The idea for the Type 34 Karmann Ghia was conceived in 1958. Volkswagen had been working on introducing a range of mid market cars, to run alongside the already successful "Beetle" (although some people say that the Beetle was to be phased out due to a decrease in sales - by this point the Beetle's design was already over twenty years old). The key to this new range was the redesigned type 1 engine; instead of having the cooling fan mounted on top of the engine, it had been redeveloped so that it was mounted on the end, allowing a greater freedom in the styling and design of the bodywork of the new range. Other features included a redesigned floor pan, and front suspension setup. The new 1500 series, featured two variants of the same basic car; a saloon and an estate, and the flagship sports coupe, which we now know as the Type 34 Karmann Ghia..

The design of the new sports coupe, was entrusted to Carrozzeria Ghia, the Turin based Italian design house responsible for the Type 14 Karmann Ghia and the Beetle convertible. After a design was agreed upon, a prototype model was built and was ready by the end of 1959, the complete design process, from inception, to the production of a drivable prototype had taken a little over a year. Assembly of the new Ghia model was to be undertaken by The Wilhelm Karmann Coachwerks of Osnabruck, in West Germany. Karmann had previously handled the production of both the Beetle convertible and the Type 14 Karmann Ghia for Volkswagen.

The new range, known as the type 3 range (the Beetle being the type 1, and the van being the type 2), went on display at the 1961 Frankfurt Auto Show, the new Karmann Ghia (known as the Type 34), was displayed alongside a convertible version, which unfortunately never went into production, due to strengthening issues related to the bodywork.

The new Karmann Ghia was received very well by the press, but despite the initial signs of hope, was never a real success. It was a very expensive car to produce, due to the materials used (practically all parts used are unique to this model), and the "one-piece" body construction (it was completely hand built), in fact for the same amount of money (£1397/3s/9d for the coupe, £1518/0s/5d for the sunroof model) you could buy a Porsche 356, which at that time had a race winning track record that Volkswagen could not match. From the start of production in March 1962, to its cease in July 1969 a total of just 42510 cars were produced, the end of production at the Karmann plant of the Type 34 gave way to the Porsche 914. Ironically the model that the Type 34 Ghia was designed to replace (the Type 14 Ghia), was still being produced long after the production of the Type 34 had ceased.

There were two models available; the coupe, and an electric sunroof version. The electric sunroof was an innovation at that time, only previously being seen on certain Porsche models. Initially available with a single carbureted 1500cc engine, this was later upgraded, firstly in 1964 to a twin carburetor version, and then in 1966 to a 1600cc twin carb unit. The body styling remained the same throughout its life, with only minor cosmetic changes to the badging, trim and interior.

Most of the cars produced remained in Germany, with the remainder being exported mainly to other European destinations. Of the 42510 cars produced it is estimated that there may be as few as 2000 left in the world today, with only a very small percentage of these being electric sunroof versions. In fact of the few that are left, there are supposedly only 12 right hand drive sunroof models known to be in existence.

Up until recently, there were two convertible versions known, both of these are prototypes, one being owned by Karmann and housed in their museum in Osnabruck, and the other I believe is in Ghias museum in Turin. That is until a third was discovered when a Volkswagen dealership went bankrupt and had its assets auctioned off; one of the lots being a previously unknown Type 34 Ghia convertible. This car was bought by Lars Neuffer, a German Volkswagen enthusiast who reproduces many of the hard to come by parts for Type 34 Ghias. He is presently undertaking a full nut and bolt restoration, and is logging all of the features unique to the convertible, should anyone consider converting a coupe.

There are several non-original convertibles in existence, most of these are pretty good looking cars, in fact Lee Hedges of the Type 34 Karmann Ghia Registry is presently in the process of building a 1962 convertible from a coupe, - you've got to be pretty committed to cut the roof off of one of these cars.