VW Karman Ghias:

Karmann Ghias are the worst possible VW product you could ever buy for restoration. Since they're more or less unibody construction if a panel or frame piece is bad, you better have some serious welding and fabrication skills.

Don't EVEN start talking about things like door hinges. They can't be had. Reproductions are a small fortune. Buy a couple of sets because they will wear out again in the future. Door rubber? Forget it. You think old MB parts are expensive? These cars can make parts for a 111 seem cheap.

Dan Penoff

Porsche

These days, a six-cylinder overhaul is 10 grand minimum.

Roger Ellingston

Engine life

MB bottom ends last forever for three reasons: High nickel cast iron cylinder liners -- harder, more wear resistant; Chrome-molly rings without sharp edges, unlike many of the standard american style compression rings with a tapered face; and very close tolerance piston fit.

The combination of the above, along with the generaous abount of babbit material on the bearings, pretty much eliminataes wear so long as the oil is good and the engine isn't overheated. The hard cylinder liner is MUCH harder than material that can successfully be cast as an entire block, and it can be hardened further after casting, unlike the whole block. The crhome moly rings have micro-cracks in the face, so more oil is carried between the ring face and the cylinder wall without going in the the combustion area, and the very tight piston fit greatly reduces blowby and associated acidic compounds.

This is what you pay for when you buy a Benz, or at least used to. Techs in California, where people actually put 500,000 miles on cars, say that the lower end in an M117 should alst 500,000 miles between overhauls with no problem. Upper end usually goes 250,000.

Peter Frederick