VW Stories

[louisb]

We need some VW stories. Too much technical talk lately. Racing stories, chick/VW stories, best street race you ever had, stories from the old days, what ever as long as it includes a Cal-look VW.

Street Racing Story, sorta,

I was driving home late one night...no wait that's the start of Deadman's Curve.

Actually it was not all that late, probably around 10pm on a Friday night. Driving down the local drag with a friend coming home from a movie. I was driving my '71 bug which had a warmed over 1600 dp motor in it. Guy in a truck pulls up next to me and revs his engine. (Its the south, what can I say.) So figuring I could beat this full sized lump off the line I time the green light and nail it. Jump out ahead about half a bug's length while he is spinning his tires trying to get traction. Thinking I have this one now I speed shift second then hear this loud bang followed by several knocking sounds from the back. The VW loses power and starts backfiring, but it is still running. First thought that crossed my mind was a con rod went through the case. But why was it still sorta running. Killed the engine and coasted into a bank parking lot to check things out. Looked under the car, nope its not leaking oil, well no more than normal. Pop the decklid open and I don't see anything really wrong. Then I look down into the crank pulley tin and there is a spark plug laying there. I am thinking what the 'ell is a spark plug doing there? Scratch my head and try to remember if I left on there last tune up.  Look a little closer and the #2 plug wire is not where it is supposed to be. What the 'ell. Stick my finger in the hole for the #2 plug and its not there.

It is dark in the parking lot and we couldn't see much so I call a friend and we tow it home. Get it in the garage where we can see something and notice the spark plug looks a bit larger then it should. There is a helicoil on the plug. The engine came with the car and I guess someone had stripped out the #2 plug hole and put a helicoil in. It must have popped out when I went for second. Never had that happen to me before and definitely an odd way to lose a race. Pulled the engine the next day and replaced the head with a spare DP head and had it running by Sunday.

I will post a couple more later. Just post a story, doesn't matter what it is as long as a VW is involved.

--louis

[Bewitched666]

Haha cool story,will pop mine laterz too

[Jim Ratto]

cool...less tech talk. More folklore. Someday I will run out of stories...

This comes from another night of our old VW club hanging out at the miniature golf course/go-kart track. Since it was just down the road from my place, we frequented the place often. Usual activities were everybody drive their cars over there, including Sean's Westfalia, then park in a dimly lit area of their parking lot and guzzle a twelve pack in Sean's bus, then go race the go karts. It goes without saying that there were a few incidents. I think the story I posted before involved the night two of my friends somehow got two go-karts stacked upon another lady's go kart, and got the track shut down. And we all got kicked out.
But the subject of this story was another night. And on this night, there was no beer guzzling, we just went out to go drive the go-karts and have some friendly battles on the circuit. Surprisingly, the night was incident free, all the go-karts stayed in one piece and we never asked to leave. But the night itself was still young....
There were numerous ways to get back to my place in north-east Livermore...the freeway, city streets or a dark and twisty series of rural back roads. We always took the back roads. That night, Bryan SODA with Chris F. led me through Collier Canyon, just north of Las Positas College, in his white 1966 Bug, my girlfriend and I in my '67. Bryan always was a hotshoe....one of those guys that was always in his own imaginary sprint race when driving. Anyway, he took a hard right corner, and the inevitable swing-axle death dance got the best of him. Actually the car didn't jack up it's rear end too badly (had a camber spring on it), but he had little 165's on the car, and the rears lost grip, the car swapped ends....all this happening right before my eyes in the pitch black. He couldn't get the car straightened out, it caught the gravel shoulder and instantly, was up on it's side, smack right into a huge power pole. I pulled off and ran to his car....I stood there looking at the transaxle and bottom of pan facing me, the front L wheel still spinning.... The car was a mess, and I could here them scrambling around inside....a good thing. They both climbed free from the carcass and shook themselves off. Both were dazed and disoriented and were a little beat up. Bryan had smacked his head pretty good and was staggering around. Chris was rubbing his head, but was ok, and was accustomed to being upside down in a car anyway, so he just lit a cigarette, and started investigating the shape of Bryan's car.
The car was a total write off. These two guys got real lucky. The power pole had left a crease in the roof section directly behind where their heads were, and the crease went clear to the rear seat cushion. A few inches forward and it would have been brain matter city. We took Bryan to my place and iced his head and kept him awake all night. Man, what a wake up call. Losing the car was bad, but being so close to being turned to mush was worse. We all learned a lesson to take it down a few notches and Bryan ended up finding a nice all orig '65 in Berkeley, and my girlfriend lent him some $ to buy it. This is the car that ended up with the 1679 that got into the 14's on radials and stock valves.

