Five words that will never come out of my mouth - “like my Bugatti over there...”

I had an auto restoration and detail business for 50 years. Back in the mid 70's a young guy working for me got a type 34. It had been brought back by a serviceman. The car was silver with black/gray interior, very good shape. I had a 1961 Plymouth Fury convertible at the same time (along with a dozen other cars, ya can't have just one) Park a type 34 next to a '61 Fury and a strange thing pops out. Line for line it's the same styling. After that I couldn't see a type 34 without thinking '61 Plymouth. Then about 30 years ago was reading about the type 34 in a European magazine and read, "Just as the original Karmann Ghia styling was taken from a Chrysler dream car, the type 34 was styled after a pre-production 1961 Plymouth sent to Ghia to be turned into dream/show car that was seen in the studios and styled into the 34." The article had a photo of the '61 Plymouth at Ghia with VW execs in the foreground looking at it, My helper drove aggressively (he was 17) and flipped the car onto it's roof three times, each time restoring it beautifully with my help. The last time he modified the suspension and lowered the car, but he nearly rolled it again and regretfully sold it. Next car he got...a 1961 Plymouth Fury 2 door hardtop that he painted silver with a black and silver interior. I never liked some styling elements of the '61 Plymouth, the type 34 made the styling work. L.R. Foster

One of the things I love about older cars is the mechanical click of a door opening. It really is a very satisfying sound and feel.

Karmann Ghias weren't "Italian built". They were Italian *designed* (by Ghia) and built at the Karmann-plant in Osnabrück, Germany.

In Bulgaria, one of these was parking on my street. Not so shiny as this one, but the same car. My neighbor was driving it every day to work, 35 years after it was produced :)

You just never know what's going to pop up on Jay Lenos garage. A true transportation guy. Good job Mr. Leeno.

The 6V on my '65 beetle worked flawlessly through the harshest midwest winters. No dimming lights. Always started.

Come to jay's garage, where jay will tell you all about your own car.

I always see that beautiful '42 Plymouth coupe in the background in these videos and I think I've fallen in love with that car.

There's something understatedly elegant about this car. It's easy to understand why the owner is so pleased to have it. Really nice, a treasure. I'd love to find one someday.

I never knew about these until my kid reach me this funny looking convertible Hot Wheels.

Love these air-cooled cars...... VW's, Porsche's, Corvair's, Tatra's.......

The looks of this car really grew on me. The owner, Matt, is quite interesting and cool in his own right. Good to see something so out of the ordinary.

Catching up on older videos and came across this gem. I love Beetles and Type 3s, and the Type 34 is one of the coolest looking air-cooled VWs ever.👍

I really love those Razoredge Karmanns, probably the best looking vw of all time, be that modern or old

I had one of these in San Diego in the mid 70's. Blew the engine coming back from Utah, and had to abandon it there. Great surfmobile.

It reminded me of the Renault Alpine A110 from the front, nice looking car.

When I grew up in Potomac, Md in the 1960´s I was the "Defrost Nazi" for a group of young military men that earned their keep in the Pentagon and parts of Langley, since I was practically the only one who actually understood the German owners manual and knew how to get the heat to run in their 911s with that triple-decked battery of levers in the center of the dash and the levers to the left and right of the hand brake. I remember amazing a young Navy Lieutenant by pulling the lefthand lever next to the handbreak after I started his engine. He had no idea it was a governor to set the engine rev so the oil heated up better after starting. Those were the days: The Americans back then - sadly - had no idea how to enjoy or care for those air-coolred cars! Nobody knew the oil had to be over 50° C warm before you passed 2500 rpms, while you had to have 80° C before you went past 4000 rpms. Combine that with sloppy attitudes to oil changes and the "Defrost Nazi" shook his teen-age head all the way to his Eagle Scout ceremony in the Red Room of the White House. The Cold War was very good to me!

Thank you Jay that was great!! I was a proud owner of that VW in 74 so thank you for the stroll down memory lane.

There will never be another Jay Leno

Razor edge Ghia...heaven!!! Thanks for doing Vee Dubs, Jay!!!

Nice car,my mom drove one back in the 60s. Loved it with 2 antena,s on the trunk.

NICE. I remember seeing a lot of these in Hawaii as a child in the late 60's.

a friend's dad back home in Australia when I was growing up had one of these. I always liked it. Thanks for the review Jay.

I saw this car on petrolicious a while back. great to see it again to learn more about these unique and obscure VW's and other models of the era. great video jay.

