Dave Rosique! Tell us about the Keep On Buggin club days.

[John Rayburn]

Thought I'd try to get my lurking friend to tell us about his old VW club of the 70's

[Sarge]

HOLY SHIT...., Dave's been sneakin' around ??  Hi ya, Dave... it's me, Jim @ Commonwealth Parts.  Welcome to The Lounge and hurry up with our beers!!

[John Rayburn]

Dave says there will be a short intermission while he goes to sleep for the night, and will get with us tomorrow afternoon. He asks what your drinkin , Sarge?

[Sarge]

Anything free   We need cool, old stories..., but more importantly, we need BEER!!

[Rennsurfer]

Holy cow! DAVE is here? COOL! That man that was gracious enough to allow me to have my first EMPI wheels that dreamed about for so long. C'mon, Dave... bust out with some cool old stories. Ray Z. says HI, by the way. Don't be shy... step right up.

[Dave Rosique]

Thanks John,

So much for me being a Lounge Lurker!

First off, I have to say this site is one cool place to re-live the old days! I've spent hours looking at the vintage photos so many members have posted and all I can say is WOW! I FEEL OLD! That being said, it's really nice of you Loungers to take the time to share your stories and photos from the old days. It's been about thirty years since I had a Cal-Look VW and things like going to the recent Bug-In, seeing DKK Mark (Fred?) and visiting the Lounge have helped me to get motivated in building the car I wish I had when I was young (old school Oval, big motor, lots of attitude!). Rayburn has always encouraged me to build another car, as we go waaaaaay back, don't we John? I've have my Oval for a few years, the transmission is done, but I still need to assemble the 84X94 IDA motor. I'm actually working on it again!
 
Whoops! I better stay on topic... Anyway, I'm not the best club historian, but I can tell you a little about it. I believe Keep on Buggin' was formed around 1968. The club was out of Long Beach, CA. Our clubhouse was in Bellflower, on Bellflower Boulevard, a locally famous cruise spot. Most of the members then had wide tires and the full fiberglass treatment... flaired fenders, ham-can hood, scoop decklid, etc. When I was invited to join in 1974 (I was only sixteen, but I told them I was eighteen) the club was split with about half of the members from the old fat tire days and the others with what we called "The Stock Look" before Hot VW's coined it "The California Look". We did all the things most clubs did, Bug-In's, rally's, street races, partys, etc. Some of the rival club members like Mark Souter, Frenchy and many others were friends.

K.O.B. was pretty competitive and we never missed an opportunity to try to win whether it was most represented club at a rally, loudest club at a rally (if you're not winning, be obnoxious), or an all out drag race. One of my best memories was Gene Berg volunteering to show me how to balance and adjust my Berg special 42's in a pizza parlor parking lot in the dark!

I was only active until about '77 or '78, as life tends to move on...  got married, had kids, all the good stuff. I'm not sure when the club fizzed out... probably early eighties.

Hey Sarge, I'd be happy to have a cold brew with ya!

~Dave

[John Rayburn]

Dave used to have a fast Ghia with EMPI 5 spokes, ( those wheels ended up on Mark Kessenich's orange car.) My brother used to run the liquer department at a Vons in Bixpy Knolls, and on Friday nights, the parking lot was the hang out - drink beer spot. Dave would back the Ghia up to the double automatic doors at the store , and Stan, the meat manager, would stand on the sensors that held the doors open. Dave would drop the hammer and do the biggest , smokiest burnouts. It would fill the store with smoke! Great stuff! Tell us more , Dave!

[Rennsurfer]

Right on, Dave... stoked that you're on here! Mark Souter... wow, there's a name from the past. He worked at Lakewood Motors. God, I miss that dealer. I worked at many of the local VW dealers and one Porsche one... but always wanted to get hired at Lakewood. I was sad when they tore it down. Wish I had some pics of it.

Anyway, please feel free to keep the stories flowin', Dave. Great seeing you at Bug In 33, too. That made my day.

[Dave Rosique]

Hey John,
You don't want to give people the wrong idea about me do you? Do you think I would stoop so low as to do an illegal burn out in a grocery store parking lot?? YOU BETCHA! That was good times...

Fred,
Mark Souter sure had a sweet '67 didn't he? His '67 was one of my favorites! One of my friends bought that car when Mark built his beautiful red Ghia. Somewhere around 1981, I ended up with Mark's old five spoke EMPI's. The wheels were still Ford "Bold Gold" when I got them, but they were badly cracked. I sold those too... I can not believe how much any of the real deal original wheels go for now.

Does anybody remember Frenchy's Fiat? I got a late night ride in that car at a KOB party decades ago and it was a blast! I think at the time it had a 1600 w/ 48IDA's!

