teenage challenges, hot rod VWs in auto shop and smoking out on the lift

[Jim Ratto]

anybody grind thru high school auto shop whilst owning/driving a hot rod VW? Then you can relate.

[John Rayburn]

I'll say!

[Jim Ratto]

I'll say!

"those carburetors are 10 times too big for a VW"
"don't get your hair caught in that pulley"
"where are your safety glasses"
"what were you guys doing up in that Bug on the lift for the entire class, and what hell smells like skunk?"
"what in the hell were you doing riding on that Bug's rear bumper out on Main St this morning?"

[Rick Meredith]

I had to complete my high school education before I was smart enough to buy a VW. 

[Dave Rosique]

The year: 1975, Lakewood High School. The challenge: (Me) My bug can whoop your Camaro ...... (The rich kid/football jock/'69 Z/28 Camaro owner) It's on punk.

We raced that night... about 100 witnessed me in my '64 Bug, 1700cc w/Berg 42's hand this guy his ass.

I'll never forget that night.

~Dave

[Dave Galassi]

Four years of auto shop....................

charged condensors in shop coat pockets.

Quote from teacher (appropriately named Delmar "Sparky" Hassenplug):  "You as..oles wanna fight?  Well, then, you gotta fight me first!"

He only had nine fingers.  Always lectured the class saying, "I'll give you nine reasons we have safety rules here."

My first experience with a fire extinguisher.  Lit a Camaro hood insulation on fire with a hell of a backfire.  Guess the timing was off.......

Shaun Gibbs...........1977 Ford Courier.........always had that thing idling like he was going to tree the whole school to get off campus first for lunch (fourth period).  One day, we finally changed a couple of plug wires when ol' Sparky sent him on an errand.  Late lunch.  

First transmission rebuild ever......1970 Eldorado.  Front drive, just like Frank's.  It's a miracle I managed to still like cars after that.  

Darrell Fisher's '68 Road Runner.  383 Tunnel Ram with a pair of Howley's and a serious bump stick.  Didn't like to idle below 1500.  Ol' Sparky saunters over and says, "So, I take it you don't have an EGR on this one."  Even we punks had to laugh.

I had a '30 Model A Coupe (stocker) my senior year.  The old man loved me, reminded him of "a better time."  He taught me a ton.  Good times.

Sorry Jim, the only smoke for us was off of exhaust manifolds, leaky valve covers and tires.  Oh, and fires.

There are more stories.........

[Jim Ratto]

He only had nine fingers.  Always lectured the class saying, "I'll give you nine reasons we have safety rules here."

Oh this is going to be a knee slapper thread. Dave that is priceless!


We smoked some tread too. But more often it was _________.
If my buddies (Billy, Jason) and I had no "projects" going on or repairs on our own cars, we'd simply pull Jason's beater '64 Bug on the lift, take one wheel off (that way it looked like we were doing something) piled in the car, had our buddy Tiny hoist us to highest extent of the lift (out of eyesight) and then proceed to contemplate the peforations in the headliner for a good hour... cough, hack. Once class came close to ending our buddy would lower us down from our heights (literally, not figuratively) and we'd bolt the wheel back on and have a whole new perspective on our school days (daze). Scary.
There was a Russian immigrant we palled around with, sort of. He was a little stright edge and clean cut, but a goofball all the same, and no patience. Always wore white clothes, not sure if it was a cultural thing or what. Always spotless, and it was clear this guy put every effort forth to stay that way. It was a shame when one day the instructor asked him to go dump a barrel of used oil in the depository. You can see where I'm going. A few mintes later this kid looked like one of those seagulls that fell victim to an offshore oil spill. And this class was second period. Poor guy
Another class act was a kid we called "heinous".

[Sarge]

I never got the pleasure of taking auto shop in high school.  All that shit happened at Graham's Chevron... "Hey Jim.. who pissed your back windows (yellow plexiglass 1/4 inserts).... what's up with that big, white hemorrhoid under the back bumper??.... blab-a-blab-blab.... sheeeeeeeeesh!!!

GREAT STUFF, Dave and DR!!

[Rick Meredith]

Remember those safety videos with "Primitive Pete?"

Our shop teacher referred to flip-flops as "Japanese safety shoes."

During one of the few written tests we had one of the questions was "What are the four strokes of an internal combustion motor?" One of the smart asses replied "suck, pump, push, pooey." The teacher marked it off and the kid went back and argued the point and the teacher changed his mind.  

[Jim Ratto]

I never got the pleasure of taking auto shop in high school.  All that shit happened at Graham's Chevron... "Hey Jim.. who pissed your back windows (yellow plexiglass 1/4 inserts).... what's up with that big, white hemorrhoid under the back bumper??.... blab-a-blab-blab.... sheeeeeeeeesh!!!

