And so it begins...

Yesterday, after some calls to my insurance company and the SAAQ (Quebec's department of transportation), I closed the deal for the purchase of a 1972 Karmann Ghia. It will be converted to a completely electric drive, similar to the following:



http://www.evalbum.com/34
http://www.evalbum.com/54
http://www.evalbum.com/219
http://www.evalbum.com/267
http://www.evalbum.com/683
http://www.evalbum.com/670
http://www.evalbum.com/1193
http://www.evalbum.com/1412
http://www.evalbum.com/1765
http://www.evalbum.com/1688
http://www.evalbum.com/1863

Sure, its been done before, but, for me: that's the point! This will be my first conversion and the Ghia is relatively simple to convert: its a simple car. The instrumentation is basic, in fact, pretty much everything is basic.

Why I picked a Ghia:
- Its lightweight, 1918lbs, as per the owners manual; I'll weight it myself before and after the conversion.
- It has a small frontal area and is reasonably aerodynamic (21sqft & 0.37, both to be confirmed). - There is a great support community for restoring / fixing / maintaining this car.
- Its a car I want to drive. I don't like commuting to work, but this car will make me look forward to that aspect of my day.

The Ghia runs as-is, I took it around the block near the seller's home in Laval. I still need to get it inspected and registered. I'm getting its 'transit' papers this week so that I can bring it for its inspection on Monday morning. The plan is to have it fully plated and insured as an ICE, then do a converion, have it re-inspected and then re-registred as a EV.