[Rennsurfer]

Fred,
Mark Souter sure had a sweet '67 didn't he? His '67 was one of my favorites! One of my friends bought that car when Mark built his beautiful red Ghia. Somewhere around 1981, I ended up with Mark's old five spoke EMPI's. The wheels were still Ford "Bold Gold" when I got them, but they were badly cracked. I sold those too... I can not believe how much any of the real deal original wheels go for now.

I remember that car, Dave... but didn't he also have a really nice Oval or Split towards the end of Lakewood Motors?

[Sarge]

Great stories, guys!   Hey Dave, you look a little parched... how about a nice Belgian beer

[Rennsurfer]

Dave used to have a fast Ghia with EMPI 5 spokes, ( those wheels ended up on Mark Kessenich's orange car.)

Ah, no WONDER those wheels had such a great vibe when I put 'em on my car after I restored 'em. Makes perfect sense, after all of these years. Thanks for the history lesson, John.

Great stories, guys!   Hey Dave, you look a little parched... how about a nice Belgian beer

Eww, at least offer him a REAL Belgian bier... not that urine sample posing as something drinkable.

[Sarge]

I see I struck a nerve 

[Rennsurfer]

I see I struck a nerve 

C'mon, Sarge... you KNOW I'm very sensitive and have no sense of humor. Stop.

[Sarge]

I see I struck a nerve 

C'mon, Sarge... you KNOW I'm very sensitive and have no sense of humor. Stop.

Sounds bitchy to me

[Dave Rosique]

Something tells me SOMEBODY likes beer!!

Hey Mark or Fred (I'm confused) YOUR wheels came off a '64 bug that I saw sitting behind a bar in Fontana way back around 1975. It was around 5:00 pm when I spotted this beater bug. I went inside the bar, found the owner, and offered him $200.00 and a set of chromies with Porsche caps and he agreed to the deal, but he was moving and I had to do the deal that night! So, I drove the 50 miles home, grabbed the chrome wheels and a bunch of tools, blah, blah. It was about 9:00 pm by the time I made it back to the bar and this guy was LOOPED! But at least he was still there... I switched the tires by hand in the alley, used my trusty 12 volt compressor to inflate and viola! I finally had my first set of EMPI's

A little side note on those wheels~ I was approached by a rep from American Racing when I worked at H&H Motors, he saw the wheels on my Ghia and offered me two sets of any "Spirit of America" line wheels if he could borrow one of my five spokes to copy... Being the Ho that I was I agreed, and as far as I know, the spirit of america five spoke copies came from that wheel.

~Dave

 

[Rennsurfer]

Something tells me SOMEBODY likes beer!!

Hey Mark or Fred (I'm confused) YOUR wheels came off a '64 bug that I saw sitting behind a bar in Fontana way back around 1975. It was around 5:00 pm when I spotted this beater bug. I went inside the bar, found the owner, and offered him $200.00 and a set of chromies with Porsche caps and he agreed to the deal, but he was moving and I had to do the deal that night! So, I drove the 50 miles home, grabbed the chrome wheels and a bunch of tools, blah, blah. It was about 9:00 pm by the time I made it back to the bar and this guy was LOOPED! But at least he was still there... I switched the tires by hand in the alley, used my trusty 12 volt compressor to inflate and viola! I finally had my first set of EMPI's

A little side note on those wheels~ I was approached by a rep from American Racing when I worked at H&H Motors, he saw the wheels on my Ghia and offered me two sets of any "Spirit of America" line wheels if he could borrow one of my five spokes to copy... Being the Ho that I was I agreed, and as far as I know, the spirit of america five spoke copies came from that wheel.

~Dave

COOL story, Dave! Nice knowing that I had some history bolted on my beloved '66. H&H Motors... haven't heard that name in years. Your story on those wheels is a lot how I scored the early Turbo wheels that I put on my daily driver ('87 Volvo 245DL 5spd. wagon). I did the same thing but sans the air compressor and everyone was sober. Super cheap deal... I offered my stock steel wheels in trade for the alloy ones and a few bucks. Brought two Volvo factory jacks and swapped out both cars on Bellflower and Del Amo, across from the Milk Barn Dairy. Still got 'em.

Regarding my "Fred" nickname. Mark Ramirez (Der Kleiner Kampfwagens president) gave me that back around 1980, after I was in the club. There were already several Mark names in the club... so he was watching me shovel food down when a few of us were eating, somewhere. Then, he looked at my Fred Flintsone fat hands and said, "Dude... you're FRED." We all started laughin' our arses off and the name stuck, ever since. I figured that he was the president and there too many Marks. So piggin' out and fat hands got me the name. There's only one friend outside of the VW realm that still calls me Fred. He's the guy that painted my orange car. Robert Miller. There's some irony to the Fred name, as well. My paternal Grandfather, Fred, was a founder of ABC Wide World Of Sports and he also had his own sports radio show during the '50s/'60s out of Glendale, CA. The rest of his years, he had a sport column (he was also a talented photographer and journalist) in various newspapers around the country till he passed away in 1980.

