I purchased this car over 25 years ago from its second owner. At that time it had 56000 miles on it. Its first owner was the accountant/secretary at the Volkswagen dealer ship in Truro, Nova Scotia. She had installed at the dealer the sport steering wheel and Riviera style wheels. I found the vehicle by placing a Want Add in the Old Car Autotrader in 1988. I was specifically looking for a 1969 1/2 convertible with a wholesome unrestored body and original top. It is the only year that had the combination that I wanted, which had independent rear suspension (IRS), rear glass window (instead of plastic), and most importantly, it did not have large bulky tail lights and bumpers that was later imposed by the government. In the 25 years that I’ve owned the car, I’ve only put about 11 000 miles on it. The car shows very well for its age. I’ve reframed from painting the car so people could see exactly what they’re getting. A few years ago, I removed the engine and resealed it. At that time, I also cleaned up the engine bay. The original engine runs like a Swiss watch and it is quite sprightly. The four speed is smooth and crisp. A rag with a bit of Varsol is all that is needed to reveal the original paint throughout the under floor pan.

When I purchased the car, I was told that the drivers door was hit by a run away shopping cart. Because the car was fairly new at the time, they were able to source out a replacement door, which also was the same pirolgelb yellow. If you look at the car, at just the right angle, you may notice the tint is not exactly the same. Also please not that this car was not painted yesterday and does show some history. I feel it is now time for someone else to enjoy this wholesome original car. So if a survivor car is what you are looking for, I can send you more specific pictures.

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Lexus tops JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study again, Buick bests Toyota

Wed, Feb 25 2015

It shouldn't surprise anyone, but Lexus has once again taken the top spot in JD Power's Vehicle Dependability Study. That'd be the Japanese luxury brand's fourth straight year at the top of table. The big news, though, is the rise of Buick. General Motor's near-premium brand beat out Toyota to take second place, with 110 problems per 100 vehicles compared to Toyota's 111 problems. Lexus owners only reported 89 problems per 100 vehicles. Besides Buick's three-position jump, Scion enjoyed a major improvement, jumping 13 positions from 2014. Ram and Mitsubishi made big gains, as well, moving up 11 and 10 positions, respectively. In terms of individual segments, GM and Toyota both excelled, taking home seven segment awards each. The study wasn't good news for all involved, though. A number of popular automakers finished below the industry average of 147 problems per 100 vehicles, including Subaru, (157PP100), Volkswagen (165PP100), Ford/Hyundai (188PP100 each) and Mini (193PP100). The biggest losers (by a tremendous margin, we might add) were Land Rover and Fiat, recording 258 and 273 problems per 100 vehicles. The next closest brand was Jeep, with 197PP100. While the Vehicle Dependability Study uses the same measurement system as the Initial Quality Survey, the two metrics analyze very different things. The VDS looks at problems experienced by original owners of model year 2012 vehicles over the past 12 months, while the oft-quoted IQS focuses on problems in the first 90 days of new-vehicle ownership. Like the IQS, though, the VDS has a rather broad definition of what a problem is. Because of that, a low score from JD Power is no guarantee of extreme unreliability, so much as just poor design. In this most recent study, the two most reported problems focused on Bluetooth connectivity and the voice-command systems. The former leaves plenty of room for user error due to poor design (particularly true of the Bluetooth systems on the low-scoring Fords, Volkswagens and Subarus), while the second is something JD Power has already confirmed as being universally terrible. That makes means that while these studies are important, they shouldn't be taken as gospel when it comes to automotive reliability. News Source: JD PowerImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Buick Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Jeep Land Rover Lexus MINI Mitsubishi RAM Scion Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Auto Repair Ownership study

VW to relax ambitious US sales targets?

Fri, 16 May 2014

The Volkswagen brand sold 407,704 cars last year, a 6.95-percent decline compared to 2012, and it's down a further 8.36 percent through the end of April 2014 compared to this time last year. In order to to put the sales football between its Strategy 2018 goal posts, the brand would need to add 100,000 more sales every year to achieve the lofty 800,000-unit target. Coming to grips with how unreasonable that is, VW US CEO Michael Horn has said, "For now, we have to have realistic targets."
The reasons for the brand's slow-down are imprecise, but lots of folks are throwing lots of reasons around. Last November, VW Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech told Bloomberg, "We understand Europe, we understand China and we understand Brazil, [but] we only understand the US to a certain degree so far." Analysts say the brand hasn't had midsize and compact SUV offerings, especially an overdue retail version of the CrossBlue, and the ones it does have are priced too high for their segments. It "didn't introduce enough new engines, or alternative technologies or model variants" for the Passat and Jetta. It devoted so many resources to China that the US market suffered. It was being outspent two-to-one on advertising by competitors. Its J.D. Power dependability ratings aren't high enough to overcome its past. It "has never really taken the US customer seriously." And so on.
There's still no official admission of defeat concerning the target, but reading between the lines there are some VW execs that appear to accept it won't happen short of some deus ex machina. Still,

Audi CVT suit settlement given green light, 64,000 cars covered

Mon, 07 Oct 2013

Audi drivers, listen up. If you bought or leased a 2002-06 model-year A4 or A6 with a factory-installed Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) that failed, you may be entitled to reimbursement under a recently settled class-action lawsuit with corporate parent Volkswagen.
According to Automotive News, the settlement covers about 64,000 vehicles and alleges that "manufacturing and design problems caused the transmissions to fail and left owners stuck with repair costs." While the suit also argues Audi was aware of these issues (going so far as to hide that knowledge from consumers), the settlement stops short of acknowledging any wrongdoing by the German automaker.
Audi drivers are eligible for a cash reimbursement if their CVT repairs occurred within 10 years or 100,000 miles of the date they bought or leased the vehicle before June 19, 2013. To be eligible for compensation, drivers must submit a claim form (found here) with supporting documents by November 18.

1969 1/2 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible on 2040-cars

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia for Sale

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Lexus tops JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study again, Buick bests Toyota

VW to relax ambitious US sales targets?

Audi CVT suit settlement given green light, 64,000 cars covered