After much thought I’ve decided it’s time to let my GTV go. It’s time for me to take a different direction with my career, and I hope the equity left in this car will help me accomplish that goal. It is a great car that I love dearly, and I hope the next caretaker will put it back on the road and enjoy it as much as I have. I never intended on selling this car, so rest assured it has the best of everything, nothing was overlooked, I never once cheaped out on anything. It has a clear title in my name, it is NOT salvaged.
The more detailed build thread can be seen here:
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,1537.0.htmlThis is an original 1972 EMPI GTV in Texas Yellow. Interestingly, it was based on a no frills standard model, built November 1971. It has no rear defroster, no rubber impact strips on the bumper, etc. Base model. When I found the car it was equipped with four 5.5” chrome EMPI Sprint Star wheels (all having the same date stamp), complete set of EMPI gauges with the brass sending unit, E-Z-R shifter, door edge and handle guards, rear fender guards, fuel door guard, and of course the C Stripe kit. I bought the car in February 2006 with 108,000+ miles on the odometer, which I have every reason to believe was accurate. In May of the same year I got it running for a short time, then flat towed it home (900+ miles). March of 2007 a friend helped me get it dialed in, and it became a driver. I upgraded many parts on the car and I drove it with the original engine until it had about 132k on the clock, around May 2010 I took the car off the road and began the engine rebuild. Every original part I removed in favour of upgraded parts (99% original EMPI) I kept, such as the steering wheel, brakes, original Continental spare, etc. All of those original parts come with the car, no exceptions. When I describe a part as NOS, it obviously isn’t any more, it just tells you the condition of the part when I installed it. Most NOS parts will come with their original packaging. Everything on this car works, from the lights to the horn to the original Sapphire AM/FM radio.
I’ll start with the front bumper and move my way towards the back. The bumper guards are NOS EMPI. They are the 68-69 type as this car is a standard and never used the rubber impact strips. I replaced the black insert tape on the bumpers at the same time, but the tape hasn’t held up very well. The hood handle features an NOS chrome EMPI guard. The hood is original to the car, but was repainted sometime in the 70’s when it was struck by a .22 caliber bullet. It is missing its stripes on the hood, but I have a partial reproduction stripe kit that will come with the car. The bullet hit the spare wheel and stopped dead. The evidence is still there. I replaced the original spare with a 4.5” chrome EMPI wheel that I paint detailed. Original EMPI center cap. It has a new Michelin 145 XZX mounted to it. The original washer bottle wouldn’t work with the EMPI wheel, so I installed a Mexican Beetle washer reservoir with an integral pump that mounts to the drivers side inner fender. The original cardboard trunk liner is present and in good condition. The fuel tank was flushed, hard lines were cleared, and soft lines replaced.
The suspension in this car works like magic. Rides like a stock VW, and sticks to the road like glue. Stops like a dog on the end of his rope. The front suspension uses the original beam, not yet rebuilt. I added CB 2 ½” drop spindles (I drilled and tapped the spindles to install original VW disc brake backing plates). I took off the original EMPI 5.5” wheels (they will come with the car), and found and paint detailed a pair of 4.5” wheels for more fender clearance. All four wheels have original chrome EMPI lug bolts, and uses NOS EMPI wheel locks (key included). Nearly new Michelin 145 XZX tires. Original EMPI 5/8” sway bar, new rubber bushings with original clamps. NOS Koni “winged” adjustable shocks (date stamped ’72 and ’74 front and rear) with Wolfsburg West original style ball joint shock mount kit. New Koni steering dampner. Heavy duty CSP beam stiffeners (modeled after original VW parts). New stainless steel braided soft brake lines from CB Performance.
The rear suspension has the same shocks and brake lines, CB rear disc brakes with parking brake. The rear trailing arms have had the bearing housings sunk in 26mm, and two left side axles from a type 3 automatic were installed. Original unmodified trailing arms included. NOS EMPI IRS 5/8” sway bar. Original 5.5” wheels (paint detailed) with nearly new Michelin 165 XZX’s. Transmission works great and is original to the car. I swapped in a 100mm clutch arm for easier clutch pedal action.
