia”. As if to make sure I knew exactly which model.

So I found one. I had been actively looking under her nose for about 8 years. I found it on Craigslist. It had been garaged since 1999, and was in good drivable shape, and close. It was in Loveland. The icing on the cake for me was that it was a 1970 model just like Nicole.

link to more pictures