A luxury Volkswagen?That's right - it has a mirror on the visor!

My grandmother bought one of these the first year they came out. She loved it. This was the early 60s.

Nice walk on the lane of memory. Thank you for that. My teacher had one when I was in primary school in Germany. And each day before school I walked by and saw the car thinking how cool it is. 👍

Love the 'angry brow' front end, like a hawk or owl.

My Great Aunt had one of these and I drove it through the Alps back in the early 80's. A great peppy little car and fun to drive.

It's been a while since I've drooled so much over one car.

I had a type 34 Ghia in high school in 1969. I loved it and wish I still had it. I worked for a local VW dealer and we did a lot to the car. 1776cc engine, new carbs, special exhaust. For the life of me I can't remember what year it was but late 60'

Matt Jacobson is so cool , Jay Leno always interesting , that was a episode worth waiting for. Big thanks

"He put water in his gas tank" Was that Nicholas Cage?

I worked for a VW dealer in the mid 1970s and we had parts books for these Type 34 Ghias. There were none around in my area though as these were never imported into the US in any quantity. We had the Type 3 Fastback and Squareback instead which were good cars in their day.

I always thought of cars as a depreciating asset that took you from point A to point B. Thanks to this show, I have a new found respect and admiration towards them. Thanks for changing my perspective.

What a nice ride, simplistic and elegant, I like it....it'd be cool if Jay featured a Notchback, an early Fastback, and an early Squareback at some point....

Beautiful, and about time you featured one. How about some Brazilian VW's next - an SP2 and a Brasilia? And maybe a Type 143 Fridolin?

Love the look with that deeo Vandyke Brown and the yellow fog lamps, tan leather seats and orange rugs. The Venetians really outdid themselves the way they curve to return toward the bow.

I saw my first one on the street in Dallas, TX in 1990. A VW aficionado I knew had told me about them and showed me a few pix so I knew what it was when I saw it. In 2002 I knew someone who owned one in Apache Junction, AZ. Amazing car.

That thing is awesome...looks like a Corvette from some angles, like an Alfa from others

When I was younger I wanted one of these.

Great change of scenery! Thanks, Jay!

i honestly am not really big on cars but i really enjoy Jay narrating. wish he'd do more documentary style narrating. very calming voice.

This guy sure loves saying his cars are 100% original and telling us everything that's not original.

I think that guy is DB Cooper! He looks just like his artist rendering. LOL

I saw one of these in Kansas City, MO years ago. Jaw dropped. I owned a Ghia & 2 Beetles over the years. Wish they still made 'em.

love the type3 razors.

First time i heard of that car was in the movie cars 2. "A volkswagen karmann ghia has no radiator. That's because it's air cooled."

I had one of those....had a design flaw....mine came with a 1500 engine but a six volt system...which meant that when the timing got just a hair off, the engine would actually work against itself when you tried to start it. As long as the timing was perfect it would start right up. It only took two weeks of normal driving before the car would become very difficult to start. Or, you could carry a timing gun around with you and reset the timing all the time. My solution once I learned the true cause (even the Volkswagen dealers didn't have a clue) I got a super duper heavy duty battery that would crank forever until it started. I noticed he said in this video "this car has been converted to 12 volts." So this owner is also aware of the problem. I spent a number of frustrating years until I found a garage who's owner raced Volkswagens...and when I described the problem to him, he told me right off what the problem was and set the timing and it worked like a charm. Other than being a 6 volt system when it should have been 12 volt given the engine it had, it was a great driving car, part Porsche, part VW, it had a Blapunkt radio with marine band, Corduroy seats, really nice interior. MIne was blue and white. The other thing that was the pits was changing the spark plugs.....next to impossible....I finally got tried and took it took a garage to get the plugs changed and after doing it twice, the owner/ mechanic told me to never come back again! The steering was incredible like he says in the video. I liked the air cool too, coming through Needles, California one Summer, it was about 115 degrees, and no problem driving flat out. I think mine was a year or two newer than this one. I had a lot nicer steering wheel with the Porsche emblem at the center of the wheel. The Porsche emblem was also on a few other items inside the car all well...the same radio mine had, was also in Porsches. Except for hard to start, and changing plugs, it was a really, really great little car. Gear shifting, like the steering, was totally effortless....the best I'd ever had before or since.