Dave, please refresh my memory... when Rayburn asked me to write up of when/how I built my '66, I couldn't recall where I bought my set of Kadron carbs.

I remember paying about $100 or $200 (forgot how much, exactly) and they were used from someone. When I bought 'em, they came with the stock air cleaners, linkage, and steel dual port manifolds. When I rebuilt my engine, I changed the manifolds to Treuhaft aluminum ones. Never could stand the stock air filters, so I put K&N filters on right away. Was that YOU that I bought the carbs from?

Sarge, thanks... now I'm sad and am going to schedule some therapy.

[John Rayburn]

Dave, tell them about Terri breaking the axle in the Ghia.

[Dave Rosique]

Hey Mark,

You know what they say about guys with big hands? They have big hands... Cool story about the nickname.

I'm not sure about the Kadrons. I used to wheel-n-deal so many cars and parts it's hard to remember sometimes.

A little more about your EMPI's, over the next few years I ran 'em on several cars that I owned including a '64 bug, 62 Porsche, '56 bug, '59 Ghia, and finally the '64 Squareback you saw them on. It always amused me they passed tech, cracks and all, when I had them on the Ghia back in the drag racing days. I always worried about somebody stealing the type 3 from the mall or something since that was our daily driver, that's why I let you talk me out of them. I must say, after you got 'em detailed & installed on your car, they never looked better! I used to detour past Auto Haus once in a while just to check up on 'em.


John, you remember the best stuff!

My Wife (G/F back then) and I happened to line up one time at a stoplight, she was driving my '59 Ghia, I was driving her V-8 Vega. Both were pretty quick cars, she gave me a grin and it was on! Light turned green, she gave me a mean holeshot (Vega was up in smoke) and we had a pretty impressive race going until she hit third and snapped the drive axle! I think she would have beat me in the quarter! I was so proud! The V-8 Vega was her daily driver and I really loved it when she would tell me sweet things like "oh yeah, some knucklehead in a Trans-Am tried to pass me on the right today & I let him have it"... True love!

~DR.

[Rennsurfer]

Hey Mark,

You know what they say about guys with big hands? They have big hands...

Not big... just fat.

A little more about your EMPI's, over the next few years I ran 'em on several cars that I owned including a '64 bug, 62 Porsche, '56 bug, '59 Ghia, and finally the '64 Squareback you saw them on. It always amused me they passed tech, cracks and all, when I had them on the Ghia back in the drag racing days. I always worried about somebody stealing the type 3 from the mall or something since that was our daily driver, that's why I let you talk me out of them. I must say, after you got 'em detailed & installed on your car, they never looked better! I used to detour past Auto Haus once in a while just to check up on 'em.

WOW! Thanks for more history on 'em. I was pleased and surprised when I pulled the spokes out of the bead blaster to find that the cracks were almost invisible. Did a good job at hiding 'em. HAHA!! For shows, I'd hit 'em with carb cleaner and they'd disappear and brighten up the natural color at the same time.

John, you remember the best stuff!

YES! Couldn't agree more. Every time he and I get together, he tells me some cool and/or bizarre funny stories. The scary part is... I don't remember a lot of 'em. Guess I'm getting senile, already.

My Wife (G/F back then) and I happened to line up one time at a stoplight, she was driving my '59 Ghia, I was driving her V-8 Vega. Both were pretty quick cars, she gave me a grin and it was on! Light turned green, she gave me a mean holeshot (Vega was up in smoke) and we had a pretty impressive race going until she hit third and snapped the drive axle! I think she would have beat me in the quarter! I was so proud! The V-8 Vega was her daily driver and I really loved it when she would tell me sweet things like "oh yeah, some knucklehead in a Trans-Am tried to pass me on the right today & I let him have it"... True love!

~DR.

GREAT story, Dave! Keep 'em flowing. I'm sure there are many more.

[Jim Ratto]

sorry to get off topic, here, but Mark your motor pictured here has to be one of the best looking VW motors I've seen pictures of. Even without Weber 48's. 

[Rennsurfer]

sorry to get off topic, here, but Mark your motor pictured here has to be one of the best looking VW motors I've seen pictures of. Even without Weber 48's. 

(edit) Moved my reply to the Engine Detailing thread.

Sorry, Dave... back to you. 

[John Rayburn]

Dave, tell them the story from H&H Motors when Ernie kept changing the radio station to country music. Ernie was the Frank Burns of VW mechanics.

