OMG! Poor Darrell Baker's 'El Diablo Gris'!!! On eBay now..

[Sarge]

He was quite the trash hauler I hear.

 

[.]

New owner turned it into a Cal- "Don't" Look !
  

[danny gabbard]

Anybody have any original pictures of the front of the car when darrel had it ? Why does the hood not line up?

[bilboa2]

I seem to remember dyno don detailing the car at the classic. Maybe he knows something ??

[Cornpanzer]

Some highlights for me are (1) the gory holes punched through the floorpan to allow the installation of the BMW seats.  (2) the black vinyl wrap on the gauge panels (3) the hilarious turn signal switch

[Fritter]

The seller is the same guy who bought my old '65.  Straight up guy. Regardless of what he did to it it is his car and he can change what he wants. He changed my old car also, FAT engine, more gauges, etc.

[Chuck Fryer]

Yeah, but he did the same thing to your car Mike. It looked much better before he modified, it in my opinion.

[Dave Rosique]

I want to buy it and make it a baja.

                                                       Can I help, Bill? I'll get the sawzall.

I'd like to help.... Remember "if you want a nice Baja, you need to start with a nice car"

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Their are a lot of close minded people on here including the subject holder...shame!

[John Rayburn]

I never liked the Porsche shroud that was on it to begin with, as for me it's just one more thing for V8 guys to say "Oh, see, it does have a Porschee engine in thar!"  Lol   The changes that were made interior wise and exteriorwise, I can't stand.  And I really don't like the seller capitilizing on the previous owner's efforts; I would be very interested to know who the "local celebrity" in Orange County is that is referenced in the ad?

The seller's name probably isn't someone you heard of on this, or any other forum.

He is quite the trash talker I hear.

                                                              Well played!!!!! I'd scan his card and put it up, but I want to watch this linger.

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

I never liked the Porsche shroud that was on it to begin with, as for me it's just one more thing for V8 guys to say "Oh, see, it does have a Porschee engine in thar!"  Lol   The changes that were made interior wise and exteriorwise, I can't stand.  And I really don't like the seller capitilizing on the previous owner's efforts; I would be very interested to know who the "local celebrity" in Orange County is that is referenced in the ad?

The seller's name probably isn't someone you heard of on this, or any other forum.

He is quite the trash talker I hear.

Very kind of you to post something like that Bill.     Geez! Even though I don't know the owner, I would never stoop that low. 

[Jeff68]

I remember first seeing this car in all the magazines at the time it was debut.  What an over the top car that was perfect the way it was.  Was it traditional Cal-Look? No, but a beautiful car just the same.  I just can not believe someone would do those horrible things to that car!  How tragic.  I hope someone buys it and can somehow get it back to the way it was originally.

[plasticblack]

 The new owner can do what he likes for sure... If he likes it then fine

That said in light of what the car looked like before and how much praise and admiration it had attracted, it seem sstrange that the new owner felt he could improve the car with the modifications he's carried out.

I don't expect for a second the changes were made with thought for the opinions of others ( such as us) and why indeed should they??

For my part I actually don't like the car now or even before! I can certainly appreciate what went into the building of the car and don't detract in any way from it's superb finish. I'd love to have some of the parts the car has for my stash for certain, but I wouldn't personally combine some of them together in the future?

I admit that I'm possibly in the extreme minority in my dislike of the car, buy hey that's life isn't it. It's what makes us all different and in truth that is what this is all about really as far as I can see.

The new owner just did something different, or perhaps just what he liked?

As the saying goes, 'You pays your Money and take your chance' .. However Badly the money is spent...

[Rich Ghia]

Anybody have any original pictures of the front of the car when darrel had it ? Why does the hood not line up?

Probably not closed properly for the shoot? Climbing in and out of the car to pull the lock, when you've forgotten to take a pic of something gets annoying after a while.

[empicolector]

 

[bugnut68]

 It's true that the buyer of any car can do anything he wants to it, heck, I even expressed my own view that I didn't care for the Porsche shroud originally on the engine when Darrell had it, nothing personal, though!  The changes just don't suit my tastes, nothing wrong with people expressing that.  I did ask about the engine build, I was told the 201 hp mill blew up shortly after this current owner bought the car.  He also said it's changed owners twice since Darrell originally built it.

[Georg/DFL]

Their are a lot of close minded people on here including the subject holder...shame!

