The Big Year End Review-2022

[Volktales]

It was a year to remember...

January:  The year started off at full throttle on the Karmann Ghia.  I really was determined to finally complete this project for this summer.  And we were off to a good start...





As the disc brake conversion was completed at the end of the previous year, the fist project tackled was restoring the jack.  No problems there.  Next up was thinking about how to fix the damage on the right rear interior panel...





My idea was to lay this over the damaged panel and hide the flaws.  It could have worked...





Don was not impressed and said he would do the job properly and remove the dent from the inner panel.  And he did!  Very grateful for that effort...





We also discussed the dreaded headliner and how to install it.  This proved to be somewhat fun...





Also managed to find and purchase seat covers for the Savannah Beige project some time in the future.  You gotta buy stuff like this when it is available...


And one other Ghia distraction was this:




Had some fun building my first model in decades.  This was practice for the Restfalia version I want to do next to match my full size bus.  Now when will that happen???


Continued...

[Volktales]

February:  Continuing on with the inner panel repairs...









This dragged on an on but eventually a nice finish was achieved.  I also made up retainer clips for that chrome strip, and installed seat belt mounts for the new shoulder style belts I purchased...





Spent more time than I wanted to restoring these door wedge guides as well.  Looked good once installed though...





Also found time to repair the trim panels among other things.  Put some sound deadening on the underside of the roof as well.  This was to cause major issues later...





The original headliner was clipped back in place to see how to position the new one.  This was going to be a patience test for sure...





The end of the month was not a happy one when everyone's favourite VW dog, Goldberg passed away.  Still miss that awesome ball of fuzz...



Continued... 

[Volktales]

March:  March was all about the dreaded headliner.  Don was game to have a go at this, and the new headliner was loosely installed on the bows.  And then it was time to stretch it into position. I would like to say it slotted in place with ease, but that would be a lie.  Despite valiant attempts, it just would not fit into place.  An emergency call to Darren was made and he came over to have a look at the situation...





This was a time for some serious schooling, as he explained what we did wrong and how to fix it.  The first problem was the sound deadening I installed on the underside of the roof was interfering with the headliner bows.  And those same bows needed readjusting as well.  In the end Darren did the installation properly, and I was highly relieved it fit well in the end.  MANY thanks to Darren for making this happen!  Don paid way better attention to how things should have been done and you can read his writeup in the main Ghia thread.





Darren completed all the gluing around the windows, and it was my job to trim everything.  Was freaky as I was paranoid I would do something wrong, but this part of the job went quite smoothly.





Attempting to trim the pillars was less successful.  Trying to do it with one piece proved impossible for me to succeed.  While attempting this job, my Dad unfortunately was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and was to remain there for the next six weeks...





Back to this job again, and my heart was not really into it given Dad's situation.  I ended up making the trim in multiple pieces, just to get the job done.  It was not the cleanest job in the world, but did look acceptable in the end.






Around this time my new carpets arrived from Newton Commercial in the UK.  Nice quality they are, but the one extra piece I requested was made wrong by them.  Bit of a bummer, but then other things were on my mind by then.


Only other thing of note this month was that a 1992 16 valve GTI identical to mine sold on Bring a Trailer, for very large $$$.  Made me happy that I had not sold this car previously after all.  Kid still says he wants it and it is part of the will now...

[Volktales]

April:  With the headliner completed, it was time to think about window installation.  In anticipation of this, I had already purchased many new seals from CIP. 





Of course they were crap.  Many of the seals were damaged due to bending them in half and shoving them into boxes that were too small.  Dealing with CIP for returns is always a pain, and the guy I dealt with basically told me it is not their fault, and I should have known that the parts I was buying would be shitty.  Absolutely pathetic company to deal with...





Did manage to restore the right side window and complete the installation with new seals and chrome retainer.  This actually went together better then expected.  The next part did not...





The next step was to install the original chrome trim into the new rubber seals, that were already around the new windshield, and replacement rear window.  Despite having some specialty tools at my disposal, this was a complete failure.





At least I finally found some of the missing heater vents on TheSamba for sale, and Don was able to get them for me.  These are very difficult parts to find, specific to Ghias, and for two years only.  Lucky to have got my hands on these...





My friend Terry went to the Portland Swap Meet this month, and brought me back a cool "ALPS" Beetle.  Had it in running condition quickly and irritated both my wife and kid with its loud siren.  




Then Don and I had another highly frustrating go at installing the stupid chrome in the stupid rubber.  Again failure.  Even an old retired glass man who installed tons of these back in the day was unable to get the chrome in place.  He even said Karmann Ghias and early Volvos were the worst of all cars for this issue.  Nice...


What was not nice was Dad's condition at the hospital.  He had many ups and downs while there and was able to return home after six weeks.  This was not a success, and he had to be taken by ambulance back to the hospital after one night at home.  He was never able to return home...

[Volktales]

May:  May first started off with a visit from one of the characters from my favourite YouTube channel, ColdWarMotors.  Stephen had bought one of Don's SAABs, and he came over for a visit.  A true car guy, we both yapped for almost six hours...


