DKP cruise night , legend party , and bug in 37 pictures are welcome

[Dustin]

Alright gang, the DKP archives have been updated with a total of 222 pictures of the entire weekend. Thanks Sarge, for your hard work on the site and thanks Fabs for the additional footage.

Please note, if you've been on that album already this weekend, depending on your browser, you may not see the additional pictures until you click on the last picture, then hit the slideshow (software/cache glitch). Sorry, I'm a car guy, not a web guy!!

Enjoy, Dustin

[Dustin]

The green split rocks!  

The ONLY thing that could have made that Split better is if it had been towed by Schwimmer's Bus!

[speedwell]

thx for those cool pictures guys ,iwasn't there , but the bug in looks netter at irwindale dragstrip , i never been to that dragstrip , but the scenery /place  is better than fontana for me

[IP359]

Alright gang, the DKP archives have been updated with a total of 222 pictures of the entire weekend. Thanks Sarge, for your hard work on the site and thanks Fabs for the additional footage.

Please note, if you've been on that album already this weekend, depending on your browser, you may not see the additional pictures until you click on the last picture, then hit the slideshow (software/cache glitch). Sorry, I'm a car guy, not a web guy!!

Enjoy, Dustin

Very cool pics (D Galassi's green split is awesome) and always good feeling between members.
Thank you guys to share those pics & those moments with us.

[.]

The story of Russ's green split affected me all day.
Quite a wonderful story.
I had tears in my eyes most of the day thinking about it.
Thank you DKP and DKK for the hospitality and great food !
Had a wonderful time hanging out with awesome friends !
 

[bugnut68]

I thought that color rocked!  ....but that's just me.

It's definitely different, and by no means are my comments meant as any type of personal slight... I love the true-blue Cal-Look design of the car, as it represents all that is traditional through my eyes.  Just a bit 'lime-ish' for me is all.  I do like your Ghia's shade quite much, though!  I guess I'm more of a 'darker' hue kinda guy versus the lighter, brighter colors.

[speedwell]

want to see more about that split
 dave where are you??

[marc1951]

After seeing the pictures, I've got the juices flowing again.......I'm waking up from hibernation ...........but it is still raining here!, I need some sun!.

I also love the split (and the color) but all this talk about a story behind it?  C'mon... I'm dying to know more.

Thanks for posting the pics, guys.

Marc

[empicolector]

The split bug is awesome
please post more pictures 

[edcraig]

Another angle...

[edcraig]

One more...

[Rennsurfer]

The story of Russ's green split affected me all day.
Quite a wonderful story.
I had tears in my eyes most of the day thinking about it.
Thank you DKP and DKK for the hospitality and great food !
Had a wonderful time hanging out with awesome friends !
 

Agreed with Russell's story as told by Dave, Rich. Thanks for stopping by our Kamp(fwagens) and it was cool talking to you on Fri/Sun.

[Jim Ratto]

I had to add another picture of this car from Bug in 37.  Probably my favorite of the day.  Great story attached to it too.

...Ed

Car of the show, very sparse, hard core and done right. Best of all is the love put into the build. When I think Cal Look I see this car. Nice job Mr. Galassi

[Neil Davies]

I had to add another picture of this car from Bug in 37.  Probably my favorite of the day.  Great story attached to it too.

...Ed

Car of the show, very sparse, hard core and done right. Best of all is the love put into the build. When I think Cal Look I see this car. Nice job Mr. Galassi

Jim! You're alive! Hope you're ok, haven't seen you on here in a while! Welcome back buddy! 

Oh yeah, I agree with most of the comments about the split - awesome car (from the photos anyway) in a slightly "different" choice of colour, and I'm dying to know the story behind it!

[bugnut68]

The more I return to this thread and see the car, the more the color is growing on me.. I retract my previous comments (which, again, were by no means intended to be barbs! ).  I already loved the car's complete effect, I'm starting to see the color's appeal as it truly is very different.

[Rick Meredith]

The more I return to this thread and see the car, the more the color is growing on me.. I retract my previous comments (which, again, were by no means intended to be barbs! ).  I already loved the car's complete effect, I'm starting to see the color's appeal as it truly is very different.

I'm kinda with you on this one.
Never liked green for cars but this one just works for me.

[kingsburgphil]

The green split works for me because of balance, just the right contrast. And it's not monochromatic, even if the green looks like zinc chromate only shiny 

[Dave Galassi]

Thanks everyone.  Sorry for the delay in posting.  What a day.  I think Steve Walker (nlvtinman) put it best.  It was a great location with even greater people.  The Schley brothers are so kind and accomodating, answering questions and restoring their cars to an amazing level.  It was a treat to see Russell Ritchey's re-creation as well.  Thanks for making such an effort, you do so much for the hobby.
For those who don't know, this car has been owned for 40 years by a great friend of mine and many others here on the lounge, Russ Welch.  It is not mine.  He started a VW salvage yard called Russ's VW Recycling back in 1983, not three blocks away from where this year's Bugin was held.  Ed Economy (yes, thee) was already working for him when I started in June of 1983.  I purchased my first VW a few weeks before that and drove my Model A Coupe down to his yard to buy some parts.  He dug the car and offered me a job.  I was just starting my undergraduate work and told him it would have to be on my days without school.  No problem.  Not much was ever a problem with Russ.  

Working there, I learned A LOT.  My dad was a school principal and mom was a teacher.  Middle class upbringing.  Within months, I was in a whole new world.  Learned how to cuss, learned a lot about humility, was exposed to a completely different way of doing things.  I still think I got a more useful education there than I did with my college degree.  That place was real.  We had all the wackos, got shot at, crashed cars into each other, broke a lot of windows, took a few stitches and had the times of our lives.  Russ made it all fun.  I first met my wife there.  We were working the day the Challenger shuttle went down.  Etc.  Get the picture?    

