Old timers, who are these guys?

[hotrodsurplus]

This is for you graybeards and cottontops. Who are these cats?

The smartass who says "Al and Mike" gets bitch slapped. and I'm warning you: my pimp hand is strong

Photo was taken in April '67. The car eventually got the Thunder Bug fenders and deck lid from Intec/Bug House. Based on a photo I saw, Lazenby's car had the Thunder Bug fenders on at least the rear. Does that sound right, John?

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[speedwell]

is this the underdog I ??
and what are you saying by thunderbug  fenders (bill mitchell/motion minicar)?

[johnl]

This is for you graybeards and cottontops. Who are these cats?

The smartass who says "Al and Mike" gets bitch slapped. and I'm warning you: my pimp hand is strong

Photo was taken in April '67. The car eventually got the Thunder Bug fenders and deck lid from Intec/Bug House. Based on a photo I saw, Lazenby's car had the Thunder Bug fenders on at least the rear. Does that sound right, John?

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This is my first post since returning home from the hospital.  The old "greybeard" had a Pacemaker installed..

My car had rear flared glass fenders at one time and the then unique thing about them was (1) they were hand laid glass as opposed to chopper gun.  (2) They were more "fat fender" style with a smooth addition to the middle of the fender unlike most with a flare at the wheel opening.

During their time on the car they saw several wheel and tire combos.  My favorite was a set of Firestone's with gold lettering and stripe and a set of American's (Chevy bolt pattern) with adapters.  That combo worked well for a fit and the look of those times.

The car remained in this format until I returned home form the Navy in April of 1969.  Then stock fenders, Porsche style chromie wheels with 165x15 Pirellis, bumpers removed and the front dropped via removing torsion bars.  The photo attached was with those tires and a set of Johnny's Speed & Chrome (AKA Johnny's Chip & Peel) custom made wheels with Porsche centers and Chevy 6" outers.

I have no idea who those guys are as I went on active duty in April of 1967. 

[.]

John,
were they "Bronson Fat Pak" rear fenders ?
P.S. I hope you are feeling better !
 

[johnl]

John,
were they "Bronson Fat Pak" rear fenders ?
P.S. I hope you are feeling better !
 

Hi Richard,

You know for a guy that remembers almost everything I'm blank on the name or where I purchased them.  I've thought about that over the years and have never come up with the answer.  What I do remember is I liked the look far more than the "flared" examples sold.  You really had to take a hard look to see the extra width.  Once you looked at the tire width and then fender from the rear you could see that they were far from stock.

Thanks for the good wishes.  Currently pretty sore and still weak but that should change soon.  Just took my first shower with a baggy over the area.  I never knew warm water could feel that good............

[johnl]

I did further searching through my old photos and came up with a few that will detail the fenders and wheel combos on my car back in the day.  Some of these have been posted prior but some will be new to you.

These first two are taken at Plunkett VW in Sunland, CA on October 31, 1969 which was the day that we brought Reggie the RagTop home.  First photo is Christie with the '63 with the Chevy bolt pattern Americans via wheel adapters.  Fronts are 165x15 and 185x15 Pirelli Cinturatos.  The rears were a bit small to fill in the fender opening.

[johnl]

Here are some along with Jim (Sarge) Edmistion's car in our driveway.  This will give a good comparison of stock vs widened glass fenders.  The tires at the time were the Indy style Firestones.  Gregg Bunch and some other guys ran Goodyears but for some reason I had the Firestones.  I always did march to a different drummer.

[hotrodsurplus]

is this the underdog I ??

Nope. It's a '65 beetle that got turned into a hot rod.

and what are you saying by thunderbug  fenders (bill mitchell/motion minicar)?

Well sort of. Here's the history.

Two guys named Don Haskin and Max Becker owned a shop called Bug House in Studio City. They formed another company, Intac, that laminated fiberglass parts. From what I know they also did a limited run of dune buggies. That was sort of popular in the late '60s.

They (at least Don) designed a kit that they referred to as ThunderBug. It included flared fenders, front and rear hood scoops, and spoilers. HOT ROD magazine featured the kit's installation in 1967.

Of particular note are the hood scoops. These bond-in scoops are reportedly the ones that gave shape to all of the 'scooped' hoods that followed. So you probably shouldn't refer to that hood design as an EMPI item as many people do.