[Zach Gomulka]

Too much technical talk lately.

Its all your fault!!! 

[Peter]

I was driving to center pards a few years ago...
friday evening, getting dark..and raining as hell.. foggy windsheeld  and wipers woring very hard
it was a long drive and i was getting bored so i turned the volume of my radio for some good beats!
so i exit the freeway and the exit there was a long straight next to freeway, so i expect a long easy bend,
but what the hell! this corner turns out to be very sharp,..
so i hit the brakes, but with discs and 125s up front , the wheels up front lock up,
and with my tunes i dont hear the tires squeeling, so i slide forward, heading to the pole of the freeway lights..
surprised and almost shit my pants i get of the brakes and the tires getting traction again, i could drive along this pole
i stopped for a few minutes the breathe and i got in center parcs safely...phhew

[Jim Ratto]

Too much technical talk lately.

Its all your fault!!! 

87 x 74? or 90.5 x 69 or 77 x 82 or 

[louisb]

In high school a friend of mine's uncle was a mechanic and owned a repair shop. We used to hang out there occasionally, mostly because they would have beer on hand, before heading out to do what ever it is we planned to do for the night. This Friday we were heading to watch our high school team play football but it was still early so we dropped by the shop to see what was happening. When we got there they were trying to strip a VW tranny to pull the ring and pinion for use in another tranny slated for the owner's sand rail. I was more into muscle cars at the time so didn't pay too much attention to what they were doing. I was more interested in the owner's big block Nova bracket car that was under a tarp in the back. We got bored after a while and headed out to the game, screwed around, cruised a bit and decided to drop back by the shop again before heading home. (Think my friend needed to borrow some tools to work on his CJ-5. (What a POS, we were always fixing something on that Jeep.) So we get back, its late, and there is the owner and my friend's dad standing over the mangled remains of this VW tranny. Now I am not a small guy, but this guy was huge. Big redneck SOB that was probably pushing 300 lbs and at least 6'6". By this point they were more than a little drunk.  Apparently they couldn't get the pinion out for some reason and he had gotten pissed off and grabbed a sledge hammer and gone after the case with it. He had cracked that mofo open like egg. lol When we arrived they had just finished up with the carnage and were trying to decide if the pinion had taken any damage. I think they decided to give it up for the night so we all headed out after that. 

--louis

[louisb]

Too much technical talk lately.

Its all your fault!!! 

87 x 74? or 90.5 x 69 or 77 x 82 or 

Yeah, yeah yeah. Keep laughing. You wait till I role out with that 85.5 bore X 88 stroke wasserboxer based motor, FK - 89, maxed out single ports w/ stock valves & 1 3/8 exhaust.  I think it will be a beast with my Kads. 

--louis

[Fastbrit]

Just after i got married (for the first time...) my wife and I moved into a rented house in a smart area (Oxshott in Surrey, for you Brits). It had a garage and a driveway, so that  was all that mattered. My '67 was suffering terminal body rot, so I decided to buy another car for its body and do a swap – that's when i got TLF 25, my rag-top Oval. First job was to remove the '67 bodyshell – well,  two weeks after we moved in, it took two of us a day to strip it and remove all the bolts, but what next? OK, only one answer: roll the body off on its side and drag the pan out of the way. So, one Saturday afternoon, that's what we did, leaving the body upside down on the front lawn until the next day. On Monday, I get a phone call from the rental agents to say that they'd had complaints from the neighbours who accused us of stripping cars (cars? Only one, surely?) and lowering the tone of the street. They needed to come round and see for themselves. However, by the time the agent came round to see me, there was no bodyshell, no floorpan (that was in the garage) and nothing to prove or disprove the neighbours' story. Ha! We won.... well, until the day came four years later when we asked for the deposit back – the agents refused on the grounds they had to pay someone to come in and remove a Volkswagen engine I had somehow "forgotten" to take with me. But, then, why should I want to take a seized 36-horse motor? 

