1964 Volkswagen Type 34 Ghia - Jay Leno's Garage

well the episode of Jay Leno's Garage you know part of the fun of this website is finding cars that people have never really seen before at least here in the states can you figure out what this one is give me a second all right it's a 1964 volkswagen type 34 Agia it's built by Carmen it's not a Karmann Ghia but it's built by Carmen but it's Agia bodied car and it's uh I think quite a bit more luxurious than your standard Volkswagen it's not a car that was available here in the States it's pretty unusual and it belongs to our sort of resident VW guy he's kind of well you might remember him he had his Volkswagen here awhile ago we got tons of comments on that Matt Jake isn't Matt come on in how are you good good to see you again Jay you're an air cool guy I think ya like Porsches early early Volkswagens and this is a car I was not familiar with it was not sold here in the States correct no they were never offered available in the US but a lot of servicemen brought him back tours brought him back and in the early sixties the dealers were didn't have a lot of inventory they'd go to Germany and bring the car in now what's the idea or maybe the reason they didn't bring it in was because it was a luxury Volkswagen and that was seen as kind of the opposite of what Volkswagen was doing here in the States yeah I mean I think the stuff I've read about it they didn't realize this car was gonna be as successful as it was it introduced in 1961 at the Frankfurt Auto Show with the other type three so this you know the squareback the notchback and the fastback and this is on the same pan as the type three oh it is so the type the the regular gear the Karmann Ghia is on a beetle pan this is on a Type three pan so it's a little bigger has a back seat where the Karmann Ghia doesn't have a back seat right so this car was expensive I mean you have a lot of options that you know Volkswagen had never offered before fog lamps on the front you know a stereo you know in some countries this car was as expensive as two beetles Oh safe to say if they had brought this into the States it probably would have been the same price as what a Mustang or something about yeah and it would have been competing directly with the Corvair right so you know it kind of it has this look you know of kind of a BMW early 2002 yeah you know or 1600 and and a Corvair yeah it's a good-looking car and Carmen built bodies for a lot of different people didn't they yeah not the most rust-proof cars desirable no that's why I feel really lucky that yes one I mean I've gotten lucky with my 55 beetle that we had I mean that car had no rust and this car was really solved and I looked for a long time and you know it very hard to find and they've either been really modded out and slammed or they're really rusty now you found this in here in the States or in Europe no no I found it here okay I found it here and did the owner know what he had he did he's one of the he's one of the great everybody knows a thing he's one of there's no secrets the he's one of the great type-3 guys he's a guy named Alex Pagano that owns ISP West in Carson okay and he knew that I was looking for a type 34 Ghia and he was very quiet about I mean this went on for months and he has a big shop and in Carson and all that a lot of cars covered up and I looked I lifted a cover I saw it tonight I can't believe you had this car here you know I've been looking for one who thought it's not for sale so he knew I was relentless yeah I ended up with the car now were these ever available with a 5-speed or they're always just for it's always a forester for speed and the running gear is standard Volkswagen of the period correct well it wasn't because it was a heavier car in a bigger car did it have more horsepower yeah it came to the is this was the beginning of the 1500 okay engine for Volkswagen so that transition to that bigger mode over at the type threes this car has been upgraded with 1776 so okay it's about 75 horsepower from the 45 that the 1500 would have and so this one has been restored you still me it's the original color but not the original paint right it was painted in the lovingly by a guy who was a well-known volkswagen restorer and collector and owned a shop called bill and Steve's in Pasadena bill owned it and ultimately sold it to Alex who I got it from but the car originally was imported by a dealer and Hemet victory motors in Hemet brought the car in here in 64 and was sold to a gentleman named Murray that's all I know and Murray owned it to the mid-80s and and then he sold it you know the 60s are a great time because you could bring anything in if you found something in Europe you just ship it over here now you've got to have all this you know they're not drink contents of batteries there's all the other kind of stuff you know and the things that keep a car a friend of mine tried to bring a car and it got stuck at the ports because you didn't have the unleaded only gas you know on the but the car was fine no they had to wait and get the one from the manufacturer months to put the stupid sticker well I think servicemen used to be able to bring cars back that's right yeah for free yeah so a lot of these came back we have servicemen saw him but it's such a it's such a pretty car and it was such a luxurious car for the time and has some really great stuff I mean I just love the the roof line the roof line is unusual you put the venetian blind with that something available at the period they were available was that dealer option these are I mean I I've kind of tracked down a venetian blinds for my squareback I had him on my beetle that you saw that was here and then finding these for this car tracked him down in Australia cos Venetians were a thing in Australia but it's alright yeah that's funny now brakes are what four-wheel drum no these actually been upgraded to front wheel discs you upgraded it I didn't bill but what I mean it didn't conventionally really was four-wheel drum okay so dis in the front how much heavier is it then the standard you know quite a bit I mean it's quite a bit bigger well then a type three it's it's just you know it's probably the same as a as a let's say a square back 2,600 pounds something of 27 yeah maybe I mean I'll be guessing but yeah yeah but it's nice it's three they're one of the big marketing things of this car was that you had three storage areas you have a small trunk in