4/24/2008
Suspension of sales is lifted. Feel free to call or email
with questions or parts needs.
There is still more work to do on the catalog. I have
finally received the editable copy of the catalog and all that is left to do is
finalize the editing of the content which is just about completed.
Big News!!!....I've hired a web-designer. Jason Hamilton of
www.webmedia.type-14.com has been
contracted to build the site. I am very excited about this. If
you've been keeping up with how House of Ghia is coming along, you'll know I've
been promising an e-commerce site for a couple of years now. Jason is very
excited to be taking on this project. I'm not sure how soon the site will be up,
but Jason will be prodding me along to get the site up and running as soon as
possible.
A move is in House of Ghia's future. We will be moving to
a new location as soon as the new shop is built. We will still be in the
Salem, Or area. I hope to be in the new location mid-summer.
New parts.....John Copello has made a small run of reproduction
AMCO wind deflectors, expected to arrive next week. They will be $149
per set. They attach to the rain gutter along the windshield post. These
were a period accessory for many cars that did not have integrated vents in the
doors. I'll post a pic when the parts arrive.
In development is the metal felt retaining strip for the 55-59
Karmann Ghias. The felt mounts to these strips, then the strips mount to
the door. Most often these metal strips are ravaged by rust. I hope
to have a run of these done very soon.
Also, the retaining strips for the door panel trim....those long
slender strips with the sharp, bend-over, tabs to keep the trim on the door
panels. I'm working on reproducing those as well....
12/31/2007
We have had a breakthrough in getting Jim Patterson's catalog
off of his Mac hard drive. I have someone working on converting the document to
a more recent program so we can easily edit it in the future. I have about
halfway finished with the current edits and there is light at the end of the
tunnel. As many of you know, I work House of Ghia by myself. In order to
accomplish this long overdue catalog, I've decided to suspend any new orders
until it is finished. At the rate we are going, the catalog should be done
mid February.
I realize that this will hurt business in the short term, but a
catalog is essential to future of this business and I have been delaying it for
far too long. Please bear with me as I complete this project.
John Copello has just finished a run of the Dash Escutcheon
tools (dash escutcheons are the little aluminum nuts that hold your switches to
the dash). These tools are a must have for removing and installing switches.
Have a Very Happy and Safe New Year!
Mike
9/27/2007 Update
It's been a few months between updates and I
apologize. I have been working hard since my departure from HP in
June. I joke with my old colleagues that I used to make a lot of
money while not working too hard, now I work too hard without making a lot of
money...:) I did have had a great summer getting reacquainted with my
family and getting to spend some quality time with them. I really enjoyed that.
But now that summer's over, it's time to really get to work.
I have made some good progress here at the shop
and have been able to respond to parts requests more rapidly for most. I still
have some work to do to get this all sorted out, but we are making progress,
which is more than I can say about the last two years.
I will have my first HotVW's ad coming out in the Dec issue (Nov
6th). It will be the start of my Christmas Gift Certificate sale. Gift
Certificates will be on sale for 10% off. And yes.....you may buy them for
yourself!
Reproduction parts:
I've been working John Copello overtime this last
couple of months. Here's a list of Johns current creations that we have in
stock. All aluminum repros of the original parts:
Dash knobs
Wiper knobs
turn signal knobs (thin style)
shift knobs, 7mm and 10mm
66 only dash trim!
window cranks/knobs
heater control knobs, early
seat lever knobs, ball type
speaker grill
Escutcheon tool (stainless steel)
Fresh air control knobs, early
Some other stuff John makes:
56-59 door pull straps, drivers side
Battery straps, 66 and earlier
Next on the list, John will be making a copy of
the Anco wind deflectors. Instead of drilling into the door and mounting
the support bar for the wing, John has designed a mount that attaches the wing
to the drip rail...sweet! We should have those soon....just in time for
Christmas!
John also wants to make his version of the old
Empi headrests....a neat accessory.
Call or email if you want prices on any of the
above parts.
New Parts From House of Ghia:
I have repro'd the flat lenses found in early
56-57 license lights. These are clear and do not have the Hella logo. I
have sent a few pair out and the report back was that the fit and finish was
great....so if you have searched the world over for a pair of NOS or good used
flat lenses...this is a good way to hold you over until you find them.....or use
these and stop looking!
That's it for this update....please feel free to
email me at mike@house-of-ghia.com
if you need parts, have questions, or just want to chat!
4/2/2007 Update
Well...it's
official.....after 25 years and 10 months, I will be leaving my full time job at
Hewlett-Packard. The company offered an early retirement incentive and I
decided to take it. So as of June 1, 2007 I will be at the shop 5
days a week instead of two.
