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I had worked with MendoMotive Electric Vehicles for a while before I knew that this second Ghia even existed.

It was with a friend of Steve Heckeroth's supposedly to have the interior finished. One day I was sent over there to fix some allegedly minor problem in order to get it operational. This eventually led to my spending literally hundreds of hours turning it into a safe and useable vehicle. It would be not be exaggerating to say that the vehicle appeared to be assembled by brain-dead monkeys. Almost every assembly not including the body and paint work (except the driver's door shell which I replaced, repaired, and refinished) needed to be taken apart and put together correctly.

A quick overview of what was done--
Complete rewiring of entire vehicle, virtually every circuit was replaced with new wire. Disappeared all the crap. Everything was tacked and hacked everywhere when I started. Less is more. I disappeared everything I could to give it a clean look. (take a look at the under hood picture).
All new fuse boxes and inline fuses were installed. All wires were labeled and placed in plastic conduit. Every braking system part was replaced. New shocks and wheels and tires were installed. The entire clutch assembly was re-engineered, the transmission and drive axles were replaced with remanufactured units. All interior components including window crank assemblies, door seals, steering column, seating, and instrumentation were doctored appropriately.

Due to the rarity of these vehicles, the majority of parts are made of unobtainium. If we did not have a part, we generally had to fabricate it.

Overall, it turned out pretty nice, though certainly overweight for the stock Type 3 suspension.

Not visible in these pictures is the majority of the batteries, which are located low in the chassis forward of the rear axles and reaching almost to the rear of the seats.

These vehicles are extremely rare, only about 200 were ever imported into the US. The two shown on these pages are the only two in the world known to be converted to electric propulsion.

This car was sold in early 2001.

Specifications:

Owner: Steve Heckeroth
Location: Albion, CA
Base Vehicle: 1964 VW Type34 Karmann Ghia
Motor: Advanced DC 9"
Drivetrain: Stock Type 3 VW
Controller: Zapi HFM 400 w/regen
Batteries: (24) US 125 6V
System Voltage: 144V
Charger: Zivan 120VAC 12A input
Heater: none
DC/DC Converter: Todd 30A
Instrumentation: E-Meter, analog ammeter.12VDC meter
Top Speed: 80+ mph
Range: 60-70 miles
Seating Capacity: 2
Curb Weight: approx. 3500 lbs.
Tires: Michelin X LRR rear, Jupiter front
Comments: all restored, nice driver, sold