VW Type III: Dave's T34 Karmann Ghia

I told the guy I had never seen a type 34 ghia before and he said he knew of another one that had been sitting for a long time. He asked if I would be interested in looking at it and I said sure.

We went to see it & it looked to be in decent shape. I asked him about the history of it. He told me he bought it from a guy in Indianna about 8 years ago & planned to restore it, but never got around to it. It sat in Indianna for 20 years before he bought it.

I asked the guy what he wanted for it & he said $2800. I told him I would give him $1800 for it. He told me no, he had a guy from California coming out who would give him $2800. I told him if the deal fell through to give me a call. After 3 months he called me to tell me the deal fell through & I could have it for $1800.

From what I can tell I am the 3rd or 4th owner. The car only has 41,000 kilometers on it. The original engine had to be rebuilt at 38,000 and the rebuild went out at 41,000. He decided the car was junk and parked it. That was in 1967. The car had not been driven since.

The body is Ruby Red with black top and needs to have the rocker panels replaced on both sides. Amazingly though, the pan is completely intact. The rockers took the brunt of the damage from sitting outside for the last 28 years. The interior looks great, only one small rip in the upholstery & it's not dry & brittle.

I rebuilt the engine and drained & refilled the transmission. The brakes were the tough part. The front wheel cylinders are next to impossible to find. I finally found a notchback in a junkyard and from 8 wheel cylinders I was able to rebuild 4 that work. I finally drove it in late June 95 & it was definitely worth all the time & hard work that went into it.

Plans are to drive it this summer & fall, but as soon as it gets cold it is going into the body shop to have the rockers repaired.