the back right yeah the regular sighs trunk in the front and then the back seat fold down say of storage there as well and can you go all the way through the back okay let's show them the sum what we're talking about me and I love the dual exhaust it makes it looks like you got some kind of Corvair or little Chevy v8 well it's a luckily this you know bill was also a collector of stuff and that's an original a barf performance exhaust which sounds really good and gives you extra performance cool cool so that's a cool yeah so what we're talking about about okay so you have a small small trunk here so if you collect onion paper you could yes next paper slides yeah but that's cool you get a little extra truck a little trunk there and then it's got the pancake motor right here Wow and so it's nice about this motor it's a bigger motor than the stock 15 hundreds of 7576 so a little more horsepower but if this car had been converted to 12-volt so it's great is keeping all these things so it's looking like a six volt motor it wasn't easy so they did a really good job and doing that yeah but okay these are all unique pieces aren't they right yes wow that's pretty cool that's nicely done yeah really it's a it's just a good design and they're not put gas in here do not do that that's where the oil goes okay sake wonder how many people have done I'm sure many people as many people put diesel into a gas car yeah I know the I'm not gonna say who he is a guy I know has a Miura I know what he's thinking he pulls into the gas station and he opens the you know the eyebrow over the headlight where the gas goes and he put water in thinking it was the radiator and he knew just said I don't know I know what a pretty girl walked right I don't know what happened and he put water and they just do anyone its yeah you can make that mistake God look how compact very cool what country did this car come from originally you know yeah it was imported from Germany - and sold you know sell it as a new car right it was sold by victory motors in Hemet as a no mile used car because I remember you told me about the on the front here I think that was something that bill the parts collector but this normally wouldn't go here it would normally have a side marker there okay so the turn indicator side marker the other things he did so what's what's ending converting the car to 12-volt you know it's still a push-button - right so but and those are generally six volt I don't know I don't really have any problem with six volts I mean everybody feels they have to convert you really don't in fact there are a number of people the companies who will take you a six volt generator right and convert it to a six volt alternator it looked exactly the same the internals would be an alternator so you're making plenty of power you know I I don't I don't really feel the need you have to change it all the time but I don't know I've got I've got several six volt cars and all the battery times now are both 6 and 12 yeah you just have to use 6 volt wire I mean 6 volt wire in 1206 what wire is sticker right can we open the hood let's see their front trunks you know big that is I'm surprised the trunk is so shallow actually I thought it'd be a little deeper yeah that's plenty of room though because you have I mean this is pretty good size right and the gas tank is underneath yes tank here with a filler here you guessed it I mean imagine doing that now you have your gas tank right right in the front well you're protected by the spirit or the spare tire is your airbag is that it yeah yeah because this is what Ralph Nader went crazy about when he went to have to volkswagen but the gas tank was right in the front cool so some other interesting stuff it's got you know Marshall headlamps by which are now ma sha or French headlamp headlamps now with those only in France did they I think you know enthusiasts were probably interested in them they were a pattern it's a great-looking so they didn't leave the fact that Italy Germany with fog lights no no and then you know there were both the and you know amber fog lamps for right I found the set of amber lenses for this and I put those on no the French card sheets have yellow headline right yeah seemed like my Bugatti oh that's right yeah yeah yeah it's a very pretty car it really does have a lot of sort of early BMW look to it also these like you know and they it has a lot of nicknames they called you know the razor's edge because of this right these are called whiskers you know some people call them whiskers but it's a beautiful I think just a beautiful car and it's funny to see a car from this era with no grille you know it's a great having with the air flows and cools the radiator you know right you're that kind of thing and these are interesting I didn't think they were doing doing this this yeah I'm sure that that's not an original later that's a later edition and the interior is really yeah it's original I mean it's original it was originally a terrible car with an ivory top and this is the original interior now these seatbelts with these put in later I want to see boats in later yeah I think that's my one as much as I like cars original a seat belt is my yeah audience yeah these seats look very inviting can we take it for a ride absolutely let's do it you know it's funny that these cars have such a big greenhouse effect there's so much windshield you know the one thing I don't like about the new Camaro is that the windows are squash into so you kind of look at through a letterbox where is this it's so open and airy no it reminds me I don't know if it's the the 507 BMW from the 50s they're really collectible it's good it's very the tops just kind of like sitting on top yeah yeah and the 300sl rocío same thing this is a car where you really need the venetian blinds it gets really hot back there oh I imagine so it actually works the Venetians really worked well the Venetians were a very innovative people ahead of their time now you think my father's favorite joke when I was a kid you know I ain't making venetian blind poke them in the eye that's not doing that it's odd to sit side words cuz I'm sitting this way because the wheels right here so that was a great thing I wasn't clarin you sit in the middle here because almost all the even my Countach you you you kind of get into its side words you know well this is weird if you see it first of all it sits kind of nose high yeah which I like it's