Re: [T3] Type 34 pricing

[Scott Taylor <scottbtaylor@earthlink.net>]

<x-flowed>Looking at it objectively 40 years later, the Type 34 was clearly a 
strategic mistake for VW, but anyone who has driven one (or better yet 
owned one) will feel fortunate to have had the experience, and will be 
glad that it was produced anyway against all the odds. It's a great, 
unlikely car that probably shouldn't have happened but (happily for us) 
did.

I think the market was changing very quickly in the early 60s, passing 
the Type 34 by, and VW knew it almost from the beginning. According to 
Simon Glen's book, VW and Porsche started development of the 914 in 
1965, and the Type 34's days were obviously numbered once the project 
was begun. The 914 took the Type 34's place in Karmann's production 
line in late 1969.

Scott
62 343, 65 361


On Wednesday, November 12, 2003, at 09:45  AM, Steven Ayres wrote:

> JimA=> it would certainly explain why so few
> => (Type 34s) ever sold (assuming the world-wide
> => price was comparable.)
>
> it was relatively expensive for its market target in
> Europe, and depending on how you look at it VW seems to have backed 
> away
> from it even before it was released to market.
>
> What bothers me a bit about this angle of discussion, and it comes up 
> rather
> frequently, is that poor sales of the 34 often seem to be taken as a
> judgment of the car itself. To this I'll reply: drive one in good 
> repair,
> *then* tell me what you think about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org

</x-flowed>