Been watching a Bath Tube Porsche restoration a while back. The way they lap and fold over multiple body sheets where they join, sandwiching bare steel- no wonder they rusted so much. What a ball ache to access and repair the rust; just finding non-rusty sections seems a miracle. They used a proprietary rotisserie and jig made for that car, so everything lined up correctly on it, but more so, it didnt just collapse into a bunch of disconnected sections.
Cars and bikes I’ve come across in my travels
- Thread starter Alzero
- Start date
The Sock
Hero member
- Location
- London, England
Ex-Porsche cookie-cutters, Andre.
Alzero
Hero member
- Location
- DaNang Vietnam
Those damn kids! Is it five or six? 
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
Good on em! One helmet is better than none.
piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
Just home from 2 1/2 weeks in Vanuatu. Interestingly there is an almost total dearth of scooters even in the busy capital Port Vila - a system of minibuses (mostly Toyota Hi Aces) do the job, but there are a lot of big privately owned utes (pickups) as well - on the wages they receive I would have thought the Indonesian style scooter would be commonplace, but realistically, even they are probably out of reach. Population is tiny compared to Indonesia of course, and that factor comes into it.
We found it an incredibly expensive place to live and travel in, far moreso than in places like Bali, where the locals (and travellers if they wish) can still afford to access basic amenities like supermarkets, and food stalls are available to all at manageable prices. That discrepancy between the gringo economy and the local economy in Vanuatu is vast. Many end up having to work OS to move beyond subsistence. All that aside, a beautiful place and wonderful people.
We found it an incredibly expensive place to live and travel in, far moreso than in places like Bali, where the locals (and travellers if they wish) can still afford to access basic amenities like supermarkets, and food stalls are available to all at manageable prices. That discrepancy between the gringo economy and the local economy in Vanuatu is vast. Many end up having to work OS to move beyond subsistence. All that aside, a beautiful place and wonderful people.
3CBRG
Senior member
- Location
- Northern California
As a VW owner some 25 years, am surprised to not know of this model. Corvair influence evident. Probably never was sold in either country I have known.
Gerald
Hero member
In Germany they were known as "großer Karmann Ghia" (big Karman Ghia), or just Type 34.
As all Beetle derived VW they rusted very quickly after several winters driving on salt roads.
Many Karman Ghia had bodge repairs to cover up rust holes, often "frying" metal between body and chassis.
Restoring such a vehicle is a real PITA.
The Sock
Hero member
- Location
- London, England
"Although the Type 34 was available in most countries, it was not offered officially in the U.S. – VW's largest and most important export market – another reason for its low sales numbers. Nevertheless, many made their way to the USA (most via Canada), and the USA now has the largest number of known Type 34s left in the world (400 of the total 1,500 to 2,000 or so remaining)."
Wikipedia