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.....