GREAT STUFF, Dave and DR!!

My buddy Billy and I worked @ a Unocal 76 for a short stint summer between junior and senior year...actually superseded our auto shop education. Boy did we have some adventures. How about a Lincoln continental falling off the lift? Or a full size HD Ford F450 rolling backwards out of the shop and into the brick building behind us? me dressed as a "vato" raiding the women's restroom (while occupied)?
Spraying the foam 76 antenna balls with carb cleaner was a favorite past time.

[Dave Rosique]

Don't even get me started on the gas station days!

...ok, just one...

Luzzi's 76, mid 70's... my buddy Jose shows up with his "borrowed" formula 400 Firebird (it belonged to his Dad-- Dad did not know "Son" had it for the night)

After hours, Jose proceeds to powerbrake the Firebird in to a peg-leg burnout then managed three laps around the gas station before the tire blew!

As the Deeks would say, "And then the Cops showed up"... along with the Fire Dept.

I guess the neighbors had a problem with a gas station up in smoke

The Cops chewed on all of us for about an hour... parents were called (we were all minors), we had to try to clean up the marks, the whole deal... priceless...

~DR.

[Sarge]

One day at Graham's, a customer tows in an old army jeep that had been sitting in a garage for many years.  The challenge was to get it to run and road worthy again.  Torco used to make a product that you ran thru the carb to free up sticky valves and lifters.... if one can worked good, two should work better, right ??  Midway through the second can, the Fire Department rolled in.... you couldn't see in the garage with all the smoke pouring out the tailpipe.  I never heard the end of it....

[marc1951]

One day at Graham's, a customer tows in an old army jeep that had been sitting in a garage for many years.  The challenge was to get it to run and road worthy again.  Torco used to make a product that you ran thru the carb to free up sticky valves and lifters.... if one can worked good, two should work better, right ??  Midway through the second can, the Fire Department rolled in.... you couldn't see in the garage with all the smoke pouring out the tailpipe.  I never heard the end of it....

Sarge,

I didn't know you worked at Graham's........that station and his towing service was top notch. 
My first job was working at Lloyd's Gulf just down the street ($1.25 an hour).
Sometimes I had to work all day on Saturdays and then close the place up by myself. One night, after working 12 hours, I was really dragging and could hardly wait to get out of there. Just as I was turning off the lights, a woman with her 10 year old kid riding shotgun pulled in real close to the pumps. I proceed to tell her that we were closed and she yells back to me that she doesn't need gas and that she just wanted to check the tires because she had a full load of groceries packed in the back of her station wagon (I would estimate enough to survive a nuclear holocaust).
I was very relieved to hear that.......untill her kid jumped out, ran around the car kicking the tires and finally upon "checking" the fourth tire, the one closest to the gas pumps, proceeds to kick the valve stem off the tire!  It was bad enough that I had llittle room to get to the now flat tire but I had to unload a 1/2 ton of food out of the back to get to the spare...........which was also flat!


Marc

[Jim Ratto]

well to fend off any posts asking this to be sent to Off Topic

I can remember our teacher always giving me grief for the dual Dellortos I ran on my car Senior year. The motor was a 1641, rampy VZ25 bumpstick, flycut 041s and dual 36mm carbs. Of course it didn't run good at all, but I built it, and knowing nothing, thought I was "making improvements" everyday by fiddling with carbs. I could get them synched, but beyond that, it was hopeless. Hours of turning screws, free revving and asphyxiating the entire south side of our school. I can remember Mr Newbury just standing there pinching his nose, staring at me as I "tuned" it. Never got it right, in fact the thing was probably riddled with air leaks, fouled pugs, clogged jets. VRRROOOM! VRRRRROOOOM!
Then off to the next class smelling like a muffler. No wonder I had no girlfriend.