just kind of weird yeah and you know the wheels are very inboard you know there's a bigger you know the the you know I guess the you know the wheel length is significantly shorter than overall right right and tell me about this steering wheel you said this is often 914 4000 914 but it's unique in that it was it before the Porsche crest was on the you know it's actually the Wolfsburg the Volkswagen crest on that's right that's when Porsche didn't want to be so I associated with folks like and actually 942 become really collectible you have innovation blinded this motor feels just about right for the Scott seems like the 1501 almost be underpowered I think so anymore it doesn't really need anymore yeah 75 is about right yeah and imagine you get Volkswagen gas mileage yeah it gets great mileage but you also had the am/fm radio which was a huge option back okay big wheel you know now you take it for granted all that kind of stuff but what's the build quality is good on the Italian built Volkswagens like this as it was on the German I gotta believe it's better it's better yeah this part was not I mean this was the first kind of middle class part that looks why you're brought to market yeah I guess that's true and so you know the fear was was it gonna sell when people accept it yeah I think I told you it was you know in some markets this car was twice you could buy two beetles right nice in this car all right so I think the attention to detail doesn't have this put together with upper and lower dash pads yeah Matt pocket said the fit and finish is pretty great on this car well this is what I enjoy you know we do an awful lot of Camaros and Mustangs and those are all great but it's fun to find this unusual stuff stuff most Americans haven't seen right you know because most Americans that wouldn't think of Volkswagen is selling a luxury automobile in fact when they tried to have that what was that Volkswagen they the Phaeton the Phaeton with the v12 beautiful car drove one for a couple weeks very nice every luxury item you could imagine and people go that's a Volkswagen that much revokes right I mean you know it's like when Americans go to Germany ago the Mercedes our taxis there you go well no that's they've known all kinds of cars gave it to Victor I mean I think it's a of all the Volkswagens is pretty drivable yeah oh yeah a very driver and the teacher bit more luxurious and your standard VW seats like W seeds yeah yeah no the whole thing the whole carpet says padded - you mean everything tall it's quiet it's not the most padded - you're busy but no that's like remember on the Mustang like 65 Mustang that was a big safety item yeah yeah you know or the Mercedes the horn that padded horn yeah very funny but you know I keep I'm saying to myself while this power steering is very luck I just played so close I mean there's no weight on the front at all so you could look look it almost feels like one of those Chrysler's from the 60s we're all around with your finger I mean look at that super it's super light in the front yeah I like that you're getting interested air-cooled parks you know it's so funny from a practical point of view if you have collective aircrew cause make a lot of sense because there's no corrosion there's no God water pump that's all rotted out you know and water sits in two cylinders and eventually eats through it I mean air-cool cars can sit for years I remember that's remember that scene it's sleep or the Woody Allen movie where he goes into the future they also I think it's it's like what's inside yeah yeah that was funny and probably sold more Volkswagen with Eva I was a pretty bold move for folks were gonna make this car yeah Alan for all the reasons that you said I mean it was not it was certainly out of sync with transporters and beetles all that existed and he said they sold 45,000 45,000 of these between 61 and 6 mile and it's all steel no aluminum right all steel one of the usual features of this car if you're not used to causing the spirit you kind of sit sideways so you got your wheel wells here where you're obviously your tire is so you've got to be offset a little bit so you kind of sit in the car this way what you get used to it pretty quickly it's not uncomfortable just a little bit different with this window I'm sitting in here this now this steering wheel as you said this is off of one a 94 to early 914 and it so it had the Wolfsburg crest rather than the Porsche crest okay and the very collectible Porsche guys love those wheels well let's see why don't we have I love these square switches tell me papi so the push button this is so that's the most rain drop those as wipers wipers wipers the intermittent wipers and what it's it's just two against the dimmer dimmer for the - light this is headlight yep so that's fog light because this is fuel yep this is speedo and attack I'm attack doesn't work correct I've been looking for attack that works we can get that rebuilt II do that I know this is emergency flash and probably have it later cigarette lighter yes a FM radio this is what he does defrost okay and your clock right and of course glovebox oh what's this they don't want Ashley you gotta have an ashtray and you can see these seats are pretty luxurious and there's so much room here at so area it's quite comfortable and you have your animal pad and - but that's safety item they did that back in 64 right right and these are padded as well you got door pockets what do we have down here this is actually here your control Oh heater controls okay this side oh yeah that's the event and there's the temperature and then you have some vents down on the floors right right if they give you the little vanity all there's another luxury option look at [Applause] well I hope you enjoyed this little piece of Volkswagen history I find this fascinating you know this is really kind of cool because there uh something about this website is we get to show all kinds of vehicles and this one is really unusual Matt thank you so much my pleasure cool stuff we'll see Matt more over the years as he comes by with more unusual cars so this one's this is really quite cool see you guys next week [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 695,172

Keywords: ghia, volkswagen, type, 34, matt, jacobson, jay, leno, garage, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: kXkNmWNXYLc

Length: 20min 47sec (1247 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2017