From Australia to Southern California May-June 2002
It took 5 weeks for the cargo ship to get from Australia to Los Angeles harbor, and wouldn't you know it but there's a dock workers strike and all incoming shipments are being delayed until the strike is settled. We'd hoped to get this new T34 to the VW Classic, but another two weeks later Lee & I rented a flatbed trailer to bring it home in late-June.


So we finally get to see & touch the T34 and it looks a little rougher than the online photos. I was feeling a bit bummed since I paid a lot for this T34 and was expecting a bit shinier paint and the roof spots didn't look that bad in the photos either. Then Lee began to really go through the car ... ooohhh'ing and aaaahhhh'ing at the rust-free body, super-straight fenders, all-original this & that, etc. That made me feel a bit better. Then we took a good look at the interior and we were both in awe. Original seat upholstery in perfect condition as were the interior panels (perfect map pockets!), knobs were like new (no cracks or sun-fading), and two original keys were in the ignition. When we went to start her up ... NOTHING ... a dead 6V battery that Simon warned us about before it left. So we loaded it up and stopped at Arby's for lunch, a well-deserved lunch!