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Well Hear Goes back in the Stone age When I was a Teenager I Had It Made! they alternated the Class's each Week I had Auto Shop 2,4,6 Period and History 3rd Period,PE 5th Period which I never Went To LOL so I had Auto Shop 3 times a day 3 days a week and instead of going to PE I ended up At Auto Shop most of the Time I think The Most Fun was when we Played a Joke on a Friends Baja Bug it was an 1835 with a Zenith Carb He asked if we could do and Oil Change and Valve adjust so we bought it in the Shop it had a Body lift kit on it and the heater duck going threw the body were open  so We Got This Great Idea to have a little Fun after changing the oil and valve adjust we Ran about an 8 ft piece of wire we stripped to where it was bare for about ten inches and tucked it in between the seam of the drivers seat then down the edge of the floor under the rear seat threw the body heater duct and Yep you guessed it once we parked the car in the parking lot we put the other end of the wire in the #1 Dist Cap Wire so When He Went to Start it there was going to be a Big Suprize LOL  Well It Worked Great You could here the Yell a 1/4 mile Away he came in to the Auto Shop And Wanted to Know Who the funny guy was?? no one fessed up anyway after the Guy left The Teacher was kind of Laughing about it saying  that was a good one and he wished he could have seen the guys face when he started the Baja We Thought what the Hell hes laughing about so A Week and a half later We were on Break and decided to Wire up the teacher Ford Mavrick  we thought O Boy this is going to be Good so we hung around school till the teacher was leaving he got in his car fooled around with some papers then in goes the key mind you we are watching from around the corner of the building he goes to start it it fires right up it was so funny because he was getting zapped in the ass and every time he grabed the key to shut it off it zap him he finally put it in gear and it died I wish I had a picture of that moment  after that Day We were band from working on cars for two weeks he made us to class room tests  >>> Priceless<<<

[Tony M]

Senior year - Auto shop - The teacher - Mr. Taylor - A real A-hole - Me - Shop Forman - Car - 66 Baja - 1688cc - Roller crank - 48 IDA - My teacher drove a 65 Bus with a reevco oil cooler on the side. By this time i had allready been working for my dad at his shop for 4-5 years, parts, service and a machine shop. Mr taylor and i had allready had words about VW's as it was. I helped all the DMF in my calss, did all my work, everything asked of my was done. School's done, time to graduate, This SOB gives me a F for the class. Maybe missed a few days, but most of the time took care of business. Ends up that i could do nothing about the grade with school. Had to do the 4 1/2 year plan. So the last day of class backed my baja in and did the biggest burn out in the shop that i could. My little motor would spin way up, smoked off the recap edwards tires and left a lot of rubber on the ground. Got called back into the office only to see Mr Taylor and the VP waiting for me. By this time i dident care what happened. Allmost dident graduate. 8 years later when working at Buggy House in comes Mr Taylor, not knowing i was the manager, he had the balls to say Mr Mace i see you made something of your self. It was the best when i told him to read the sign that said We have the right to refuse service to you - Told him to get the F--- out and never come back. One of the best day ever.

PS - cut his oil cooler hose just enough to get half way home and BOOM - Have a nice day MR Taylor

[Nico86]

Great stories guys, love reading that.

8 years later when working at Buggy House in comes Mr Taylor, not knowing i was the manager, he had the balls to say Mr Mace i see you made something of your self. It was the best when i told him to read the sign that said We have the right to refuse service to you - Told him to get the F--- out and never come back. One of the best day ever.

 Awesome !

[Rennsurfer]

Some outstanding stories, here. COOL!

Like Sarge, I never signed up for Auto Shop. I was in Wood Shop from junior high (7th grade) all the way through high school. Being a skateboarder and surfer, I was making tons of skateboards and surfboard fins for my friends and me.

Rick, I DO remember those vintage Primitive Pete "safety" films they'd roll on the projector. HAHA!! Good times, for sure. I was very lucky and had my own private auto shop working at Les Purnell's German Car Repair during my last year and half of high school, however. Way better working on German cars. Which was the big reason I declined the school's program. Everyone had U.S. cars. BORING.

Carry on.

[John Rayburn]

Don't even get me started on the gas station days!

...ok, just one...

Luzzi's 76, mid 70's... my buddy Jose shows up with his "borrowed" formula 400 Firebird (it belonged to his Dad-- Dad did not know "Son" had it for the night)

After hours, Jose proceeds to powerbrake the Firebird in to a peg-leg burnout then managed three laps around the gas station before the tire blew!

As the Deeks would say, "And then the Cops showed up"... along with the Fire Dept.

I guess the neighbors had a problem with a gas station up in smoke

The Cops chewed on all of us for about an hour... parents were called (we were all minors), we had to try to clean up the marks, the whole deal... priceless...

~DR.

                                                                 Dave, was it you or Jeff Marshall that dumped the quart of oil in the gas station and did the burnout?

[Dave Rosique]

Don't even get me started on the gas station days!

...ok, just one...

Luzzi's 76, mid 70's... my buddy Jose shows up with his "borrowed" formula 400 Firebird (it belonged to his Dad-- Dad did not know "Son" had it for the night)

After hours, Jose proceeds to powerbrake the Firebird in to a peg-leg burnout then managed three laps around the gas station before the tire blew!

As the Deeks would say, "And then the Cops showed up"... along with the Fire Dept.