He introduced me to many friends in our hobby.  Bob Scott (rip), Shubee (rip), Chuck Coli (Chuck' Convertible Parts), Steve Walker, Larry Rick..........the list goes on.  Russ not only helped me and my family and friends with parts and information, but he helped everyone who walked through the door.

The car.  In the late 60's, Russ worked for one of the first foreign car salvage yards, Foreign Auto Salvage Technicians (FAST Inc. - still around today, established 1966). He bought this car in 1973 and drove it to the Bug In the next year.  He was a member of the Valley Volks Klub, another VW club started in 1966.  By 1975, it became a street car, on an IRS chassis and with a big engine and 8 spokes.  It was a regular at the original Irwindale, posting a 14.2 best  time.  Not bad for a junkyard dog.  Blow a tranny?  Ask the boss for another.  Work it off.

Like all of us, he had a dream of the car he wanted to build.  Took it apart in 1978 and in the next 35 years, it never saw the road.  There's a lot of in between, suffice to say.  Life.  Marriage, children, divorce, moving, selling the business, family and friends passing on.  I won't bore you with the details.  You know, that's not fair to say, because those details aren't boring.  The guy went through a lot and it is amazing what he's done.  Along the way, two years ago, he also found out he had prostate cancer.  Stage 4.  In the bones bad.  

I had asked him if I could finish the car for him, about a year before his diagnosis.  I knew he wouldn't be able to finish it even before this news hit.  He let me take the car.  Within the first six months, I dented a fender (the car was painted in 1989 and sat in a garage, undamaged for almost  20 years and what do I do?).  Progress was being made,  but it was slow, with my three  young children and a small business making it hard to carve out time.  Life, again.  Russ called me one day and told me the news.  Time to change the plan.

Do any of you have that friend that you can call anytime, and that you know you can bank on?  I often times describe George Schmidt as someone I'd lay down on the tracks for.  What's mine is yours, what do you need?  He is a great friend, fabricator, mechanic and historian.  "Hey George. Russ called.  He's got prostate cancer.  I want to get this thing done before".............  (George)  "Bring it over".  He's the major EVERYONE that Steve Walker referred to in his previous post.  You'll all find out soon enough all the things he did.  Hours?  You can't count them.  Not to mention the fact that George lost his dad unexpectedly in January and was hit with that and taking care of matters there.  He still got it done in time.  Throw in help from Larry Rick (who still knows more about Cal Look than anyone I know), Billl Schwimmer, Tod Fuller, and a host of others.  An example.  Last Wednesday, I'm going nuts at my office and a car pulls up.  It's Hans Hermann, a past president of the VVK (Valley Volks Klub).  He walks in and hands me two original window decals for the car.  "Here, these are for Russ' split."  Carma(sic).  

There's a lot in between, but I'll spare you the details for later.  Fast forward.  Last Sunday.  5:00 a.m..  

Did you ever see the movie Big Wednesday?  When the guys get back in the water after all those years?  That's how it felt.  It's dark and the hangar doors open.  The car fires and we sit there letting the oil temp come up.  George hops in and I'm following in my truck.  It's on the road, for the first time in 35 years.  The odometer shows O miles.  Lights on.  It's singing as he goes through the gears.  Stretching it's legs. Doesn't want to be below 3000 rpm.   George jumps on it on Lower Azusa Avenue and it fades way ahead of my headlights.  I'm crying.  

Got to the show and people are really interested in the car.  I don't want to leave it's side, waiting for Russ to arrive.  The original plan was to give him the keys and then have it tech'd, along with my ragtop, and make a pass together.  It just didn't work out that way.  No time to get my car ready, and I'm glad it wasn't.  I would have missed a lot friends and great stories.  Chuck Fowler, one of the original VVK guys and a racer, went and got Russ and walked him over to the car.  I only wish everyone who knew him was there.  We hopped in and went for a drive, albeit, very slow, around the event. It's a cliche, but it was "priceless".

Have you ever heard the expression, "Never miss a dance"?  I can't dance for you know what, but this time I did.  

[Fastbrit]

Very cool tale, Dave. Very cool indeed...

[54Kab]

. . . . It's a cliche, but it was "priceless".

-Very cool.  "priceless" is a perfect one-word summary. Thanks for sharing

[AntLockyer]

Yeah awesome tale, thanks.

[carlo]

Thanks Dave!

[Diederick/DVK]

just WOW!

[Rennsurfer]

Dave when you used Big Wednesday as a metaphor, you nailed it. That's been my favorite movie since the day it was released.

Thank you for posting up the story, great talking to you at Bug-In as usual, and again... great job on the car to all that were involved. Towards the end of the day, I was tired and needed rest so as I was driving my Bug through the pits, I had the honor of following out Russ' Split all the way to the main gates. It was the perfect way to leave the event and left me smiling.

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[stretch]

What a great story.  Thanks.

[Donny B.]

Wonderful story, thanks so much for sharing...!

[speedwell]

thx for the story dave ,  and that car ROCKS , great job as usual

rgd
fabs

[TiDi]

WOW! what a car! what a story! thanks for sharing!

I've painted my bicycle the same color and I always wondered how a beatle would look,
well... in this case it looks COOL

[Rick Meredith]

Told ya the story was worth waiting for! 

Thanks Dave... like we talked about on Sunday... it's not about the cars, it's about the friendships we make through them.

[guillaume]

Incredible story That's what the scene is all about, friendship, passion and great moments.