I saw a few of these in SW France(Lege Cap Ferret) at a VW rally..They are very distinctive and very good looking in person..We had many VW's(several Beetlees and Buses and also a Gas Heater 411) when I was growing up, including my Mom's Karmann Ghia and it was pretty mind blowing to be confronted with something so wonderful that I had never seen before....

lord that radio face is gorgeous!

The blinds look good on this

That thing is just beautiful.

Looking forward to seeing more of Matt's collection. I've never heard of the Type 34 Ghia before, very cool.

The Type 3 Karmann Ghia was the car we heard about... saw a couple beaters back in the day. Never seen one like this. Thanks Jay for another cool show!

the cut scene to the guy's face when Jay mentions Ralph Nader

Also I don't remember Ralph Nader going after VW for a front mounted fuel tank. I remember him going after Chevrolet though for the Corvair and several other American cars for various "issues"

thanks Jay for this awesome vid, coming from an old Volkswagen lover...so cool!!!!

Jay in the Uk VW was always considered an up market quality brand name I'm a massive fan of this make that type 34 was. Beauty 💕

What, no burn out! Not sure if your aware, but the 1500 S motor ran on Hi Test gas. It had dome pistons and nocked like all hell at sea level if you ran regular. The duel carb's also helped out on performance. Great Show

Interesting design, I like it Thanks for the upload

I can't help noticing that the roofline looks like a Rover P5B coupe, both of which I love. This was the Volkswagen I really want.

I bought one in Tacoma, Wa. In 1971 for $450. Another I wish I had back!

same price as two beetles. Paul and Ringo??

This is one of my favorite episodes recently: two knowledgeable car guys saying lesser-known but not esoteric things about an interesting car. I never get used to the 'skinny tires' on cars from this period. With the engine hanging behind the axle I would have liked to hear more from them about handling. The Porsche steering wheel may be highly collectible but it looks way out of place with this interior.

My first car, a 1966 VW type 3 Fastback was imported the same way this one was and shares much of its heritage. A service in Santa Monica set up the proxy purchase at Wolfsburg, where a G.I. drove it to Hamburg, thus making it a "used" car that I was importing. I remember that this Ghia was one of my choices when I made the deal, but I could not afford it. The Type 1 based Ghia would have been about the price that my Fastback was, but I was wanting the better driving position and greater horsepower my 1600cc version had. What I soon found was that that linkage between the two carburetors was always in need of adjustment from a design change made during the change from 1500cc to the larger engine. The cylinder through rods holding the head and cylinders to the crankcase were modified so that thermal expansion could no longer stress them enough to break, a bad habit the older version was known for. The compromise allowed for the whole engine to expand more with heat, though, which the carburetor rods did not accomodate well. I still have the balancing venturi I used monthly until a friend going Formula V racing sold me the electronic fuel injection off the newer model dual-port engine he had because racing rules forbade using the injection. I then went through the complicated process of converting my Fastback to a fuel injected, dual-port(polished) hotter cam-ed sleeper capable of giving 4 banger Porsche's a stoplight surprise. To do so it needed to be made 12V from the original 6V, but i was forced to retain the 6V starter. That made it necessary to be very quick to start, or pausing to cool it before burning out the starter motor, but it worked fine with the extra Counter-EMF balancing the higher voltage. The fuel injection had other benefits as well. No longer did I need to fear losing power going over the Grapevine as it automatically compensated for altitude, and better yet, it gave the car improved mileage despite the more aggressive cam.

Great overview of the car. My Dad had a restoration project with a Karmann Ghia that we unfortunately couldn't finish so it was nice to see what this car looks like fully restored and on the road.

Que carrinho bacana , se tivessem fabricado aqui no Brasil , seria um sucesso .

jay please i was waiting for more than 3 years for the blue Bugatti in the back

Thank you for this. I saw a few of these in Montreal when I was a kid. A very nice, very interesting car. Montreal was a great place for European vehicles back in the '60's and '70's .... some very sexy older Alfa Romeos .... I even saw a Citroen DS Chapron convertible. My neighbour was a pilot and his wife drove VWs; he had a Studebaker Hawk, a Citroen DS, and later a Citroen SM .... he used to say driving the SM was like flying. Thanks again ... Steve Dunster

Love this car. Just stunning

Jay's Garage has to be the best vehicle collector show ever.

I wish Jay would make a video on the vw schwimmwagen

That vanity mirror was the most excited I’ve ever seen Jay.

