1963 Disassembly for Ruby Red L456

This past weekend I disassembled the 1963 Coupe so Jimmy Braxmeyer can finish the bodywork (last painted 1982, remove old rust bubbles & scratches) and repaint the lower-half L456 Ruby Red. Everything came apart fairly easily (4 hours). This body is in great original condition and should look very nice returned to new paint again. Jimmy needs three weeks for the work. Then comes the fun ... reassembly, which always takes 10X longer than the disassembly. We'll be using the new front & rear window seals, bumper bracket seals, and vent frame seals that were included with the T34 purchase.

Getting a Deep Cleaning of the Rear

Over the weekend I decided to tackle cleaning the rear compartment that had not been cleaned in 49 years. It had a deep dark shade of oil residue over the trapdoor covering and the Ruby Red inner engine painted sheet metal was thick with residue as well. The lettering & arrows black ink had been rubbed-off over the years. I used a toothbrush, spray bottle of Simple Green degreaser, water bottle for rinsing, and a roll of paper towels. After some intense scrubbing the oily residue came off to reveal the original Silver-Beige material underneath (top pic). The side insulation panels came out beautifully as well. The inner walls of the engine sheet metal were easily cleaned.The lettering & arrows were easily repainted using Sharpie pens. A thin pen was used for outlining and the thick pen for filling-in the symbols. Took 15 minutes total for the repainting process.

Making Things Clearer

In the month I've had Jacin's Ruby Red & Black 1963 M343 I've completed a list of things that needed attention. When it was first delivered the speedo needle was sticking at 35mph and it had a chip out of the needle. The faces of all the gauges were foggy as well. So in the interest of cleaning up the gauges in preparation for the new owner's enjoyment I decided to get the full gauge set cleaned up. I've used Foreign Speedo in San Diego for the past 20 years and dropped-off the gauges. Bob said it'd be no problem to diagnose the speedo issues and give the gauges a good cleaning.

Two days later he called to say the gauges were finished! The speedo had been sticking because the internal magnetic parts were old and needed to be rebuilt. Fortunately he had the right parts (for a 49 year old T34 speedo?) and now it was calibrated and working like new again. He repainted the needle to match the others. And he polished the clear gauge faces to look crystal clear once again. All for $125. Killer service, great price, and super-fast delivery. I'm constantly impressed by this shop for their personalized attention to details and their honest approach to making their customers happy. Polishing the gauge faces was only $18 each too.

Special Delivery

Jacin Ferreira dropped-off his Red & Black 1963 Coupe yesterday for consignment. It's an original 6V single-carb 1500cc with 150K miles and a fully-documented history. Reliable daily driver that I'll be taking up to the VW Classic this Sunday to find a new home. I'd bought this same T34 in 2005 from Yancy Everhardt in Arizona, cleaned it up and restored the interior, then sold it to Jacin a couple months later. Jacin has bought an extremely-early 1962 Notchback from England and the T34 doesn't have indoor storage space, so it's time for it to find a new home. Asking price is $12K, a fair deal for a nice daily driver push-button 1963 T34 Coupe.
Spent the past two days going through a prioritized list of issues to resolve. The fog lights were not working so I installed a new pair of 6V bulbs (thanks to Tuomas in Finland for the source!), cleaned the connections, and ZINGO they're working again! Fog lights on a T34 are such a beautiful feature ... and functional ones really add to the allure of the Sartorelli-designed front end.Rear overhead view shows the original California Black & Gold license plates and frames from it's 35 years in Northern California with its first owner. I replaced the rear scripts with NOS ones and used the script tubes that Franck Boutier found. Wide white wall tires are from Coker Tire, the Silvertown 2.25" model.Engine is simple & authentic with 6V black coil, single-carb, early fuel pump, and it looks so nice this way!Interior was restored to original using the heat-seamed Silver-Beige vinyl. Carpeting is a standard gray loop that looks great with the Silver-Beige. Original Blaupunkt Frankfurt radio, 90MPH speedo, push-button unit, rotary heater knob, & rubber floor mats all scream "1963".

Spring Festival 2011 in Carlsbad California

The Vintage VW Spring Festival is an annual event in Carlsbad, CA (near the beach) that I founded in 1992. It's at a VW dealership and we clear-off all the new VWs and make room for the old VWs. This Sunday there were 100 vintage VWs on the lot and four T3s in the showroom to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the T3. Three T34s were there: Bob Walton's Pacific Blue & White 1964 Coupe, Rodger Marcks' Cherry Red & Black 1967 Coupe, and my Ruby Red 1962 Cabrio. Jack Fisher was there with his two girls as well but driving his 1962 Notchback since his 1965 T34 isn't quite roadworthy yet (but soon).

