IN THE late 1950s Volkswagen hit the style button with its curvaceous and very popular Karmann-Ghia coupe and convertible so it was natural that it should be followed up by a new model. The new model based on the new Type 3 platform went on to feature the more powerful flat 1500 twin-carb engine, and although the styling was more severe than the original it lost none of its appeal. Known as the Type 34 it is better known as the razor-edge Ghia in the UK. Featuring an electrically operated optional sliding steel sunroof it also had an electric clock, three luggage spaces, built-in fog lights, round tail lights, upper and lower dash pads, door pads, and long padded armrests. It was the fastest production VW model of its day and I remember it to be a very exciting 90mph drive for a VW. In fact it was the most expensive and luxurious passenger car VW manufactured in the 1960s. Back then you could have purchased two basic Beetles for the price of one Type 34 in many markets. At London's Earls Court Motor Show in 1964 it carried a pricetag of £1,276. Imported cars were much more expensive then, but for less money you could have bought an Austin Healey 3000, hence the fact that UK motorists did not rush to the VW showrooms to splash the cash on the new Ghia. Expensive it might have been but it certainly did not mind hard work and was very well put together. Only 42,505 plus 17 prototype convertibles were built over the car's entire production life between 1962 and 1969. Today, the Type 34 is considered a semi-rare collectible commanding some high prices. There is also a high degree of interest in it from the USA where, strangely it was never officially sold - an odd decision considering that the States was VW's largest and most important export market. Today the USA hosts the largest number of known Type 34s left in the world (400 of the total 1,500 to 2,000 or so remaining.) The Wilhelm Karmann factory assembly line which assembled the Type 34 also produced the VW-Porsche 914, the Type 34's replacement. | 
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