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.