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Don and Max built Rod & Custom featured that car in 1968. I have complete photos but for trademark reasons I'm prohibited from showing them. However, here's a photo and caption from that R&C feature:
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Now enter the Motion Minicar. Minicar was the Volkswagen branch of Baldwin-Motion (yes THE Baldwin Motion). It prepped Volkswagens the same way it did Camaros and such, with hot engines and custom fiberglass parts. Going by the shape of the fenders and hood and the name that it applied to its VW package, it bought the parts from Intac/Bug House. I'm lazy so I just grabbed a scan of the Motion Minicar ad online. These ads came far later than the Intac/Bug House Thunderbug--i want to say this ad is from 1971.
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John, I'm glad to hear that you're doing well. Don't think of your pacemaker as a medical device; think of it as an aftermarket ECU for your heart.

I have more to respond to your reply but I have to make breakfast for the rib. In the meantime, I'm almost positive that the one guy in the photo worked for Plunkett. The features for the Intac Thunderbug and that '65 that those two guys are contemplating were shot in Beautiful downtown Burbank as Dan Rowan and Dick Martin would say.

[johnl]

Different angle shots of the car so you can see the shape of the rear fenders.  Compared to most glass flared fenders of the day these were quite subtle I thought.

[johnl]

And last one of my favorite shots.  This is Christie around April of 1969 when she first started her Dental Career.  That is her '66 Corvair in the background.  It was a great car and took us many places.  I always thought the Corvair got a bad rap.

Oh and when is the last time you saw a gal in the medical profession wearing an outfit like that......   

[johnl]

And last one of my favorite shots.  This is Christie around April of 1969 when she first started her Dental Career.  That is her '66 Corvair in the background.  It was a great car and took us many places.  I always thought the Corvair got a bad rap.

Oh and when is the last time you saw a gal in the medical profession wearing an outfit like that......   

This time with the photo

[edcraig]

The Bronson Fat Pack fenders were extremely wide....much more so than the "normal" flared fenders.  No idea who those dudes are in the pics.  What are they looking at anyway??

John, glad to hear everything worked out.  Just remind Chris to go easy on the garage remote while your around now now that your part cyborg.  Hopefully you operate on a different frequency!  ;-)

...Ed.

[johnl]

John, glad to hear everything worked out.  Just remind Chris to go easy on the garage remote while your around now now that your part cyborg.  Hopefully you operate on a different frequency!  ;-)

...Ed.

Oh God !!!  She pushed the garage button and now I'm hanging in the rafters above some HUGE Chryslers.  Someone help please......

[edcraig]

Hey...I warned you!

Actually, not sure why I responded to this post.  Its clearly marked to the attention of Oldtimers!  Its all yours John!  ;-)

...Ed.

[hotrodsurplus]

The Bronson Fat Pack fenders were extremely wide....much more so than the "normal" flared fenders.

 

That's the understatement of the year! I always thought they looked ungainly. Here's a shot, April '70.
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No idea who those dudes are in the pics. What are they looking at anyway??

They're digging the far out 25.5x9.50-15 Goodyear Sports Car Specials on 15x7 American Racing wheels (sort of a big deal since American didn't produce that wheel in aluminum until a year or so before that pic was taken). At this point the wheels mount to VW drums on adapters. Later on the owner got a set of Porsche drums and machined the front ones for the domestic bolt pattern. The rears (15x8s) still mounted to adapters. I was surprised to see that they were the thick angular cast-aluminum ones that most Porsche adapters from the '80s look like and not the finned Superior Industries ones that were so prevalent at the time. 

John, how did you score such a groovy chick? I mean the nurse outfit is the icing on the cake!

[DKK Ted]

Hey John, hope your doing well and will continue to get better. Hope to see you at Bug-In. Take care.

Sorry for the highjack....

Ted

[Jon]

Wow, these are highly inspirational photos! And how the sun/shade play in all these tires...  Magic

[johnl]

John, how did you score such a groovy chick? I mean the nurse outfit is the icing on the cake!

Well, it started as a blind date.  She was blind and I was the date...   That even occurred 47 years ago 08/21/66 this August and we've been married 42 years this August on the same date, 08/21/71.

We ain't pretty like we once were but it just gets better every day.  I'm such a lucky guy...........

[johnl]

Hey John, hope your doing well and will continue to get better. Hope to see you at Bug-In. Take care.

Sorry for the highjack....

Ted

Thanks Ted.  Gonna try to make Nick's tonight to help with crowd control as Ed Craig signs autographs...

[johnl]

Wow, these are highly inspirational photos! And how the sun/shade play in all these tires...  Magic

I'm pleased you are enjoying them.  Brings back a lot of memories for me too...

[javabug]

Why people aren't building copies of these cars is a mystery to me (well, not so much of a mystery if you consider the modern VW crowd). I think the Firemist car in this dress easily rivals the Butternut version. And the car in the original post ... that's just beyond cool. Tired of cookie-cutter lookers? Want to confuse and dismay the herd of sheep building "cal-look" cars?

