Greetings from a new owner in France

[Miguel Parot]

Hello everybody, and greetings from Burgundy, France !

I am glad to introduce my ruby red 1963 coupé, that I picked up today September 2010 near Limoges and drove home in Mâcon, 70 km north of Lyon. A 360 Km drive of pure pleasure !

The story of this car is rich : its original destination was Landshut, in Bavaria, but it lived 27 years (1963-1990) in the USA, then 15 years(1990-2005) in Belgium, before it arrived in France in 2005, or 2006.

Mileage after 50 years : 56.500 miles (speedometer in miles) = 90.000 km

This car is in quite good condition ; it has been carefully cleaned and renovated. Some parts of the car body : rocker panels, doors, as well as the dashboard gauges, have been restored, but that’s about all. Some seals have been changed, paint is recent, superb, not one scratch ! Beautiful original chromes, also ! Everything else : engine, mechanics, interior, is original. (A couple of pics attached)

My idea is to drive this car on week-ends, short holidays, and of course join road trips and T34 enthusiasts meetings. I have become a member of both the Karmann-Ghia Club of France, and of my local VW club, the Cox & Co. Club of Mâcon, whose president owns a beautiful emerald green 343 of 1964 that he fully restored a few years ago.

We are now two T34 at a few km distance, we’ll make a nice duo together on the roads of Burgundy !

Will be back soon on the forum, as I have many questions to ask...

Cheers to all !


Miguel

[Franck Boutier]

Bienvenue Miguel !

Alors ça y est , elle est arrivée en Bourgogne !

Bonne route !

Franck.

[Carsten Klein]

in the end it found a new home ... ex Jimmy s car 8) ... enjoy it!

[Cyril & Fanny Rascals Cats]

Oh putain , le "Red63" ....
Crazy car dude , i've got your message it will be a pleasure to cruise one time with you ....
See you

[Miguel Parot]

Last month I had a big, good surprise.
I was finishing mowing my lawn, in the afternoon, when I saw a white VW baywindow bus, with Belgian plates, park in front of my house. A guy got off the bus and asked, "Hey, you are Miguel?"
Well, I could only reply "yes, I am !, and you, who are you ?"
He replied "I am Jimmy,from Belgium, I owned your T34 car, some time ago"
Incredible !, here was Jimmy Vernelen, one of the Belgian reps of this T34 forum, holding a bunch of documents in his hand. He said : "I have brought you some documents, and pics about your car".
I invited him and his wife Lien inside my home, to share a glass of (Belgian...of course !) beer. He handed me the original import docs of the car, from the port of Everglades, Fla., to Belgium, back in 1990, his original invoice, many pictures of the car, when he owned it, pictures of the engine, before and after it was restored. I was able to see the car at various stages of its restoration.
An incredibly valuable source of information about my April 1963 ruby red coupé.
Jimmy and Lien were en route down to the French Riviera fo their holidays, and we promised to keep in touch.
I just feel like sharing with you the picture I took of Jimmy and Lien, and say to them "thank you guys, I will never forget that !"
That is a superb example of the brotherhood that links T34 owners together.

[Miguel Parot]

It flew all over the USA and the Atlantic, to reach me this morning, direct from San Diego, Ca.
The wait was worth it ! Pedro is an ace...
My red car will probably be the only one among the approximately 100 French Type 34 that will be equipped with one of hand-made Pedro's racks.

Thank you Pedro, and thank you Lee for advertising Pedro's racks in one of your newletters, some time ago.

[Lee Hedges]

Looks fantastic, Miguel!