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Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Karmann Ghia, Nick Alexander And I.

 For a few months in the early seventies I worked as "lot boy" in San Juan Capistrano at "Bill Yates Volkswagen.


My personal friend and boss at the time was Nick Alexander of the now "Nick Alexander Imports."

A really great guy!

I learned a lot about the inside of the automotive industry from Nick.

I first met Nick in Newport Beach on 45th street when he was the neighbor next to me in the sixties.

My youngest sister used to babysit his daughter who now runs Nick's business.

One of my jobs as lot boy was to drive brand new Karmann Ghia's up to the Port of Long Beach to have their undersides coated with tar.

Back east it is done to protect cars from road salts, but here in California it used to be done to quiet down road noise.

At the time there really were no San Juan Neighborhoods, just a small Cessna airport across the freeway from the dealership and a lot of farmland.

Mission Viejo had no neighborhoods yet and there were not any Irvine neighborhoods so the 405 freeway was virtually empty of cars.

There was hardly any traffic at all, so I could cruise at top speeds in these new cars, and I did.

I really liked how fast they were and how well they handled on the road.

I have fond memories of those cars.

The Karmann Ghia was a superfine automobile!


http://www.karmannghiaconnection.com/history.html

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