Jörg Fischer
Jörg Fischer from Darmstadt Germany has been one of the most influential T34 owners in Europe. He owns two of the best T34s worldwide, has extensively researched the T34 Cabriolet history, and is a leader in T34 events. Learn more about this T34 Pioneer.
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Tell Us About Your First VW Experiences
When I was 7 years old I saw my first T34 in our neighborhood with my sister, but I don't recall this first experience. By 14 I was into vintage cars and when I got my driver's licence I wanted to own an Opel P1 (1957-60). I spent my senior year of High School in Spokane Washington USA and lived on a small farm outside the city so I needed my driver's license to get a car. I saved money and bought an Orange 1971 VW Squareback from my school bus driver. A German should drive a German car, right? I sold the VW when returning to Germany and bought a 1971 VW Notchback for a great deal in Germany. In 1987 I bought a 1972 Notchback, which I still own today & a 1965 Notchback S-model daily driver. I saw T34s at local Volkswagen meetings but the T34 was not popular in Germany at the time. I had seen two T34 in my hometown, abandoned in the streets, and I saw them rotting away, losing more and more parts from month to month. In 1989 I wanted to expand my collection with a very good T34 and began my search. But instead I found my "dream car", a 1965 Notchback Sunroof S-model in Sea Blue with a White roof, so my money for a T34 was spent.
Tell Us About Your First T34 Purchase
In 1996 I found a Sea Sand 1965 Squareback with teak interior advertised in a German magazine. After inspecting it I told the seller the condition was too rough for the asking price but he said he had more Type 3 in his collection that he was going to sell. Surprisingly, there was an Anthracite with White roof 1963 T34 with a hand-crank Golde sunroof! The manual sunroof had been retrofitted in the early sixties by the first owner. Unrestored, original paint, original interior, and with only 45.000 original kilometers (28K miles) ... unbeliveable find! I bought the 1963 T34, a Sea Blue 1964 Notchback Sunroof S-model & a Sea Blue 1964 Notchback S-model parts car from this collection. I finally got my T34 although I did not plan to buy one that day.
You Own One of the Original T34 Cabriolets. How Did You Find It?
After buying my first T34 in 1996 I started to research not only my own car but also the T34 history & development. There was little known about the T34 in those years. I tried to find out what happened to the original prototype Cabriolets built by Karmann in 1960-61. I also got in contact with several former Karmann employees who actually worked on the early T34 Coupes & Cabriolets.
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In 2003 I tracked down an original T34 Cabriolet, which was sitting in the basement of a well-known VW Dealer in Southern Germany for many years. The Cabriolet was unmolested and very original, but still a complete restoration project. Although I offered a lot of money to buy it I was not able to because the deceased original owner had already promised that Cabriolet to someone else. Two years later in 2005 another Cabriolet was advertised for sale by his owner for age reasons. I could not resist buying it, so I finally had my own original Cabriolet, which I enjoy driving to meetings around Germany.
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In 2005 I intensified my research when I was in the organization team for the T14 50th Anniversary and again in 2011 for the T34 50th Anniversary. I visited the Karmann workers at their homes several times and wrote down everything they remembered during their time on the pre-production T34s. I was happy that some of them shared their stories as eyewitnesses at the T34 50th presentations.
