The summer of 1963 California college student Richard “Dick” Gruber was 21 years old and attending the University of California at San Diego. Far from his hometown of Santa Maria he needed a car to drive and wanted something fun & economical. A friend of his offered him a 1956 Ford Thunderbird but his father, Jack Gruber, convinced him to buy a new Volkswagen for the fuel economy. In the mid-1960’s it was less expensive to buy a Volkswagen from Germany and have it exported to California than it was to buy one from a local dealership. Dick’s father had a close friend that had bought several new VWs from Germany and shared the new VW 1500 series models with Dick & Jack. Dick preferred the Karmann Ghia models but when he saw the Type 34 Karmann Ghia with its larger engine and sporty look he decided to buy that one, but his father was really the one that liked the T34. Dick recalls the price of a German T34 was less expensive than a T14 in California so it made his decision easy. Jack ordered the T34 through a German dealership and had it shipped to the port at San Pedro a month later.

The Volkswagen cargo ship Heinz Howyer from Hamburg arrived in Southern California and the Gruber’s received a letter to come pick it up. He recalls the new T34 rolled off the ship still coated in cosmoline (to protect it during the long sea voyage) and was fitted with white wall tires and a Blaupunkt radio, although neither were ordered as options from the dealership. It had comfortable gray vinyl seat upholstery and it was the only T34 on-board although there were other VW 1500 models including the Notchback Sedan and the Variant Wagon. The VWs were offloaded on Terminal Island and transported to a half-mile square parking lot. He cleaned-off the cosmoline, filled it with gas, and drove away. This photo was taken not long afterwards at the beach in Santa Maria.

Over the next two years he recalled seeing only one or two T34s driving in the United States, despite driving his T34 cross-country to New York & Florida. He fondly remembered wanting the best possible mileage and the owners manual said 69 mph was the optimal cruising speed to get the best fuel mileage. The only real issue he experienced with the T34 was with the dual carburetor linkage popping-off. Once while in Orlando Florida as he was fixing the linkage it crossed to metal and shorted-out the electrical wiring under the dash. He towed the T34 to a local VW service shop and they ordered a replacement wiring harness from New Jersey, but he remembered that after the repairs the bright lights were stuck in the ON position and his drive back home to California from Florida was filled with annoyed drivers in front of him. After driving it two years he made the decision to join the Navy. Not needing a car his father agreed to buy the T34 from him as he drove 20 miles to Vandenburg Air Force base and wanted a car with good mileage. An engineer working for Lockheed-Martin he was responsible for development of the Titan rocket boosters. When Dick returned home after his 4 years of Navy service the T34 had already been sold and he never saw it again. Today in 2010 he hopes the current caretaker brings it up so he can see it once again.