The '68 Ghia came with old-style lap belts. Shoulder belts were an option, but they were all of the manually-adjusting type. Modern reel-type seat belts seemed like a good upgrade for safety and convenience. These came from a VW Rabbit and the receptacles are out of an early 80's Audi. To mount the reel, we drilled holes in the front of the rear seat frame (rear seat is removed in this photo) and through-bolted
the the reels with a 2"X 3" aluminum plate on the backside for extra strength. The end of the new belt and receptacles bolt in the original mounting locations of the lap belt.The top of the new belt also bolts into the boss for the original shoulder strap. The belts work great and look like they belong there.
 
    The air-cooled VW motor does not have the hydraulic valves of newer cars and needs to be checked and adjusted every 3,000 miles. This is an acquired skill and here Tracy starts on her first valve. The exorcise ended four hours later with a frustrated Tracy throwing wrenches & shouting words that cannot be reprinted here.
A mechanic is born!!
 
    Your author installs the new alternator upgrade kit (with engine cooling fan attached).

    We were bouncing & wobbling our way across Atlanta on our first long drive, heater blasting (if you could call it that, and yes it does get what we call cold down here in Atlanta), and generally wearing big grins and slapping each-other on the back over what a fine job we had done, when Tracy
mentioned that there seemed to be some smell/smoke in the car. With years of mechanical knowledge and experience I patiently explained that it was just dust & dirt burning off the heat exchangers after being idle for so long. After another minute it became obvious that there was some flaw in my thin veneer of manly-mechanical wisdom and confidence. I agreed that something seemed to be amiss and turned to look back where the crisp winter sun was streaming in through the rear window and shouted at the top of my lungs, "PULL OVER, THE CAR'S ON FIRE!!!" I haven't seen a cloud of smoke like that since I was in high school - eheh heh. By now the green generator warning light (green warning light? I don't know, ask the Germans) had come on. As we careened onto the shoulder of the highway, I jumped out, ran to the back of the car and flung open the hood, er, trunk, er, engine cover and sure enough, there was smoke pouring out of the generator, getting sucked into the engines cooling fan (air cooled car, remember?) blown past the heat exchangers and into the car. I could see the remnant coals of a girl scout fire in the windings of the generator. Thankfully, the car was not in danger of burning to the ground but it was definitely time to head back to the barn. Without the generator charging the battery, the car would be garaged until an alternator upgrade kit could be purchased and installed. As it turned out, there was something more afoot and it would be 3 full weeks before Haifisch would again see the light of day...