[Dave Rosique]

Well Ernie was an interesting guy to say the least.
I would say he was part redneck, part hothead, part Marine & part mechanic. There was three of us working at H&H at that time. The owners LOVED good 'ol fashioned twangy, yodely, horse ran off, dog died & wife left 'em country music. ANY time the owners would leave, my old buddy Jeff or I would switch the radio to rock (KMET to you So. Cal. locals). Well, the owners went on a lunch run, we immediately switched it to rock. Rock music seemed to upset Ernie... and we felt the need to mess with Ernie when he was upset. Ernie fairly calmly went over to the radio and changed it back to country. Jeff changed it back and turned it up. Ernie changed it back and turned it up more. Jeff changed it back, cranked it, and pulled the knobs off! Ernie grabbed his wire cutters and cut the power cord WHILE IT WAS PLUGGED IN! Shocked the shiznat out of him, ruined his Snap-on wire cutters, and he got in his car and left! This guy was so crazy, we kept looking behind us thinking he was going to shoot us or something... We didn't see him the rest of the day.
Next day everybody showed up to work, Ernie was there, he had repaired the radio, coffee was on and he claimed he cut the wire on purpose to be funny... that was the day we painted the driveshaft on his trusty old Ford pickup to look like a candy cane. I think he finally gave up and calmed down.

[Rennsurfer]

HAHA!! AWESOME, Dave. Never knew about the candy cane part.

[John Rayburn]

That one makes me laugh till I get tears in my eyes! Dave, tell them about when Ernie put his own lock and chain on the shop door when you needed fuel for the Ghia!

[.]

Great stories guys !
Keep 'em coming !
 

[Sarge]

Well Ernie was an interesting guy to say the least.
I would say he was part redneck, part hothead, part Marine & part mechanic. There was three of us working at H&H at that time. The owners LOVED good 'ol fashioned twangy, yodely, horse ran off, dog died & wife left 'em country music. ANY time the owners would leave, my old buddy Jeff or I would switch the radio to rock (KMET to you So. Cal. locals). Well, the owners went on a lunch run, we immediately switched it to rock. Rock music seemed to upset Ernie... and we felt the need to mess with Ernie when he was upset. Ernie fairly calmly went over to the radio and changed it back to country. Jeff changed it back and turned it up. Ernie changed it back and turned it up more. Jeff changed it back, cranked it, and pulled the knobs off! Ernie grabbed his wire cutters and cut the power cord WHILE IT WAS PLUGGED IN! Shocked the shiznat out of him, ruined his Snap-on wire cutters, and he got in his car and left! This guy was so crazy, we kept looking behind us thinking he was going to shoot us or something... We didn't see him the rest of the day.
Next day everybody showed up to work, Ernie was there, he had repaired the radio, coffee was on and he claimed he cut the wire on purpose to be funny... that was the day we painted the driveshaft on his trusty old Ford pickup to look like a candy cane. I think he finally gave up and calmed down.

WTF gets into people??  I'm rollin' on the floor over here, Dave!  Great story!!

[John Rayburn]

Keep it coming , Dave. Tell the one about Ernie putting his own lock on the shop when you needed fuel for the Ghia!

[Dave Rosique]

Ernie... gotta love that guy.

Two Ernie stories.

First one.
It was the night before Drag Day I think in 1979 and the owners of H&H agreed to donate a tank of race gas to me for my K.G.
Well, it used to bug Ernie that I would come and go as I pleased on the weekends at the shop. I still do not know why he did this, but that weekend this guy took it upon himself to wrap his own chain and lock around the steel half circle tamper proof thingies we had on the back door to protect the shop door lock. This door was the only way in the shop and now i was completely pissed! It was getting late, I could not find Ernie anywhere, so I went home and got my bolt cutters and removed the lock. I'm pretty sure I cut every chain kink on his fancy chain in two and deposited all of the pieces in the top drawer of his tool box. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think that's when I wrapped my own chain completely around his tool box and locked it to the work bench.
Side note- now that it's finally time to get my race gas, I could not find my clear siphon hose (the pump of course was out on loan). I was really in a hurry by now so I used some type 1 breather hose instead and proceeded to get a serious mouthful of race gas... it was the worst thing ever... belching gas (real gas) all night and at Drag day. 

Second (my all time favorite)

Ernie had just bought another pistol... It was after hours and we were having a cold one before heading home and Ernie said he was going home to clean his new gun. Ernie lived right next door to the shop in a little duplex... well we were all getting ready to go when all of a sudden  BANG!!  We go running over to Ernie's apartment and holler at him ERNIE!  YOU OK?      silence.      ERNIE!!!      what.      ARE YOU OK??      yeah, I'm fine.      WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT??      nothing.      ERNIE, WE HEARD A GUN GO OFF AND IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR WE'RE CALLING THE COPS!!      finally, he opened the door, swore we were crazy, told us to go on home and leave him alone.
He never would talk about it or let anybody in the apartment, but when he moved out about a year later, the landlord let us in and there it was... a bullet hole in the wooden floor. When we confronted him he casually said "oh that? it was there when I moved in".

I'm glad I survived those two years we worked together.