New Model: Minichamps (VW) Orange T34

The orange Minichamps T34 has been out & available for a couple years now but two things were keeping me from splurging on a 2010 model: cost ($50) and it's ORANGE! T34s never came in orange so I really can't see why the model is orange, but it is. When I saw that this Minichamps model was repackaged in VW form (sold by VW now) and with a cool VW logo on the box, I fell for it.

Dizzy at Christmas!

Once in a great while I'm genuinely surprised by the kindness of another and this Christmas Eve was one of those times. I received a knock at the door and my postman handed me a small box, heavy for its size from Texas. We'd already received all our presents for our five kids so this box was unexpected. I quickly unwrapped it and to my great surprise inside was a completely refurbished 1962-63 Bosch R6 distributor with NOS "big top" cap & rotor! Jason Weigel was my Santa Claus and I was very excited to receive this oh-so-generous gift that he knew my "Ruby" needed. Now her engine area can be more authentic & happy. Thank you, Jason ... & Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you've been good all year long and get exactly what you deserve under the tree tomorrow!

Fixing Hacked Engine Sheetmetal

When I found my early-1962 T34 (#0 001 776) back in 1999 the engine sheetmetal side walls had already crudely been hacked-out. I could never quite understand why since the single-carb engine was still fitted and the T34 was parked in 1972, only 10 years old. There were three original single-carb with manifolds stored in the front compartment (talk about spare parts!). I had ignored this fault when I did the restoration work in 2000 since I didn't have access to an early T34 engine bay and I was just happy just to have it driving again since being off the road for 28 years.Fast-foward 10 years and it's now the summer of 2010 and Doug Narczewski is parting-out a Sea Blue 1962. I send an email requesting the original engine sheetmetal side wall sections and Doug removes the sections, boxes them up, and within a week I has them at my door for $168. It's an early Christmas present to Ruby, my 1962 T34.The plan will be to have the pieces media-blasted & rust-protected, then take the T34 to a metal shop (with engine removed) for the surgery. I'm just happy to be able to return this neglected section to original once again.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm old enough now (47) that celebrating my birthday has a different meaning than when I was a kid. A cold craft beer, dark chocolate candy, and something T34 related are my favorite gifts. The first two are easy for my family to find on their own but I always help them with the T34 item. This year I was very fortunate to get an email from my buddy Carsten Klein in Germany asking if I was interested in buying this T34 model. I knew instantly that it was a rare Ichiko color variation that I did not already have in my collection, so I told him "yes, please send it down!" It arrived a week before my birthday and I got to preview it before officially opening it in front of my wife & kids.The Ichiko large-scale (1:18) tin models are my favorites because they are actually able to be played with, have over 21 different variations, and really have that 1960's era feeling about them. The vast majority (18 of the 21) of the Ichiko's are police models with different badges, lights, sirens, and words. But there are three civilian models that rarely surface: a Ruby Red with Black roof, a solid Pacific Blue, and a Gray with Red roof. I was thrilled to add this fine condition Gray & Red one to my collection!

The Ichiko models are easily identified by their ICHIKO rear license plate, front windshield trim (but none on the rear window), blue-hue plastic front & rear windows, lack of front turn signals, & 8-slotted beauty rings. They also have "Made in Japan" printed on the rear window shelf.

Fresh T34 Drawings!

There are very few good drawings done of the T34 and when Scott Perry discovered some MG's drawn by a UK artist he urged me to convince the guy to create a T34 drawing. I sent Paul Bennett the PureT34 site link and asked him if he had ever seen a T34 before. To my surprise he said "No but they sure are nice-looking cars!" and then asked if there was an audience of organized T34 owners that might be interested in buying his drawings. I told him that I'd buy one and that I could help promote them to the 500 active T34 owners worldwide. Two days later Paul sent me these proofs of a T34 Coupe & Cabriolet! He based the drawings on a 1966 M343 (Everett's), Andy Holmes 1965 M344, and Jorg Fischer's 1963 M341. You can now order these drawings in either B&W or hand-colored for 10GBP additional. Visit www.classicmemories.co.uk for ordering information. Paul said he can change the rim style if you include a photo of your rim.

Palos Verdes Concours d' Elegance

I try to attend interesting car events in Southern California to promote the T34 to new people that may never have seen one before. It always generates interesting comments like "THIS is a Volkswagen?" and "That's NOT a Karmann Ghia!". So this Sunday I left at 6am for the Palos Verdes Concours d' Elegance. Palos Verdes is a posh community in Southern California and the Concours was held at the Trump Golf Course overlooking the Pacific Ocean & Catalina Island. By noon the heavy fog layer was gone and the sun came out providing great scenery to a great event. There were 250 cars of all types & years from 1898 Mercedes Benz three-wheeler to 2011 Audi V10 sports cars.

