Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

The price seemed fair for what appeared to be a '69 Ghia in good condition.
The Good:
The body was/is rust free but has some crude bondo work and the front skirt was cut out with what must have been tin-snips to allow room for the wrong sized tires that were put on it. Interior was decent but not new as indicated in the description, with broken seat levers and dirty seat covers.
The BAD:
If I had paid any more than I did, I would be very upset. Not only is the engine not a 1600cc engine as described, (it is a 40 hp version instead of the 57 hp 1600cc), the muffler is bad, the starter grinds due to it being a 12v starter fitted to the original 6V cam. The brakes were shot, the ball joints were exploded, the steering control is shot and the carburator had rust in it. I will have to put a minimum of another $3000-$4000 to get this car in running and SAFE condition. While this will bring the price to the range of cars in this condition, the write up was misleading. I will not blame the seller too much as he seems to resell vehicles for others and does not know a VW part from a vacuum cleaner part.
Having said the negatives, I am still hopeful that this car will be a good car and yes, I am so happy about the lack of rust that I can say I think this will work out. However, if I knew this up front, I would have bid on vehicles that already were in running condition.

I bought a Karmann Ghia coupe, north of Montreal a year or so ago. Well, after my mechanic stopped laughting,he told me,the junk yard could use a few good cars like this. Well I have always loved the car, with a new engine, body job,alot of parts and 6 months in the shop, with 25 thousand dollars. I have a nice fun car, that could play in any James Bond movie, it get looks and a tonne of 'cougars'& 'kitty Kats'
Bottom line, take a mechanic to look at ALL used vehicles or get him to inspect before purchasing, your buddy may think he is good, but I go to a real Doctor when I am sick, not a Witch Doctor or my Buddy's wife.