Steve, I don't think the people are close minded, the just expressed their opinion. Of course everybody is allowed to do whatever he wants to do to his own car. I can understand if someone makes changes because of safety reasons - like the seats with headrests and modern seatbelts. But the steering wheel and the turn signal switch are just bad taste (maybe the lights in the bumper too). Sorry to say. That has nothing to do with the fact that we are all Cal Look fans on here. These modifications just don't look right on this car - they don't fit the theme.
Just my two cents,

Georg

[bugnut68]

I can't understand people buying a car like this with the intent of making it a "driver," but that's just me.  People can cite upgrades for safety all they want, but the fact is VWs are not the car to be driving if crash protection is a priority.  Not like modern seat belts or those seats are going to be much good for anything than a minor fender-bender.  That car should have stayed as it was built, IMO.  Not hating on the current owner, just my thoughts.

[Zach Gomulka]

That's a shame. It wasn't my favorite of the "street rod" quality VW's, either, but it still demanded respect. I remember it won a trophy at a Goodguys show- that's a very impressive feat. They lost the custom decklid, too, and replaced it with a "W". I can't stand later models with "W" 'lids!

Someone really fucked that car up.


Edit:
I just saw the shitty, cheap black carpet they upholstered the ENTIRE trunk in. Simply atrocious

[Bruce]

I just saw the shitty, cheap black carpet they upholstered the ENTIRE trunk in. Simply atrocious

Can you imagine the guy with the spray gun of contact cement blowing it all over the trunk to make that carpet stay in place?

[bugnut68]

Yup... the car got douched up pretty bad.  Again, not a personal attack on whoever the heck owns it now, but in my own humble opinion, that car has been completely infected with bad taste.

[henk]

i don't like it either but it is still a very clean car.
and it looks like some people do like the style of it,25.000 dollar all ready.

henk!!!

[Zach Gomulka]

I just saw the shitty, cheap black carpet they upholstered the ENTIRE trunk in. Simply atrocious

Can you imagine the guy with the spray gun of contact cement blowing it all over the trunk to make that carpet stay in place?

I didn't think of that earlier. Thanks for ruining my day!

I can't believe through out this modification process that not one person succeeded in stopping him at some point... or maybe they did. Who knows, it could have ended up a lot worse!!

[jick]

there was once some philosopher dude on this forum who said   "cool is not for sale"   

i think that works here on a couple of levels.

[DKK Ted]

Just curious, but does anybody know what Darrel sold it for back then?

[stealth67vw]

WTF is that blinker switch from, a Hyundai?

[Bryan67]

Thats a Grote TS switch for a semi truck. Sweet.

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Their are a lot of close minded people on here including the subject holder...shame!

Steve, I don't think the people are close minded, the just expressed their opinion. Of course everybody is allowed to do whatever he wants to do to his own car. I can understand if someone makes changes because of safety reasons - like the seats with headrests and modern seatbelts. But the steering wheel and the turn signal switch are just bad taste (maybe the lights in the bumper too). Sorry to say. That has nothing to do with the fact that we are all Cal Look fans on here. These modifications just don't look right on this car - they don't fit the theme.
Just my two cents,

Georg

I agree that everyone has their own opinion of what  Cal-Look should be like or not, but what really bothers me is when someone comes along and posts a person's car just to merely state negative attributes about it. That doesn't send a positive signal to the person posting it or this forum. What's even worse is someone posting a verbal attack towards a person. Last time I checked, this forum wasn't about ripping a person's car down but rather to help people in a positive way. YES, WE ARE ALL CAL-LOOK FANS ON HERE AND LET US SUPPORT EACH OTHER rather than degrade a person's car. Maybe I'm missing something here! 

[Fastbrit]

Steve, the forum also acts as a news/info site. The fact that this car is for sale is newsworthy in itself,and worthy of posting. But if, for example, Russell rolled Tar Babe out and we'd all discovered he'd painted it red and installed a turbo motor, I think people might have commented on that, even though it's his own car, so why not this? I am sad that Darrell's car has ended up looking like this, but each to his own, I guess. But I won't say 'Wow, doesn't this look great!' when I know what heartache Darrell went through when building, and then having to sell, his masterpiece. And if you ever sold you truly stunning ’67 and it ended up looking like this, I think I'd still find it hard not to say something.

But you're right – it's his car. Let the marketplace decide if the mods are for the better. 

[madfrog]

But you're right – it's his car. Let the marketplace decide if the mods are for the better. 

I am not sure wether  the market will decide if the mods are for the better or rather that this car still got a lot of potential 

cheers

madfrog