1990-1993 (FORMERLY 4 YEARS- NOW CONDENSED TO 3)
Jim Ratto:
Quote from: Mike P on September 23, 2016, 05:47:27 am
"THAT'S ALL YOU NEED!!!" I've driven by said shop every day multiple times for the last 9 years working at their local fire station. The memories are awesome and Jim the way you're able to put them to words is amazing and couldn't come at a better time. I've pulled my head out of my @$$ and finally gotten back into the VW scene after about 12-14 years of lurking "The Lounge" and others with no running car. Keep them coming Jim, it truly is awesome to reminisce.
Mike, good to hear you've hung around. I talked to Geoff a bunch last week and he mentioned you were getting into trouble with these cars again. Made me feel good to hear that. he mentioned you still have the motor and trans from the '60. Cool deal.
I remember one day, towards the end of my career at the shop, Darrell stopped by with Naval and had dropped off a large Canton-Mecca filter screwed to a big filter adapter with AN10 nipples in it, and a rod bolt stretch gauge. While we were bullsh#tting over the counter, Jerry walked up and saw the stuff and just had to walk over... "What in the Christ are you guys gonna try to do with that stuff? Every time you guys get together, another god#m scheme comes up. Why in the f=ck do you think you need that crap, you're not goin' to god#m Indianapolis!!! And is somebody gonna answer line 3, somebody's dyin' on hold. Where the hell is Geoff?" (pen clicking)
Mike P:
Quote from: Jim Ratto on September 23, 2016, 16:43:27 pm
Quote from: Mike P on September 23, 2016, 05:47:27 am
"THAT'S ALL YOU NEED!!!" I've driven by said shop every day multiple times for the last 9 years working at their local fire station. The memories are awesome and Jim the way you're able to put them to words is amazing and couldn't come at a better time. I've pulled my head out of my @$$ and finally gotten back into the VW scene after about 12-14 years of lurking "The Lounge" and others with no running car. Keep them coming Jim, it truly is awesome to reminisce.
Mike, good to hear you've hung around. I talked to Geoff a bunch last week and he mentioned you were getting into trouble with these cars again. Made me feel good to hear that. he mentioned you still have the motor and trans from the '60. Cool deal.
I remember one day, towards the end of my career at the shop, Darrell stopped by with Naval and had dropped off a large Canton-Mecca filter screwed to a big filter adapter with AN10 nipples in it, and a rod bolt stretch gauge. While we were bullsh#tting over the counter, Jerry walked up and saw the stuff and just had to walk over... "What in the Christ are you guys gonna try to do with that stuff? Every time you guys get together, another god#m scheme comes up. Why in the f=ck do you think you need that crap, you're not goin' to god#m Indianapolis!!! And is somebody gonna answer line 3, somebody's dyin' on hold. Where the hell is Geoff?" (pen clicking)
I just purchased a '63 sunroof Notchback with a 1914 and 40 Dells that is getting 15x 5.5 and deep 6 heart alloys but will be sitting on the Sprint Stars from the '60 while I figure out the brakes. I couldn't stand it, let alone drive it, with the randar wheels and sitting in the weeds. Ironically the guy I bought it from lived right around the corner from Darrell's house. I bought it for a most of the time driver while I do my $100 '65 "barn find" in a more traditional "Cal Look" fashion, BRM's, 48's, Sepia Brown, "fat biscuit" interior.
Reading that ran chills down my spine, "DRAG HIM OUT TO THE STREET, DONT LET THAT F$&^*R DIE IN HERE!!!!" Please keep the memories coming.
Jim Ratto:
Summer months 1990, Punk Rock and the Fiat
"First rule is: The laws of Germany!
Second rule is: Be nice to Mommy!
Third rule is: Don't talk to Commies!
Fourth rule is: Eat kosher salami!"
Part of the early 1990 "anthem" was certainly punctuated, for Frank and I by the tinny buzzsaw of early Ramones albums. The short 3-chord songs were best played (too) loud and just seemed to meld nicely with the lack of responsibility and the abundance of freedom that seemed to be around every corner. We both were making decent teenage incomes and weren't chained to scholastic endeavors, or worse yet, attention-magnet, remora-like girlfriends. The Ramones made music one didn't need to think about. It was loud and annoyed those that needed to be annoyed. Other choice bands during this time were Jane's Addiction (during their musical peak), Stone Roses, Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, Mudhoney, The Misfits, Bauhaus, Syd Barrett solo stuff, in addition to old Stones' albums, very early Pink Floyd stuff (especially soundtrack from More album, and live Careful with that Axe, Eugene track) and The Doors. But I'd say most of that spring and summer was dominated by a wretched excess of songs like Rockaway Beach, Judy is a Punk, Up the Beach, Three Days and Ted Just Admit it. The then new "Goo" album and Bad Moon Rising album, both from Sonic Youth were in the mix as well.
As mentioned when I last posted, the summer was soaring along, money in my pocket, big engine parts multiplying all around me and I was becoming more and more entrenched in the VW parts business as the days went by. Nineteen years old, and now filled with a sense of purpose and hard-headed determination. In my nineteen year old mind, it was simple, buy the right parts, clean them, and bolt them into my car, and it would be that easy. Bring the revs up, step off the clutch and blast off into the 13-sec inner circle. Frank and I had found boxes of 1970's Hot VW's neatly organized behind the counter of Buggy House, all separated by year. I'd ask Jerry "Can I borrow a couple of these for a night?" To be honest, I doubt if Jerry paid attention if they were the newest issues then out or the old dusty dog-eared ones the shop had been saving since about 1970. I'd bring them home and look for mention of fast street cars. Some of the cars I read about not only ran deep into the 13's but were doing so with 1700, 1776 and 1835cc engines! Every once in a while you'd see some old yellow and grey faded picture of a stripped down street sedan wearing those same BRM wheels like Gary Berg's. A rewiring of my brain began to take place. Things that made up my day, which to the casual observer, were as unrelated as they possibly could be, began to link up in my way of thinking. These old black and white pictures of BRM-shod sedans from 25-30 yr prior, lined up in the summer haze, with starbursts of sunlight bouncing from their paint-jobs seemed to conjure an entire environment in my head. Almost like a movie that had never been filmed (but should have). I didn't know who had once owned or raced these cars, but all of the sudden these guys were a band of outlaw heroes to me. Everybody that was into cars, knew a 13 second ET was serious. Anybody in high school that had spent money at Super Shops or Vic Hubbard claimed that either their car was 13 sec material, or would be soon. And being the dorky kid that drove the underdog VW at school, I wasn't about to be outdone. The V8 crowd would be on notice.... and soon.
But as I mentioned a few days back, I was header-less. And more importantly, I had a stock transaxle in my car, and not a healthy one. The previous 1641 in my car was enough to snap the flange off the nosecone, and burn up a few 200mm clutch discs. In my mind the pending 94 x 74 would have no problem chewing the stock, original trans into a paste of 75/90 and gear teeth. Now what?
kafercup:
Wow, i can literally hear Jerry's voice in my head while reading this. I wish I had a quarter of the memory for detail you have. I can't remember most of what i did last year much less 25+ years ago. I'll say it again, you should have a column in Road and Track.
j-f:
So, now what? ;D ;D ;D
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