I remember when I got really interested in traditional California Look cars, they were, as a whole general scene, very under the radar. This was 1987-88-89-90.
I had to dig out "old" Hot VWs issues to see them, ad ittedly, I grew up in Northern California, and while there lots of VW enthusiasts, there were very few, if any, cars like we call "Cal Look" now. At least up there. So yes, the parts like you mention were really rare to see, and even working at a VW speed shop. Most cars back then ran chrome wheels with aftermarket nipple caps, or repro Empi 8 or 5 spoke. The 2.0 914 rim was even something special. Gasburners? Up there, you'd rarely see them even on a 914 or 911T. Only VW I saw with them was Galassi grey crewcab in Hot VWs. 911 Fuchs Alloys were on the serious cars in Northern Calif, the upper echelon of Cal Look stuff, like one of my favorite cars, Pete Staat's "Dragon".
I think that was a lot of the fun of seeing true blue, very hard core "Cal Look" cars when I was younger, seeing some "exotic" stuff that wasn't everywhere. You couldn't log on the internet and see 18,000 VW's with BRM style wheels. You either drove to OC for a show or you dug thru back issues.
Going to shows back then was very cool, because you never knew what you'd see. Sheep and I folllowed a lot of the shows both in Northern Calif and South. Calif and it was always a cool surprise to find a subtle hot rodded VW with rare stuff on it. We were pleasantly surprised at our "home track" to see Bill Schwimmer (Bill Fishwagen to sheep
) racing his BRM''d '59 rag coral car in 1992. Not only was it the coolest car that showed up, it was the most different from the mainstream back then, and running very low 13's/high12's it was the fastest street car there....by far. It was a different world back then.
The Cal-look Lounge
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