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Mon May 16, 2011 9:32 am

Since Bobnotch outed us over on the type 3 list <G>.....I guess we can let you all in on the good news.

Ever since Jill attended the Michigan Invasion on 2008 and saw her first Type 34 Ghia she has lusted one. Seeing Doug's at the 2010 Invasion only reinforced that desire. This spring, things aligned budget-wise and we put the word out that we were looking for a Type 34 for her. We watched the Samba, checked out a few leads from Lee Hedges, and then Lee came through with the car we bought.

The car is great. We are getting it from the son of the original owner. We have the original Georgia title issues in 1967! The car was restored by the husband of the owner in the early 90s as a birthday present for her 75th birthday.

Here are a few pictures. These were taken by the owner's son.....we are still waiting for it to be shipped up from Georgia (which is making Jill crazy <G>). Hoping it is here in time for a debut at the Michigan Vintage Festival next weekend.

The cars needs very little done to it. We will tweak a few things and Jill will be driving it regularly. Here is the plan...

Get it sitting level, two-tone it by painting the roof either dark brown or black (brown would have been a factory option), tidy up the interior a little and the engine compartment a little....that is it!

We are really looking forward to having our own little caravan to the 2012 Invasion next year. <G>

Mon May 16, 2011 9:49 am

Congrats Jill, but don't get John sidetracked off the fasty!

Mon May 16, 2011 10:07 am

Mike Fisher wrote: Congrats Jill, but don't get John sidetracked off the fasty!

Nope. That is why bought as complete a car as possible.....I don't need another project. :)

Mon May 16, 2011 10:10 am

Better go with the dark brown roof! 8)

Mon May 16, 2011 11:36 am

Ah, yes...there's a nice LATE one. It should come together real nice!

Congrats! Hopefully mine will be done by then...

Mon May 16, 2011 12:14 pm

Congratulations Jill !!...You too John !
Very Nice look'n Type 34... Look forward to seeing you both this weekend at the MVVC Festival
So, What did you name her or is it a he ?

Mon May 16, 2011 1:55 pm

Fill the tank, put a spare in it, and two people in it and it should level out. That's the reason they're all a little high in front.

Great score!

Mon May 16, 2011 2:02 pm

WOW, looks great!

Mon May 16, 2011 2:14 pm

S W E E T !!!

Congrats to Jill, and you too John. \:D/ Good thing Sophy is not the jealous type 3! :D

Mon May 16, 2011 6:58 pm

That a nice car John. I like your plans for it, as I too think it's a little "nose high" in it's additude. :wink: Mine's the same way, and still hasn't come down much, but then I still haven't bolted the fuel tank in, or filled it full of fuel. On mine, Russ thought the shocks might have been holding it up some too, since they had been extended for 6 years.

It should make for an interesting caravan to the 2012 T-3 Invasion. 8)

Oh, and greg, bring the Naultalis, it should be a runner by then, and for Invasions, they don't have to be perfect. 8)

Mon May 16, 2011 8:08 pm

Nice!.. Congratulations!

Mon May 16, 2011 8:26 pm

Very impressive, John! Jill will sleep with the keys under her pillow so you can;t sneak out for a ride! Very sensible to buy a very good example so you can drive it ASAP.

Hope I can admire it in person "some day".

Roland from NY (with the green '70 Fasty still sitting and undriveable)

Mon May 16, 2011 9:31 pm

Congrats, looks like a nice one.

Tue May 17, 2011 6:32 am

thats the same paint combo as my el camino...... i hated that!!! but for some reason it looks good on your type 34....

Tue May 17, 2011 8:19 am

Ghia is getting picked up in Georgia today. Supposed to be here by Friday. Woot woot! If all goes well she will make her debut at the Michigan Vintage Festival this Sunday.

Tue May 17, 2011 8:24 am

Very cool John. I hope to see it sunday. 8)

Tue May 17, 2011 3:38 pm

John, if you are able to drive the car in your state with that oval plate in front, don;'t let anyone tell you it's "a German lic. plate*". You might know this already, but it really is an international customs plate, mainly utilized in Europe, for driving a non-Euro spec vehicle for a certain amount of time. The "Z" stands for the German word for customs (Zoll; pronounced tsoll). The city and country where it was issued is in the form of a self-adhesive sticker (seems missing in your first shot) applied to the upper right round space.

These were regularly issued for "tourist delivery" models whereby the US-based owner picks up the vehicle either at a German dealer or at the German home plant, then drives it for his "vacation" and ships it home to the USA. The plates were issued by the central German lic. authority to any motor vehicle manufacturer (Porsche, Mercedes, etc. as well as VW) where the car was picked up by a non-resident. This registration allowed for vehicles to be exempt from meeting German vehicle equipment rules, with the proviso that the car had to be exported at the end of the chosen time.

For example, in '80 I bought an '81 VW Scirocco S using the tourist delivery program, and picked it up right at the Karmann plant in Osnabrueck Germany. The car was a US-spec with the 1.7 liter ~78hp FI engine, typical US big bumpers, sealed-beam headlamps, etc. The customs tag could be utilized for a max of 12 months. Since I was working at VW in Wolfsburg and planned on shipping the car home within a year, that worked out. But the insurance for that registration was significantly more than if i'd have bought a similar Euro-spec Scirocco and insured it locally "for keeps".

* German lic. plates for privately owned conventional motor vehicles were always rectangular in that era.

Tue May 17, 2011 4:01 pm

Rome wrote: John, if you are able to drive the car in your state with that oval plate in front, don;'t let anyone tell you it's "a German lic. plate*". You might know this already, but it really is an international customs plate, mainly utilized in Europe, for driving a non-Euro spec vehicle for a certain amount of time. The "Z" stands for the German word for customs (Zoll; pronounced tsoll). The city and country where it was issued is in the form of a self-adhesive sticker (seems missing in your first shot) applied to the upper right round space.

These were regularly issued for "tourist delivery" models whereby the US-based owner picks up the vehicle either at a German dealer or at the German home plant, then drives it for his "vacation" and ships it home to the USA.

Must be what this one is, because that is how the vehicle made it to the States. They purchased it in Germany, drove it for a few weeks over there on vacation, and then had it shipped to Florida. They flew down to Florida as a family and drive it back to Rome, GA where it spent the next 30+ years.

Wed May 18, 2011 12:57 pm

John and Jill... I mean this is the absolute nicest way possible: YOU SUCK!

Man, I love the car... hope you guys enjoy it a lot!

Wed May 18, 2011 3:14 pm

T-minus 2 hours and 15 minutes until the Ghia is delivered to our door.

:D