I guess the neighbors had a problem with a gas station up in smoke

The Cops chewed on all of us for about an hour... parents were called (we were all minors), we had to try to clean up the marks, the whole deal... priceless...

~DR.

                                                                 Dave, was it you or Jeff Marshall that dumped the quart of oil in the gas station and did the burnout?

Oh boy... I'm not sure John... we were probably both involved.

My favorite deal was to spill a little gas on the island after fueling, roll through the puddle and smoke 'em when leaving.

[SlingShot]

PS - cut his oil cooler hose just enough to get half way home and BOOM - Have a nice day MR Taylor

Funny story. But never Fuck with a man's car. 

Nothing to exciting
My Senior year I bought a 65 Bug that was the shit (in our town). Lowered, Porsche phone dials, custom paint, 1776 w/ 40 Dells. I could never get the car to truly run hard, and the teacher, who was kind of into VW's would always tell me, those dual carbs are always a pain in the ass to setup. I would just tinker with pullin jets and plugs etc, We figured low compression in one of the cylinders was to blame.
On a side note, this teacher would tell us about this 67 Sunroof he owned. He was midway into a body off resto on this car, car was painted, sounded like it just needed to be put together, but he lost the drive. He tried to sell it for just the cost of all the parts he bought to do the resto, car was free. Everyone tried to lowball him, so one day he was sick of it taking up space so he sawzad it up and threw into the dumpster, What an interesting guy

[Jim Ratto]

along the lines of this post,
Mike H, aka "javabug" turned me onto a very good read. Aligned perfectly with the gearheads in this hobby, this book Shop Class as Soulcraft, even goes into detail of the author's time spent with his hot-rodded Vw Bug, and the engine built by him and his friend @ Donsco VW in Belmont CA.
My "alma mater", Buggy House in Hayward CA is even mentioned, and the day the author realized what a "sleeper" was.... as a stock looking Bug broiled its tires thru 3 gears right in front of the shop.
The good old days.

 

[iowa mark]

Shop class was always so much more than working on cars. There was always a prank being plotted. Todd had some money and a new '68 Z-28, but little mechanical abilities. Others in class put his headers on, the new Holly and Tarantula manifold. I was forever putting my plug wires  back to the right spots on the cap and listening to the very unimaginative Todd laughing in the background. One day I slid under the rear of the "Z" and stuck a length of wire through the u-joint. It took him a week to figure out where the noise was. Whenever he stopped, the scratching stopped. Drove him nuts! And everybody in shop class, somehow kept a straight face through the whole deal. Another memory is the issued coveralls we had to wear and how they all were two sizes too small. Somehow everything you were looking for ended up on top of the lockers. Placed there by even the teacher, at times. Reaching higher than your shoulder was an invitation to sign up for the Vienna Boys Choir. I felt like a snake shedding it's skin getting out of those damned things! At the end of the year the teacher had a little ceremony for the people with the most tickets. Speeding, parking, I won for most fix-it tickets (no bumpers, turn signals, muffler........).

[javabug]

as a stock looking Bug broiled its tires thru 3 gears right in front of the shop.
 

That's awesome you got your hands on it already.  Glad you liked it.   

On topic...I never had the pleasure of shop class.     I might not be disgruntled and sitting at a computer now if I had.

[Dave Rosique]

I was never in Auto Shop, didn't care for school anyway. I do remember shop class had an industrial Porsche engine there for students to expirement on.

Now I work at a school and love it... go figure

Question for Rayburn-- John, at your school did they still have the VW racecar in Auto Shop when you were there? Air cooled beetle named "Radical Rabbit" or something like that. I met the teacher decades ago... Mike was his name I think.

Fabs, you may have a report on the Radical Rabbit and the shop class that built it somewhere in the archives... I'm thinking late 70's - early 80's

~DR.

[John Rayburn]

No, our teacher was Richard Aragon. Great guy! He drove a 64' Beetle and a 67' squareback. We never had a shop racecar, but lots of test engines to mess with.

[Rennsurfer]

We had one in our trailer park named Boring Beetle. It featured cable brakes and a 20hp. power plant. The rubber band was easy to rebuild/change, however. Which made up for it's lack of performance.

[John Rayburn]

We're sending a tornado to you ,Mark. You'll know when it arrives.

[Dave Rosique]

No, our teacher was Richard Aragon. Great guy! He drove a 64' Beetle and a 67' squareback. We never had a shop racecar, but lots of test engines to mess with.

10-4.
I know some info is out there... I'm sure there was a magazine article or two about this shop teacher, his students and the car... I'll keep looking... it's a cool story.

~DR.

[Dave Rosique]

We're sending a tornado to you ,Mark. You'll know when it arrives.

Heads up!