[louisb]

In a three way trade that involved my '71 and my friend's '54 chevy sedan (which also happened to have been my first car) I became the owner of most of a  RHD 54 rag which was disassembled.  Actually, the 54 had its own story. Seems some time in the '70s it had been in long time storage at a train station some where in Alabama. It was kept in an area that no one ever went into and some time during its storage someone had rolled it on its side and stole the pan out from under it to use in a dune buggy. There it stayed for a long time until the guy I was buying it from found it and had it shipped to Florida. (To get the shell on the tow truck they had wrapped a chain around the rear apron and wenched it up on the truck.  ) He had decided he would rather have the '54 Chevy sedan so my friend agreed if I would give him my '71. The current owner had picked up a mid '60s pan and most of the stuff to put the car back together, but it had a fair bit of rust in it. (heater channels, quarters etc) We concluded the swap but now came the problem of getting the car home. Neither myself nor my friend had a truck at the time. We finally hit on the idea of renting a big moving truck from U-haul. We then loaded the body, frame, 36hp motor and all the other car parts into the back of the truck and drove it home. You should have seen this disassembled car in the back of a U-haul moving truck. When we went back to drop the truck off the guy at the counter went out to do an inspection to make we had not broken anything. He comes in and asks "What exactly were you hauling in the truck? There are some pretty deep gouges in the floor." Seems we may not have been too gentle loading the body and pan into the truck. (Hey, you try lifting a bug body into a truck bed five feet off the ground. It was heavy!) Straight faced and without hesitation my friend replies "We had some old cast iron bed frames we were moving. Sorry about the scratches." Guy looked at us like we had lost our minds but signed off on the paper work anyway.

--louis

[Jim Ratto]

can we post stories from "behind the scenes" from careers at VW shops? 

[louisb]

Sure, as long as its VW related.

--louis

[Rennsurfer]

Rayburn is probably the only person on The Lounge that will recall this:

When I was managing Long Beach Auto Haus, my mission was to clean up everything, make sure the store looked good, displays were in order, and all of the usual related aspects that go along with running an auto parts store. I take my jobs seriously, but like my parents raised me... I also make sure that a little humor is included. We had the usual glass showcases that also doubled as the main counters where the cash register was located. Inside the case closest to the register, I always had several pictures of my close friends' cars and of course, my cars, too. Directly below that, sitting in the case was a fuel pump that I had taken all apart. I sprayed parts of it flat black and hand polished the crap out of it to the point of looking like chrome. The brass fittings and screen/filter plug all shined up rather nicely, too.

Next to this pump, I had taken a 3"x5" index business card and carefully wrote: "For Sale 1 Über Rare VW Racing Fuel Pump $125.00." Remember, this is 1982, so that was quite a lotta cash. Next to it, I had the typical Brosol (or whatever they were named) Brazilian fuel pump, and every now and then, we'd get an old factory German one that I took the time to rebuild and sell for dirt cheap. (God, I wish I kept those!) The signs said "Imported" in front of the Brazilian one, along with the price. The German one said "German" along with the price.

Just about every day, we'd have a handful of customers come in and say, "Hey! What's with the German one not being sold as imported?" My partner, Joe, and I would tell them that German was domestic because this IS Auto Haus. And everything else is merely imported. Back then, we hated Brazilian stuff and everything on our cars HAD to be German or Berg made. So we'd take it to a disturbing level, just to mess with peoples' minds.

Every now and then, we'd get someone that was intrigued with the "Racing Pump" and would start asking a lotta questions about it. Most folks figured out that it was a full on joke. Almost sold that thing several times. But I'd always break down and start laughin' my ass off and had to confess that I just detailed out an old pump.

We had some pretty diverse customers that would hangout there and/or were just regular lurkers. One day, Joe and I were working, as usual. We hid our beers (the shop was next to the Long Beach State University mascot bar) under the front counter when the door buzzer sounded. These two huge dudes walk in and ask whose Bugs were out front. We said they were ours. These were big burly cats and one of 'em walks over to my S&S Headers display and says, "Hey, man... how much for this spaghetti and can?" Joe and I are amazed and trying REALLY hard not to laugh at the guy. He's pointing at a header with a single quiet pack and chrome tip. I told him the price. Then, he walks up to the pictures and says, "Heyyy, that's the car from the BOOK!" Joe and I were puzzled. We ask which book and which car. He points to my orange car. We asked him again, what he's referring to. And he grabbed a new Hot VWs magazine and pointed to it, "You know... the BOOK." The other guy is gazing at the showcase and says, "Ooo, how much is that Hurst slapstick?" Joe looks at me and doesn't know what do or say. He's fighting back full throttle laughter. I look at him, shaking my head for him NOT to lose it. We both tell the guy and they leave. Thank God... 'cause we made sure they were in their car and we proceeded to crack up for a long time. We still talk about that day.

