T34 WORLD

You Have A Reputation for Rescuing T34s, Tell Us About That

I never started out to be the T34 salvage guy, the job found me.  A few months after we got Trip, our 1966, we drove it down to the Solvang Veteranentreffen and worked the gate with a great couple, Don & Dawn Bulitta, who invited us down to their show in Phoenix.  Before we left my friend Richard says, "I have a couple of T34s not far away in Colorado Springs.  Maybe you could go there and tow one back."  Tow it back with a T34?  "No problem, I'll make you a tow bar for it."  I've always loved traveling so I didn't put up much of a fight.  So I arrived in Colorado Springs under a light dusting of snow.  But, as some of you may know, if someone knows these cars they will find you.  I stopped for gas somewhere in the boonies of Southern Colorado and this guy comes up to me and says he has one of these.  Remember, T34s are still new to me and I don't think I'd seen a handful yet.  And, the VW magazines back then weren't covering them at all.  I couldn't pass-up an opportunity to make a side trip to see this T34.  Yet, that wasn't what I was there for and I had work to do.  Remember, Richard had two cars.  The plan was to cut up one car and stuff everything I could into the other car.  You know, front and rear clips, doors, glass, & the usual parts ... in the snow.

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Since it was November I had to make sure the return trip would not end in disaster.  I figured the railroads had to take an easy route over the Rockies so I made a southern detour to follow the Arkansas River Valley.  The 1966 T34 handled the load easily in 3rd gear up the mountain and the trip was mostly uneventful except for a few tense moments when it rained buckets in Las Vegas.  But the best part of the trip was when I stopped for gas a few miles later.  My conversation starter drew in another curious chap.  I told him how rare these cars were and as he looked at the two T34s and says, "I think if I were you I would carry spare parts too."

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On another adventure Lee heard about a guy up north that was getting rid of five T34s.  Road trip!  The story was that he loved driving his restored T34 until somebody decided to make a u-turn in front of him.  From that time on he wanted nothing to do with VWs in spite of the fact that his T34 had sacrificed itself and allowed him to walk away with only a deviated septum.  To this day I've never heard of anyone dying in a T34.  By the end of the second trip I had one complete car and all the useable parts from three more.  Everyone's best friend in this and other adventures has been Greyhound.  Large body parts from cars have gone all over the country to save other cars.

 

But now I'm getting too old for that stuff so I'm slowly clearing out the leftovers while I get ready to start on the last rescue project of the greatest rescuer of all, Tim Dapper.  He managed to find a one-off 1964 T34 that came from the factory with a vinyl top & unique rain gutter design.

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