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Glad you asked Jim... here's the story. About mid-June, 2001, I'm at my local paintless dent repair shop to get an estimate on removing the door dings from my T14 -- the first step in the restoration process. It was late in the day, and I stayed around to look at the several American "big iron" restoration projects they're currently working on. After about an hour of talking cars, he mentions that an auto wholesaler down the street picked up a "weird" type 3 or something Ghia at an estate auction a few months earlier. I couldn't believe my ears... but after a brief description, the existence of the car was validated. This guy had actually purchased the car for the wholesaler and was at the auction. The estate was of a man who had passed away and left behind over fifty cars of every make and model -- including two T34's. One, the "good one", was purchased by the wholesaler, the other one, a parts car, went to a junk yard somewhere -- the buyer unknown. After getting the wholesalers name and number, I went on my way. It took me a few days to get a hold of the wholesaler. When I did, I found out the car was a red/black, '63 (titled as), with 75,000 miles on it. I went down to look at it the next day and was pleasantly surprised. The car was all original, no missing pieces, completely rust free, fair paint, good interior, with a 1500 S motor. With the exception of a couple dents, the car looked very nice. The only bad part, at least for me, was no original motor (more on that later though). At this point, I went home, sat down with my budget, and made an offer a few days later. After going back and forth for a few days, we where able to reach an agreement. I had the car towed home that Friday (rear brakes were frozen and the bias ply tires were shot). Here's what I know... according to the VW "birth certificate", the car was purchased as a "USA Tourist" vehicle. No one in the T34 Registry has ever seen this on a "birth certificate" before. It was later traded to a used foreign car lot in Boulder, CO and purchased by the now deceased second owner in 1965. The purchase price was $2250 according to the very old title. Judging by the registration receipt in the glove box, it was last registered in 1970. That means the car had been sitting in his Longmont, CO barn for the last 30 years!!! It shows -- the chrome and dash pads are beautiful. I spent a couple weekends blasting away the decades old mud from under the fenders to reveal the original ruby red paint. The silver beige interior also required quite a bit of cleaning as well. About a month after purchasing it... I made another discovery. Running the chassis and engine numbers (0 224 336 chassis & 0257809 engine) against the model year & engine number ranges, the car appeared to be an early '64 model with a build date in late August 1963. That being the case and the fact that the engine number is also an early '64 number, I have surmised that the engine is original as well (validated by the "birth certificate"). My one disappointed had been resolved!!! Over the next couple years, I hope to have the body and paint work done. -Rich -----Original Message----- From: Jim Adney [mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org] Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 8:10 PM To: type3@vwtype3.org Subject: Re: [T3] Introduction On 29 May 2003 at 12:07, Mason, Richard T wrote: > My name is Rich Mason and I hale from Colorado in the north Denver > area. Volkswagens in my coral include a Type 34 Ghia and a Type 14 > Ghia Cabrio. I look forward participating as much as I can and also > asking a few questions along the way. Welcome to the list, Rich. Always nice to hear of another type 34 around. What year and condition? Tell us a bit about it. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org