Dad continued to do poorly in the hospital, and things were worse once he returned there the second time.  Worrying about him was stressful enough.  Then a water leak inside my house destroyed the flooring in the basement bathroom.  One minor leak was found, but the big one that damaged things was not obvious.    Something to worry about in the future, then...


Dad continued to deteriorate, his life ending on May 19, four days after his birthday.  We were all there and watched him pass on; not a good time at all...





I still miss him all the time.




By this time I was just worn out and could not face dealing with the Ghia anymore.  I wanted to get it done so bad so Dad could ride in it, but this was not to be.  Ghia was removed from the basement and put out in the other storage garage, and I have not thought about it since.  Don't know when I will get the mojo again to work on this...


With all the things going on at the time, looking at cars was not a priority.  However immediately after Dad passed, I spotted a Corvair for sale in Kelowna that I quite liked.  The timing was terrible, but I had been waiting a long time to find a good Corvair and this one looked like "the one".  I was still reluctant to pursue this, but deep down I know Dad would have wanted me to take a look.





Don was able to make contact for me, and I requested and was sent a lot of extra pictures.  Some things I liked, some I did not.  But finally said no, but with the caveat that if the price was significantly lower, I would still be interested if nobody else wanted to buy it.  Then we waited to see what would happen...






This rollercoaster of a month ended with my neighbour's VW getting crushed by a giant tree in a severe storm.  At least it didn't squish my VWs...



Continued... 

[Volktales]

Soooo what would June bring?

Lots of things going on with the family after Dad's passing, but I recieved a call from the Kelowna Corvair people.  It was now available to me for a price MUCH cheaper then the previous asking.  I just had to go take a look now, didn't I???

Before that it was the first real car event in a long time, the swap meet held in Nanoose.  And I did find some goodies including this:





The missing Dueck badge for the back of the gold Corvair!  Never thought I would find this, but there it was.  Made my day, actually...  Inquired about Corvair parts as I knew the trip to Kelowna was coming soon!





And a two day whirlwind tour it was.  Don's FJ and his new trailer did the job, and Corvair was destined to be mine.  It was a hectic two days, and I was so tired I missed the Qualicum car show.  That was a bummer...





I did spend the next day cleaning and detailing the car (once I dragged myself out of bed that morning...)  I would have liked to have dived right into the Corvair and fixing everything it needed, but other things popped up...





My nephew Reece managed to blow up the engine in the old Tercel, and given he was only one km away from my house when it happened, you can guess where the car ended up.  In the end I repaired the old engine from Rebecca's old car and installed it in this one.  Reece decided he needed a newer car shortly after this, and again the Tercel ended up in my possession.  Not wanting the hassle of selling this thing, I happily gave it away to someone that could use it.  See, I can get rid of cars sometimes!


Anyway the Toyota vacated the basement workshop, and the next thing you know it was filled with something else...   But Don will have to explain that...

[Volktales]

July:  Yet another busy month of working on stuff.





The first of Dad's cars were sold off.  This was his wish, and I spent a lot of time detailing this one to try and get a good price for it.  And it worked!  The new owners were VERY pleased with what they got and talking to them at the end of the summer showed they thoroughly enjoyed the car.  Everyone was happy, and one down and three to go...





Now that I was finally driving the Corvair, the problems started.  Having intermittent misfires and loss of power at higher RPMs did not make me happy, and installing an electronic points replacement was a start at repairing this.  Unfortunately it was just the start, and running problems plagued the car throughout the summer...


I was looking forward to attending the Seattle Vintage Meet with Don, but my niece felt she just had to get married on that same weekend instead.  Big bummer for me!


At least I was able to attend the first Victoria VW show since the pandemic.  





It was a nice day and venue.  Once we found it that is...





Lots of cool stuff in attendance, and most of us hard core VW people were there.  I think Don was coughing some cookies at the time and was unable to attend...  What would August bring???


Continued...

[Volktales]

August:   This month started off with Dad's Celebration of Life.  After many delays, it finally went ahead and was a great success as far as these things go.  Mom was pleased and the venue was near capacity with lots of car guys in attendance.





I finally got around to removing the ugly towing attachment from the front of the Corvair.  Fortunately you can barely see the mounting points for it...





Took the car to the shop and did a big service including the brakes and oil change.  No problems were found so that was good.  Still running funky at times, though...





Another big event was recommissioning Dad's old 1959 T-bird.  Out of use for a number of years, it needed a good detailing as well as changing the fluids.  This car was always destined to become mine, and officially was as of that month.  Brought back many memories driving this thing again...  It was later booked into its first event in years, the Ladysmith show.  I don't have pictures of that, but Don did and you can find them on the site...  





The month ended with a garage sale at Reagh's place, and I acquired this folding work bench and tools for the big garage.  Have used them many times since then, and think this was one of my smarter investments...  Thanks, Reagh...


Continued...

[Volktales]

September:  Another big month as another of Dad's old cars sold. 





