[jray3]

Indeed, most of a Ghia's strength is in the body. The VW pan is a floppy thing, with only the central spine providing some structure. A Ghia Cabriolet flexes tremendously over undulating terrain, but a coupe is pretty stiff, as it forms a full box once bolted to the pan. Here's some photos of my pan-off project, where I beefed up the pressed sheet metal with a square tube outer rail and boxed in the rear quarter pans to carry batteries.
https://karmanneclectric.blogspot.co...beginning.html