Leaving HP will be a BIG
change. I'm already feeling a little anxiety about it. But I'm
also very excited about being at the House of Ghia full time, getting down to
business, and accomplishing the things I've been promising for much too long.
I will also be working on
some restorations....the first on the block will be a retro custom 69 ghia.
Once finished it will be for sale...so keep an eye peeled for it in my Gallery.
3/5/07 Update
After taking a couple of
months off, I'm open for business again!! Did I get everything
accomplished that I wanted to? Are you kidding me? Murphy's law was
working overtime in the month of February and I did not even spend one day at
the shop! I did make progress on getting the shop organized and setting up
the inventory like I wanted...but I had hope to be done by this time. Some of you may remember
Karen, Jim Patterson's wife, Kari and Kirsten, Jims' Daughters. They have
offered to come up to the warehouse and help me complete my inventory.
With their help I should be able to finish up rather quickly. After
inventory, the website is just around the corner!
AND......as for the
catalog....I have completed the file conversions necessary and have only a
couple of changes left to make, and the catalog will be ready to put onto the
web for download! As you recall, this catalog was given to me the
morning of Jim's passing. He was so excited that I would have an
opportunity to distribute it. I hope you folks will like it.
11/30/06 Update
Reproduction Parts at the HoG:
When I bought the HoG, there were quite a few parts in need of
reproducing again as we were out of stock...a couple of those were the quarter
window hinge blocks and the stainless steel intermediate bow. I'm happy to
announce that we are literally days away from making those parts again! I
should have the SS intermediate bow in stock by the first of the year and the
hinge blocks will be here in about two weeks. HoG is the only
manufacturer of the hinge blocks so I'm excited to get these and distribute
them.
Another HoG repro part that we started making again is the
fiberglass dash pad for the 64-67 ghia. We are the only producer of a
fiberglass replacement pad (not a cover) for the pre 68 Karmann Ghia (yes the
fiberglass dash pad that KGPR sells is ours). The pad is actually patterned
after the 64-67 ghia, but will work on the earlier years with modifications for
the speaker grill. I will be working with the maker of these pads to see
if it is possible to make an early pad that will accept the speaker grill.
That seems to make the most sense to me, rather than have the customer modify a
new part! So stay tuned on that.
A couple of months ago, I bought a business that was owned and
operated by John Copello. John had been making excellent reproduction dash and
heater knobs,and various other interior parts, specifically for the early
Karmann Ghia's. The knobs are made from billet aluminum and powder coated.
He was also making window crank knobs (the correct bell shaped knobs), turn
signal lever knobs, e-brake buttons, as well as battery straps, escutcheon
tools, aluminum speaker grills, ...you get the idea...a whole slew of stuff.
John also rebuilt original hinges, which were a big hit as folks weren't very
trusting of the repro hinges currently on the market. John is finishing up
what may be the final run on a lot of his products and I will be posting a
separate page with the parts and prices for those interested. I will be
determining which products to continue and will be looking for a source to
manufacture those parts.
That's it for now......we are still not ready to release the
catalog.....but I have a plan to speed things up....more on that later.....
7/26/2006 Update
I've been messing around with the website a little. Folks have been telling me that they can't view the links, the home page was a mess in anything other than IE, and a host of other problems.
So I used one of our hosts templates and basically rebuilt the website. I kept most of the original links and added the parts page link.
Keep in mind that this site is temporary. I do have a webdesigner working on a new site. The new site will have online ordering and the new catalog will be available at the same time. The main holdup is the setting up of the warehouse and parts database. This is taking longer than expected, but we are making progress.
I'm toying with the idea of putting the catalog online now for you to download. Even though I'm not completely ready, it will give you an idea of what will be available. There are also some tips and thoughts from Jim which are always helpfull.
1/1/2006
My name is Michael, and I’m the new owner of the House of Ghia. Wow….it’s been a few months since my last update of this website. I’d like to thank all the customers that have given me the opportunity to serve them. I very much appreciate your business!
I have a couple of folks working on the new website which will list all the parts I carry and will also have online ordering capabilities. Time flies by so fast and my optimism is challenged from time to time, but it will happen, so please hang in there. I know in this new age of internet shopping, folks want to be able to shop and click, so I’m working on getting that going.
The catalogue is also being worked on. I do have Jim’s latest edition, which is vintage Jim all the way. I can’t wait to get it to you. We are just around the corner on this as well.
I have moved into a shop close to home and will be working diligently on getting the parts warehouse setup and inventoried.
In spite of all this work going on, I can still get parts out to you if you need them. Please email me and let me know what you are looking for, new or used. I prefer emails, but you are welcome to call as well.
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