It was time for the '56 Bel-Air to leave forever.  The guy who bought it knew Dad, and knew the car well, and he wanted it.  This was a very easy sale as well, and Dad would have been happy with the price.  I had some worries about this, as the car had some mechanical issues that I would have liked to address before it was sold.  The new owner was told these things, and he was happy to buy it as is was.  He drove it all summer and was also very happy with it...





Meanwhile I was still trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with the blue Corvair.  Spent way to much time fooling around with the ignition system without much success.  Not fun times...





In the fun department, HighTopRob gave me some cool old toys.  This red cross Beetle was my favourite...





Also I got the old '66 up and running again, for the first time since 2019.  Going to install the repaired 1600 single port back in this car and convert it to 12 volts like I should have when it was restored.  Would really like to drive this one to Seattle this year...





And finally replaced the front brake shoes on the mighty Chevrolet.  Got 28 years out of the old ones!  An oil change as well and should be good for another year.  Unless the frame falls apart...


Continued...

[Volktales]

So what did October bring?  Well Don was over working on his SAAB one day, I had a look at why the gold Corvair stopped running well the previous year.





Turns out the right carb had a piece of grit stuck in the float needle and seat assembly, so no fuel was getting through.  Cleaning this out restored action immediately, and the car actually runs beautifully.  Shame that the blow-by is still excessive and has a large influence on mixture control.  Too bad because I still hoped to get this thing running well enough to daily drive it for a laugh...


Meanwhile the blue Corvair was still fighting me.





Eventually I even bought a box of new tune up parts from Rock Auto.  Replaced pretty much the entire ignition system and the car was still not reliable.  Getting quite irritated by that point...





Finally the smoking gun was found.  Fuel pump had fallen apart internally and failed.  This was repaired and reinstalled, and low and behold it finally ran great!  Then the colder weather set in, the chokes started acting up, and then the carbs starting leaking.  Parked it for now and have not touched it since.




Then the second batch of parts arrived that were missed during the purchase of the blue car.  Again lots of good stuff in this batch, and thank you to both Rob, Rob's kid, and Reagh for getting these parts to me.  Very happy with that!  


And finally the month ended off with myself and Don getting a little feature on ColdWarMotors when Stephen interviewed me about my VWs.  Good times...  

[Volktales]

November"  Started off poorly but then got better for surprising reasons.  The poor part (for me anyway) is when my wife left to go visit her Dad back in Taiwan.  I now had to cook everyday for my students and would have to continue this for next two months.  Easy for some for sure, but not for me as my cooking skills are satisfactory at best.  The worst part is the amount of time this sucks up, and as a result very little was accomplished with any of my projects.  But then something interesting happened...





Yup.  Heard about another Corvair that might be for sale.  Had to take a look and liked what I saw.  Tried to justify buying it and work something out in my mind.  Was excited to go back for another look and then the weather changed...





Some of the worst driving conditions for me ever that week, and even managed to slightly crash the Acura into my own fence.  Fortunately damage was undetectable...





Don came over this month, and work was done to his SAAB.  Later a bunch of electrical issues were fixed as well, although a few more to go.  The weather was still miserable, and what would December bring this year???


Continued...

[Volktales]

December:   Well the big news was I figured out a way to justify buying that Corvair.





The mighty Fasty headed off to a new home with HighTopRob.  He has wanted it for a long time, and my time with it has ended.  I will probably miss it someday, but that is life.  Rob will fix the rust and then have himself a fun cruiser that is a real rarity nowadays...









So with cash in hand and a place to put it, I had no problem buying the latest Corvair.  Have already got it running and fixed most of its immediate issues.  This car has to perform well as it is destined to be my daily summer driver.  Just like the Fastback was seven years ago.  You know I am looking forward to this.

So that just about wraps up this year.  I will have a go at the remaining Corvair electrical issues soon, and finish cleaning up the interior.  And maybe some more work on Don's SAAB, to get it ready to go back to his house once his new garage is done.  I am sure there will lots to do in 2023 as well.  Just hope it is more mellow then 2022 was...

[beetlejuice]

Thank you so much for sharing all this, Volktales. You had quite a year. So sorry to hear about your father. Looks like you come by your interest in and talent with classic cars honestly. Amazing cars he had. And sorry to hear about Goldberg, too. He looks like he new just how to ride shotgun in a VW.

You've got some cool cars in your world and obviously some great friends (I think I recognize some from here) who are quick to help out. I think the thing I love just as much as puttering with my old vw's is the community of friends with the same interest- especially that this website has helped me connect with (thanks Don and others). And luckily for me, all the fellow vw'ers all far more knowledgeable than me and quick to share their expertise.

Again, thank you for sharing about your year. I really appreciate that you shared not just about your cars but about the people (and pups) who are important parts of your car stories. Very well-told. Maybe you have a 'cars and family and friends' book in you that needs to be written.

Best wishes for a fantastic 2023 that is filled with smooth running Corvairs and Ghias (and fastbacks and SAAB's and Acuras and Restfailias and others...). Warm regards, Drew (north of Courtenay).