The exterior… Brand new windshield. New wiper blades. Front and rear window rubber was replaced with deluxe style rubber (chrome trim). Brand new WW running boards with trim, drivers side mirror is from a type 3 (original was broken off, type 3 mirror looks and works better, IMO). Pop out quarter windows installed, new seals. I polished a late model license plate light housing for a little more pop. The original Texas Yellow housing will come with the car. Deluxe half moon rear vents. Keep On Buggin’ license plate frame. Locking decklid latch matched to ignition.
Interior… EMPI gauges are original to the car, work, and have been tested to be accurate. The steering wheel is a hard to find EMPI GT Custom. Real wood rim, not the fake wood most EMPI wheels came with. Horn button is in good condition. EMPI/VWOA under dash parcel shelf. NOS EMPI wood dash and crank knob inserts. EMPI wood door window sills. All three pedals feature original stainless steel EMPI stamped pedal pads. NOS EMPI/VWOA stainless steel scuff plate. NOS EMPI shift knob on the E-Z-R shifter. The center console and coco floor mats are original to the car and are VWOA items, I think. I recovered the seats with an original style kit from TMI when I first found the car. The owners manual is from ’72, but is not original to the car. The glove box is original and in great condition, as is the original German dome light. Original glove box lock added. There are old speakers in the original door panels, I believe they were put there when the EMPI gauges were installed. They work, so I left them. Brand new battery. On the panel in front of the battery I installed three power outlets so I could charge my phone, etc. I used black pinch welt on the rear pop outs, I feel it goes with the black rear window rubber better. The original headliner is in good condition.
The 1700cc motor… I built this motor thinking, how would the owner of this car in the 70’s modify his motor if he was loyal to the EMPI brand? Say he wanted as much power as he could get, without cracking into the engine case (it would have been nearly new, after all). I was insanely anal about keeping all of the original engine parts with the car. The case, crank, rods, heads, even the lifters, etc are the ones the car left the factory with, just refurbished. Since my motor wasn’t exactly fresh, I did a complete rebuild. I sent the crank and flywheel to DPR for counterweights and 8 doweling, and lightening to 12.5 pounds. Steve Hollingsworth of V.W. Performance checked the case out, drilled and tapped oil passages, align bored .020”, and silicon bronze sleeved the lifter bores. I ported the case based on the thread on this site. I also soda blasted the case, sump, and generator stand for a like new finish. I had Competition Engineering balance the rotating assembly. Steve also balanced the original rods. All German Kolbenschmidt bearings used, double thrust on the cam. The oil pump is an original EMPI filter pump and was blueprinted by Steve. Since it was designed for a 3 bolt cam, I had to swap the cam. I used a SLR “basic stock VW” grind. SLR also resurfaced my original lifters. The cam is bolted to a NOS EMPI helical cam gear. The pickup tube was extended to reach the original EMPI magnesium deep sump, welded pick up tube with Berg magnet. The case was spot faced so I could do the Berg HD case washer trick, and the torque was increased accordingly. I used Cima/Mahle 88’s that Steve turned the bases down to fit in the stock case register- remember, I wanted the bottom end to remain as stock as possible). The original heads were in great condition, so I dropped them off at Steve Tims’ Performace Workshop. He ported the stock valve heads, did a valve job, machined out the factory “step” in the chamber, match ported them to the original EMPI Globe manifolds, and assembled them with HD single springs. When I got them back, there were a few details I wasn’t thrilled with, so suffice to say I had Steve Hollingsworth perfect them. I assembled the motor with .047” deck height, compression came out to 8.6:1. Original EMPI 1.4:1 rockers are used with Berg lash caps. Total lift is .428” at the valve. Stainless steel windage style pushrod tubes. Bugpack HD aluminium pushrods. The pressure plate is a Stage 1 aluminium from Kennedy, Daiken disc. Type 4 oil cooler with the Berg conversion. Insane