1965 T34 Original Owner Story As told by original owner, September 2008
Purchase: In 1965, I decided it was time for me to get a new car. At the time I was driving a used VW Beetle. A friend of mine advised me to consider this new, great looking, 1500 Ghia. One look at a picture of it was all I needed to agree. Since it could not be ordered here, I asked a friend of mine, Maria Eder, who lived in Furth, Germany (a suburb of Nurnberg) to look into ordering it there. No problem. (She always enjoyed being part of a project like this!) So, in June 1965, I went to Furth, picked up the car at the VW dealership, and celebrated with a party that Maria planned in her home. Everyone there was admiring my new car - it was as special for the people in Germany as it was for me.

Driving in Europe in 1965: I spent the entire summer of 1965 in Europe, traveling around with my new T34. For my birthday in July three of us drove to Budapest for five days. After crossing the Hungarian border, we came to a section of the road that was being repaired. For 7 miles we were driving on a recently tarred surface with loose tar constantly hitting the bottom of the new car. The car survived while receiving a "complimentary" under-coating - courtesy of the Hungarian road works. One of my friends had to leave Budapest early, so she took the train back to Munich. When the two of us returned to the border, we were surprised when the border guard recognized us and wanted to know where the third lady was. Maria promptly responded "She went off with a gypsy". With a laugh, he waved us through the border checkpoint.

Shipped Home: At the end of the summer, I said "good-bye" to my friends in Munich and drove the car to Le Havre, France. I left the car there for shipment home to Southern California, then took the train to Paris and to the airport for the flight home - and back to work as a High School teacher. My car traveled through the Panama Canal, and we met again at the end of October, in a warehouse at the Wilmington harbor in Los Angeles.

Driving in Los Angeles: While it's been in the USA I have only driven the T34 in California - always to work, and a few fun trips to San Francisco, San Diego, and often to Palm Springs. Most summers, I would travel (out of the country) and the Ghia stayed home - resting. Everyone in Los Angeles admired my T34 and, of course needed an explanation, since they had never seen this model before. It was often confused with the Chevy Corvair. I have always enjoyed the "look" of the car, and its great visibility. Mechanically, it has been somewhat "tempermental". I will never forget the time it just stopped in the middle of the Wilshire Blvd-Santa Monica Blvd intersection, or a couple of times it stopped on the San Diego Freeway. The Auto Club became a frequent "rescuer". Whenever I took the car to the mechanic, he always found a different problem, which gave me quite an education in how cars work! In 1982, after 18 years of driving this T34 every day, I felt the need to buy a new car - so I bought my present car - a Mercedes Benz CDT (Turbo Diesel Coupe), again ordering it from here, and picking it up at the factory in Stuttgart, Germany. I wanted to keep the T34 as a second car. In 1985 I bought a Condo (while still making payments on the Mercedes). A month after I moved in, I went down to the garage and smelled gasoline. Looking closer I saw that gasoline was pouring out of my T34. We immediately called the Fire Department. They arrived with the sirens going full blast, so, of course, all the neighbors came out to see what was going on. I was embarrased but the fire men were delighted (for them an easy call - and a chance to have some fun as they "skated" on the gasoline). After one hour I was left with a cleaned out garage, amused(?) neighbors, and an inoperable T34. At that time I couldn't afford to have the car repaired, so I just left it there where it had a nice spot to "rest". And in 2003, 18 years later, I decided I should do something about this car, and have a little fun with it. I found a German car mechanic and asked him to consider bringing my car back to life. He agreed and was most kind in billing me in small installments, willing to take time in getting the job done. He prepared it for its first classic Volkswagen car show in San Diego in August, and the spectators were very excited to see it and hear about my story. My T34 even got its picture published in a VW magazine! I drove it one other time to a meeting of T34 owners at the Santa Monica VW dealership in January 2004, and I had fun seeing the 6-7 other T34s and sharing my story with the other owners.

Decision to Sell: In the summer of 2008, after meeting Lee Hedges at the car show in 2003, he helped me to prepare the T34 for its new owner. He cleaned it up, fixed a few things, and gave my T34 a proper showing. When my T34 left my home on September 18th, I was a bit sad to see it leave. I organized all of its service papers and spare parts. I have enjoyed driving this beautiful Karmann Ghia now for the past 43 years yet I am happy to know it will be going to a good home.