In the Volkswagen class there was a 1952 Beetle Cabriolet, 1952 Panel Bus, 1963 Deluxe Microbus with Puck Camper, a 1972 SuperBeetle, a 1955 Rometsch Cabriolet, a 1969 Beetle Limosine, and FOUR T34s! No T14's, no Notchbacks/Variants, and the confused crowd was amazed that our unknown models were out en-mass!

My Ruby Red Cabriolet replica 1962, Greg & Kiki Hahs mild custom Light Green 1964 with Electric Sunroof, Aaron Weiss' mild custom Red/White 1966 M343, and Paul Kramer's unrestored original Castillian Yellow 45K-mile 1967 M343 made a great full-production series with Coupe, Sunroof, & Cabriolet models on display!

It was great to finally meet Greg & Kiki Hahs and get a chance to see the high-level of restoration work they've done on their 1964. It's got a red-needle 6K rpm tach, electric sunroof, white steering wheel/column, slate-covered vinyl dash pads, & fresh matching two-toned vinyl interior. Kiki drives her T34 to work on Fridays and really loves the T34.

KG Treffen & Italian Visit

A week after the Swiss visit we had the KG Treffen in Oxnard. The two Italian's (Antonio Pellegrino & Luigi Segre) came over especially for this event and we had a week's worth of fun with them. I drove my Ruby 1962 up on Friday along Highway 1 into Santa Monica, Malibu, and into Oxnard and it was a beautiful day. We met Tom Reay, Chemo Ordaz, & the Italian's at KG Parts & Restoration's shop for some VW-talk, free food, and some relaxation.Chemo took us to his shop where we inspected the progress of Tom's 1968 Automatic M345, which has come a LONG way in a short time. We followed the vintage VW owners to Chullito's for some local Mexican food (fresh Campechana de Marisco's was awesome!), cold cervezas, and more T34-talk.Chemo picked me up early the next morning in his 1964 M343 and we drove the T34s to the Harbor View Park show site. After 10am there were about 35 KGs & 4 T34s. Tom Reay's outstanding Sea Blue 1965 M345 from Los Osos, Chemo Ordaz' driver Blue & Black 1965 M343, my 1962 M341 replica, and Scott McWilliams drove his Ruby Red & Black 1965 M345 with Scott Taylor in the passenger seat. After an intense judging experience (thanks to Antonio) we chose the top KG awards and then selected the top KG in each model to vie for the Sartorelli-Segre Elegance Cup. The winner was a very nicely restored Cardinal Red 1958 T14 Cabriolet. After a beautiful day in the sun at the marina Antonio & Luigi in KGP&R's shop T14 followed me down to San Diego in a 5-hour excursion, arriving just after dark.On Sunday we had a fun BBQ with Scott Taylor & Cathy. They got the full T34 immersion with inspecting the M346, parts, literature collection, toy collection, and everything else. I got a chance to really sit down with Antonio and understand that we both have the same ideology on life, T34s, and people. He's a great friend and someone I'm sure we will know for many years to come. Luigi (19) is new to KGs and our T34 obsession but was very mature and accepting of how much his grandfather (Luigi Segre from Carrozzeria Ghia 1954-63) has affected our hobby.On Monday we cruised up north to Costa Mesa to visit Paul Kramer's 45K-mile Castillian Yellow 1967 M343. What an outstanding job Paul has done with maintaining this fine original T34! And he gave us the full tour as well of over 25 vintage & race cars.On Tuesday we drove the T34 & T14 on a San Diego Tour beginning in Oceanside and going south along Pacific Coast Highway into Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar, Torrey Pines, & La Jolla. After breakfast we visited Jon House's 30K-mile restored Sea Blue & White 1965 M344 hiding in the garage for the past couple years. Then we stopped in old St. Malo for a scenic photo and cruised along the coast to the Torrey Pines glider port and spent a half-hour watching in amazement at the paragliders. Then we dropped down into La Jolla Shores where Luigi found some new girlfriends, then we stopped at La Jolla Cove to see the seals & tidepools. Last stop was at Su Casa for homemade guacamole, ceviche, & fresh shrimp and the cold strawberry margaritas were there to wash it all down. Antonio jumped down into the sand and dipped his feet in the Pacific Ocean, something he's done in different parts of the world.