Look here, if you dare.

[RhoadsVW]

There was a member in DKP "Mark Brown" that had very wide fiberglass fenders and wide Crager mags. Front and rear. I don't know where he bought the fenders but I know he waited a long time for them. The car was painted a blue with metalic in it. Almost the same color as the pictures above. The car was wrecked out by Loma Linda, Calif. as he was coming home to Anaheim from collage.  Dave Rhoads

[johnl]

Why people aren't building copies of these cars is a mystery to me (well, not so much of a mystery if you consider the modern VW crowd). I think the Firemist car in this dress easily rivals the Butternut version. And the car in the original post ... that's just beyond cool. Tired of cookie-cutter lookers? Want to confuse and dismay the herd of sheep building "cal-look" cars?

Look here, if you dare.

In looking back on these photos and those times I might have to agree.  I know that Sarge always liked this version better.  It wasn't fast like the later version or cars of today but it sure was fun.  You know, I kinda like those wide fenders and Americans sticking out.  Even those wheels today would be highly sought after (in aluminum) as they are first generation.  Here are a few more photos of that era.  In at least one you will see the stock fenders with aluminum additions made at Mike Mendenhall's (DKP I) shop.  Back in the day that was considered very cool...  The last shot is with Mike Mendenhall's '32 Dodge with a Chrysler Hemi.  He drove us to Christie's Senior Prom (Troy High School in Fullerton) in the car.. 

[hotrodsurplus]

Tired of cookie-cutter lookers? Want to confuse and dismay the herd of sheep building "cal-look" cars?

Says the guy with a nose-down car on alloys.  

We can change that, you know. We've already talked about it.  

[johnl]

There was a member in DKP "Mark Brown" that had very wide fiberglass fenders and wide Crager mags. Front and rear. I don't know where he bought the fenders but I know he waited a long time for them. The car was painted a blue with metalic in it. Almost the same color as the pictures above. The car was wrecked out by Loma Linda, Calif. as he was coming home to Anaheim from collage.  Dave Rhoads

I do not remember a Mark Brown or the car from DKP I.  What time frame are you speaking of?  I'm thinking possibly DKP II but the car's look doesn't fit with the club's format.

[hotrodsurplus]

There was a member in DKP "Mark Brown" that had very wide fiberglass fenders and wide Crager mags. Front and rear. I don't know where he bought the fenders but I know he waited a long time for them. The car was painted a blue with metalic in it. Almost the same color as the pictures above. The car was wrecked out by Loma Linda, Calif. as he was coming home to Anaheim from collage.  Dave Rhoads

Hey Dave, it's not likely the same car or guy but I have another couple photos of an Asian cat fitting Cragar GTs (the all-aluminum ones with gray centers) to a '67. It's a light color like maybe Zenith Blue. Those wheels are pretty much negative offset from the word go and with the thick adapters they stick waaaay out of the fenders. That car would've been a perfect candidate for super-wide fenders.

[johnl]

Tired of cookie-cutter lookers? Want to confuse and dismay the herd of sheep building "cal-look" cars?

Says the guy with a nose-down car on alloys.  

We can change that, you know. We've already talked about it.  

This is why I've left our '63 in pretty much stock form.  I refer to it as the very beginnings of the Cal-look but I'm sure there are those that don't agree.

[RhoadsVW]

Mark Brown was in DKP 1. It was around late 68 early 69 that he came into the club. He joined just after Ron Brankov. I don't think he was around very much as he went off to collage.  Dave Rhoads

[johnl]

Mark Brown was in DKP 1. It was around late 68 early 69 that he came into the club. He joined just after Ron Brankov. I don't think he was around very much as he went off to collage.  Dave Rhoads

Dave, I checked my Excel file on all DKP members.  There was a Mark Brown so I stand corrected.  I was in the Navy during this period.  Because of the description of his car he must have arrived shortly after Sarge and I went on active duty.  Not to long after that time the direction of the club changed and his car would not fit the format.

To my knowledge he has never come around to any of the reunion events.  I'll ask some of the old timers tonight at Nick's if they remember him.  I find it interesting to find out where people of this era of our history have gone with their life.

[RhoadsVW]

I have not heard anything from Mark at all. Neither has Ron Brankov and they were very close at that time. The last time I saw mark was after his accident in the car and I visited him while he was still recovering from accident. I have no idea where he's at. I remember the car was not widely accepted in the club but was voted in. It had the steel chrome Cragers on it.