Post by Greg Davids on Jan 26, 2011 1:51:22 GMT -8
Hi All
I live in Rondebosch, Cape Town South Africa and am 46 years of age. I have been collecting cars, particularly classics, since the age of 16 years and have owned 62 cars to date often 2 to 3 cars at a time. My Dad drove Volkswagens throughout his driving life including owning several Beetles, a 1964 Kombi bus, a 1966 T3 fastback and later Golfs. Right from the start I had my eyes on an imported Beetle and after several years of searching found my first air cooled VW, a 1967 VW Beetle 1500S with disk brakes and ball and joint suspension. It is a very rare car in SA and the few available here were originally intended for the UK market. I also owned a mint condition 1974 VW van that was converted into a camper and had a very low mileage. I have always owned several Cabriolets through the years so I got myself a state of the art beach buggy built off a 1974 donor beetle that was equipped with such comforts as electric seats and extra wide Michelins which accounted for almost the value of the car itself! I later got into air cooled Porsches and owned 3 at the same time, including my favourite, a mint 1982 911SC Targa with factory sports options. I bought my T34 in November 2010 after the owner offered it to me because he lost interest in cars and after storing it for 4 years in his small plane hangar it got in his way. I was about to purchase another early Porsche and was considering a 912 or 914 but instantly realised that the T34 was a far more desirable option. Having always owned unique and limited edition classics, I am a big fan of Italian coachworks designers, Ghia been one of my favourites. The T34 is very rare in South Africa with a total of about 13 known to be around and none ever seen on the roads or at classic car shows. I am most interested in original and originally restored T34's. My car is a very neat matching numbers, 3 owner (including myself) 1966 LHD electric sunroof T34 Pigalle (M345) which is painted white with a black roof. The car was subject to an expensive full restoration in 2006 but the quality of work is not to my standard so I am in the process of correcting many things to original specification. I still require an original set of fog lamps and must sort out door locks, window mechanisms and replace the weather strips and some window rubbers. The electric sunroof works but runs very slowly so will be refurbished again. The original red carpets were replaced with a black set during the restoration in 2006 but I intend to return this to a red if I can source these. Now that I have sorted out the engine, the car drives beautifully and I am very impressed with how fast it goes compared to Beetles of the same vintage.There are a number of car events in Cape Town and in the future I will attend all the classic and VW/Porsche events. I travel to finland once a month via Frankfurt and will coordinate my August visit to include the T34 50th anniversary. I can be reached at GregDavids@T34World.org or on greg@urbansoul.co.za and am keen engage with all T34 owners around the world and particularly in Africa.
I live in Rondebosch, Cape Town South Africa and am 46 years of age. I have been collecting cars, particularly classics, since the age of 16 years and have owned 62 cars to date often 2 to 3 cars at a time. My Dad drove Volkswagens throughout his driving life including owning several Beetles, a 1964 Kombi bus, a 1966 T3 fastback and later Golfs. Right from the start I had my eyes on an imported Beetle and after several years of searching found my first air cooled VW, a 1967 VW Beetle 1500S with disk brakes and ball and joint suspension. It is a very rare car in SA and the few available here were originally intended for the UK market. I also owned a mint condition 1974 VW van that was converted into a camper and had a very low mileage. I have always owned several Cabriolets through the years so I got myself a state of the art beach buggy built off a 1974 donor beetle that was equipped with such comforts as electric seats and extra wide Michelins which accounted for almost the value of the car itself! I later got into air cooled Porsches and owned 3 at the same time, including my favourite, a mint 1982 911SC Targa with factory sports options. I bought my T34 in November 2010 after the owner offered it to me because he lost interest in cars and after storing it for 4 years in his small plane hangar it got in his way. I was about to purchase another early Porsche and was considering a 912 or 914 but instantly realised that the T34 was a far more desirable option. Having always owned unique and limited edition classics, I am a big fan of Italian coachworks designers, Ghia been one of my favourites. The T34 is very rare in South Africa with a total of about 13 known to be around and none ever seen on the roads or at classic car shows. I am most interested in original and originally restored T34's. My car is a very neat matching numbers, 3 owner (including myself) 1966 LHD electric sunroof T34 Pigalle (M345) which is painted white with a black roof. The car was subject to an expensive full restoration in 2006 but the quality of work is not to my standard so I am in the process of correcting many things to original specification. I still require an original set of fog lamps and must sort out door locks, window mechanisms and replace the weather strips and some window rubbers. The electric sunroof works but runs very slowly so will be refurbished again. The original red carpets were replaced with a black set during the restoration in 2006 but I intend to return this to a red if I can source these. Now that I have sorted out the engine, the car drives beautifully and I am very impressed with how fast it goes compared to Beetles of the same vintage.There are a number of car events in Cape Town and in the future I will attend all the classic and VW/Porsche events. I travel to finland once a month via Frankfurt and will coordinate my August visit to include the T34 50th anniversary. I can be reached at GregDavids@T34World.org or on greg@urbansoul.co.za and am keen engage with all T34 owners around the world and particularly in Africa.