I'm a 63 yr. old mechanic, and this is the first time I've ever seen 1 of these cars. My sister had a 71 Super Beatle I would work on, so I became the neighborhood VW guy. But never heard of this VW. So cool.

Hi Jay, great video! When are you doing the type 14 original Karmann Ghia? Like to see that one.

This made my day, notice my profile picture.

What these experts didn't realise was, that the rear luggage compartment can actually hold a medium sized suitcase, you just have to push it right to the back , because the luggage lid slopes slightly down where you open it.And the front luggage compartment will hold a large suitcase. BUT the cases must not be the thick ones of today! ALSO, and this is KEY: the reason why the luggage COMPARTMENTS are shallow, is because of the traditional Volkswagen suspension, designed originally on the Beetle, by Dr. Porsche. Transverse torsion bar tubes, which constantly adjust, so you don't need a hard ride, but the suspension means such cars are just as stable, as they are at 30 m.p.h.!

Jay, These videos of cars like this make this channel special, Thank you

Interesting car... I wonder how it feels driving it, the design and the engine placement make me very curious as to how much different it would be than a vw beetle!

12:33 please bring a BMW 507 to the show

A very great design, the favourite car of my childhood.

One of my favorite Volkswagen cars.

Type 3's came out in 61', except for the Fastback which came out in 66' debuting the dual carbs! This "razorback" would have been a 1500 with a single sidedraft carb. I have a 66' S model fastback, has some parts from Bill and Steves on it! Also from, #JimDutcher/Dutcher'sspeedshop #Goldmine #ISPwest #Josh&Alf Vw's for life!!!!

Get to see this car again, originally featured on Petrolicious. I saw one recently in Chiang Mai, Thailand but RHD. It's really cool.

I don't remember seeing a Type 34 Ghia until the late 70's. But I recall seeing plenty AFTER that.

Two car guys having a good time with a cool car. A+

I used to have a 1967 VW Notchback. This car reminded me a lot of mine but mine looked more like a Vulvo.

Oh man, such a nice KRAFTFAHRZEUG!

I love the variety of cars featured by Jay. I also love how he refers to his productions as a "web site".☺☺☺

Nice Nice Nice!, I'm a Type I Beetle guy from way back, owned '60's and 70's models, never knew this one existed. Such a treat, especially the interior back seat cam, Super...

Give Jay a ride in a 200hp VW Street Rod. It'll teach him a little respect.

Jay "I know a guy" true Italian

Great to see this car. I had the pleasure of knowing someone who's father had one. I saw it a couple of times and it is beautiful in person. I also had the pleasure of driving a Type III fastback with an automatic transmission. It was really a pleasant car. The seats were offset from the pedal cluster and steering column because the floor pan came out to the parameter where the wheel track is. Don't forget the Beetle's passenger compartment was narrower than the wheel track, the seats were closer together than the Karmann Ghias (Type I and Type III), and the other Type III cars (fastback, squareback, and the not much seen notchback). Also, This wasn't Italian built to my knowledge. Ghia Studios were the designer and Karmann coachworks was the builder of the body. They were based in Osnabruk, Germany. Karmann built the Karmann Ghias that we had here in the USA and also the convertible Beetles. They had a Karmann badge. Karmann also was the coach builder for the Chrysler Crossfire, but that 's another story! This is such a beautiful example of not only the Volkswagon mark, but of all the interesting cars in automobile history. Thanks for bringing these wonderful examples to us, Jay.

@10:34 when Jay mentions Ralph Nader, look at the owner's face. Nice editing there. Probably means nothing, but it looks like he's shooting daggers at Jay.

Damn that's actually gorgeous!

"See, like my Bugatti over there...even my Countach". Jay's not about to be upstaged by no stinkin' VW collector.

I saw jay live a few weeks back, it was a hilarious show!! Also I agree with jay about how the wider windshields are better.

I was born and bread in Germany and I thought I know quite a few German cars but I must confess that I never knew that one. Knew the Beatle and the Type 3, the Karmann Ghia and 611s as well as the K70 and RO80, but this one slipped right past me. Lovely car and I am grateful to see it. What I haven't seen on this channel yet is a Borgward. My dad had a Borgward Isabella from roughly the same area and I believe quite a few have been exported to the US. So Jay, should you ever get a chance to do one of those I will be a fan. Thank you for this channel. i don't miss an episode and am grateful for the knowledge you and some of your guests convey to us. I am only in the 1/24 plastic model league but boy, I love seeing those cars explained and in motion. Thank you very much for that.