I have to drive by the old store site, every day when I go to the beach and take my boys to school. When I'm at that red light, I stare over at the little shop next to the 49'r Tavern and for a brief moment in time, it's 1982. My boys, now know why I smile at that intersection. Too many great memories.

Today, I ran across that old fuel pump and my mind instantly flooded with the onslaught of being 20 years young, not a care in the world, and enjoying my Cal Look car. If get bored, I'll take some Mother's Polish to the pump and bring back it's luster, once again.

[John Rayburn]

Oh my God! The "special" pump! Whenever Mark had an engine on the stand in back, I'd always ask if the "special" pump was going on it. Mark , I remember you shooting a customer with gas when you opened the throttle on a carb they brought in. I remember running out the door to laugh, and the floor reaked of gas for days.

[Rennsurfer]

Oh my God! The "special" pump! Whenever Mark had an engine on the stand in back, I'd always ask if the "special" pump was going on it. Mark , I remember you shooting a customer with gas when you opened the throttle on a carb they brought in. I remember running out the door to laugh, and the floor reaked of gas for days.

Holy COW! I just spit up water everywhere. Too funny, John. I totally had forgotten about that till I read your post. HAHA!! Heck, you probably remember more stuff about Auto Haus than I do. What other stupid thing(s) did I go?

 

[John Rayburn]

Auto Haus shared a parking lot, and the south east wall with the 49'er Tavern. One day this drunk guy comes in and asks Mark where the bar is, and Mark says , "It's about six blocks down PCH, that way." The guy stumbles out, goes past the entrance to the Tavern, and starts walking down PCH. I thought we were going to die laughing.

[Rennsurfer]

Good Lord. See? I didn't remember that one, either. C'mon, John... keep 'em coming. Was that the greatest location for an Auto Haus, or what? Near the beach, so I could surf after work. Across from the Cal State Long Beach (girls), across from a self serve car wash (MORE girls), next to the Tavern.

Two thumbs UP.

[Rennsurfer]

Dug out some stuff from the old days.

I used to go to the R.G. Canning and Intershow car shows in the '70s and '80s. I remember getting this signed at the Long Beach Convention Center. Dave McNew and I ended up sneaking in some Southern Comfort to pour into our sodas, while we walked around the freak... I mean car show.


I can't believe I still have this stuff. Here's a cool VW/Audi Parts ashtray from when I worked at one of the VW dealers.


Just came across a TON of VW, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Datsun, Honda, Lada, and a bunch other owner's manuals. 99% of them are in German. They'll be going up for sale on Craigslist very soon. But if anyone on The Lounge is interested, I'll post 'em up here in the For Sale forum before the rest of the world gets a chance.

[rick m]

Wow Fred....forget the VW memorabilia...keep posting the Cal LOOKER lady shots...Ha, Ha, Ha...

RM

[LuftsickTero]

Wow Fred....forget the VW memorabilia...keep posting the Cal LOOKER lady shots...Ha, Ha, Ha...

Any KC Winkler? Probably half of the Popular Hot Rodding issues through late 80's had her 

[LuftsickTero]

We had some pretty diverse customers that would hangout there and/or were just regular lurkers.
-..
Joe looks at me and doesn't know what do or say. He's fighting back full throttle laughter. I look at him, shaking my head for him NOT to lose it. We both tell the guy and they leave. Thank God... 'cause we made sure they were in their car and we proceeded to crack up for a long time. We still talk about that day.

I was one hanging out in Jussi's shop when Kuplapaja was in Tattarisuo, bit shady industrial area in Helsinki with many small construction or car-related businesses. Some guy walked into Jussi's place out of nowhere, don't know what he had taken (nor want to know), but he was like the electrical rabbit greyhounds chase in dog races, all over the place all the time.. Once he noticed Jussi's trailer he started to talk about the bitchin' trailer he has built in his home garage. He was standing annoying close to me spitting to my face telling the story, but didn't want to say anything to upset him as he seemed crazy/stoned, then he ended his story with "and now that damn thing doesn't fit out of my garage". I saw Jussi laughing his ass off (sliently) few metres of me under the car he was wrenching and I just had to bite my lip..