amounts of care went in to making sure there were no possible air leaks. Hoover bit was lengthened. Venturi ring from a fuel injected engine. All tin was powdercoated semi gloss black. Factory style breather installed in the 1-2 valve cover. I rebuilt the original generator with German bearings and brushes. The original fan was cracked, so a Berg welded and balanced unit took its place. A original Porsche 356/912 pulley turns the fan. Original heater boxes, repainted in high heat gray. Heater works VERY well. EMPI 4 bolt header, one off EMPI style glasspack… This one is 1 5/8” to better match the collector, uses a louvered (not perforated) core, and is 100% stainless steel. Fits and sounds better than original. Carburetors were split shaft Solex 40P11’s converted to solid shaft by 356carburetorrescue.com. These are the later 912 style that have 5 progression holes and an independent idle circuit. They are smooth as butter, and comfortable driving at any speed. NOS EMPI throttle linkage. Original paint Bosch 010 distributor with Pertronix unit. Brand new blue coil. Bosch wires with 90 degree ends. Original EMPI Santana style degree pulley. NOS German fuel pump because I hate the shitty Brazilian ones.
I wasn’t trying to break records with this engine. I wanted something that would suit the car well, get decent mileage, be fun to drive, have great throttle response, and be period correct. It did all of that and more. The motor is on a conservative tune (only 28 degrees advance, factory 912 jetting, not 100% throttle), and it runs very, very well. It pulls to about 5,500 rpm and has great torque. I’m sure that it can push this heavy car to 16’s in the quarter mile and get 30mpg on the highway… I got 27mpg driving it hard!
There are other things I would like to sell with the car, package deal. They are as follows:
NOS EMPI Slipper Skirt 88’s with biral cylinders
NOS EMPI front and rear fiberglass air dams
NOS EMPI belt guard (was installed, then taken off)
Reproduction EMPI brass “T” sending unit. This is a repro that used mine to copy from, so it’s a 100% exact match
NOS EMPI decklid vent trim
1972 EMPI catalog
Six NOS EMPI cam gears of various (+/-) sizes
EMPI 831 camshaft with gear (used)
Original EMPI non GT valve covers (restored)
Two extra pairs (4 total) of Solex 40P11 carbs and a box of jets
Much, much more. But those are the big items.
Now the bad… As many of you know, the car was hit as I was heading home from the VW Classic. I was t-boned by a To#¤ta Camry. My car was not driveable, the right front wheel was pushed in. The trailing arm(s), and/or beam is probably bent. The wheel and tire is fine, as is the rear wheel and tire. The engine was running rough after the accident, but since the impact was nowhere near the engine, my only guess is that one of the EMPI manifolds may have cracked and created a vacuum leak. Or maybe it’s something simpler than that. Both fenders, the door, front and rear quarter panels will need to be replaced. The pan is straight, and the heater channels are straight. The roof has a very, very slight dip in the rain gutter right above the B pillar. My plan was to find a Texas Yellow donor car, replace metal where needed and blend paint where needed. All that matters is that it is very possible to put this rare car back on the road.
I’m sure there is more I’m forgetting, it’s hard to remember all I’ve done when I’ve done so much. I am asking $12,500 for everything. I initially bought the car for $500, but believe me I’ve got much, much more than $12,500 into it, especially after the engine rebuild. Like I said, I never planned to part with this car, so expense was never spared. Not because I’m rich, more because my priorities were fucked up
I refuse to part it out, the car is too rare to be dissected for its parts. I’m sure I could get at least that much if I sold all of the EMPI parts individually, but it’s not all about the money for me. I want to see this car live on, it’s an incredible all around machine. If you think my asking price is crazy, just look to see what the individual parts go for on thesamba.com (if you can find them), think about the rarity, the fact that this is an original GTV and not a clone, then make me an honest offer. I am willing to negotiate.
I'm working on getting some pictures up, hang tight
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