[Fastbrit]

Back in the 1970s, I used to work my vacation time at Autocavan, the UK's only real supplier of VW performance gear at the time. I built engines, maintained their race car and goofed around in customers' cars in the name of 'road testing'. There was another guy working there, called Brian. He was a reasonable mechanic but things had a habit of going wrong when he was about. One day, we'd just finished installing a 2.1-litre stroker motor in the back of a Nova kit car (known as a Sterling in the USA, I believe). It ran dual 42DCNFs, a popular set-up at the time.

Anyway, this damned motor would not fire – we cranked it and cranked it, but it would barely even cough. Brian had the bright idea of pouring some E-Z-Start down the carbs – it worked for about two seconds. So he tried more. The same result. OK, let's try more! Cough, cough, ka-boom! The engine burst into life and flames at the same time! Brian just stood there, reminiscing what it used to be like having eyebrows, while I just stood there like a dummy. Geoff, the company owner, rushed in and grabbed a fire-extinguisher, which happened to be one of those dry powder type. Jeez, the fire soon went out but that powder got everywhere. The kit car had its roof open and the whole interior – black vinyl with new black carpets – resembled an alpine snow scene. Powder was a half-inch deep all over the car. OK, it would clean up, but the customer was due to collect the Nova two hours later.

Amazingly, we manged to get the car looking presentable, but the whole workshop was covered in white powder. When the customer arrived, he couldn't help but notice, so we told him that someone had thrown a cigarette in a waste bin and caused a small fire, but fortunately his car was outside at the time... He never did know that happiness may not have been a hot VW after all.

[Fastbrit]

Another one for anyone who's ever towed a race car...

Autocavan ran a rallycross Beetle which started out as a 1302 with a 2.1 on 48IDAs. It was light, fast and very competitive, but Geoff's attention to detail in certain areas was lacking. If he could save money anywhere, he would – and that came down to using tie-downs on the trailer. We used to tow the race car behind a Type 2 panel van with an 1835 motor on DCNFs. It went well and was fun to drive (except when the throttle linkage went over-centre, jamming wide open...). One day, we were towing to a race meeting when, for mile after mile, cars kept flashing their lights at us. One car pulled alongside on the motorway, the driver waving frantically and pointing behind us. After a while, Geoff figured we should take a look. I couldn't believe what he had done – the race car had been secured on the trailer simply by the winch cable at the front and some rope at the back. Well, the ratchet on the winch had failed, which allowed the car to roll backwards until the rear two wheels were rolling on the road, while the fronts remained on the trailer! We'd been driving for miles with the car half-on, half-off the trailer. Heaven knows what would have happened if that one piece of rope had failed, too...

Happy memories.

[louisb]

rofl! Great stories guys.

--louis

[louisb]

My first VW, was my metallic green, '71 standard VW bug which had been dechromed, lowered with dark tinted windows. A few months prior we had a Hurricane pass through as they tend to do here in Florida and our yard flooded. The bug, which was parked in the yard, also got a little water in side it which eventually drained out through the "drain holes" in the floor, but the carpet was ruined and I threw it out. Other than being a little loud the lack of carpet didn't pose a problem except when it rained. See those same "drain holes" that let the water out for the flood, also let water in when it rained. So you had to place you feet just so to keep it from splashing in your face while you drove. No big deal to a 20 year old guy right?

A couple of months later I started a job helping to open a Barnes & Noble Bookstore here in town. Also working there was this cute little Asian chick, named Mafe, who I was trying to work up enough nerve to ask out. I am actually a rather shy and quiet person when you meet me and dealing with the opposite sex was not one of my strong points. So one night we come out from work about 1 am and its raining. I went out to my car and was getting ready to pull out when I see Mafe standing on the sidewalk under the overhang trying not to get wet. Her car was parked out across the parking lot and she didn't have an umbrella. Seeing an opening I pull up to the curve and offer to drive her out to her car. Smooth right? Yeah well remember those "drain holes"? Uh huh. I zip across the parking lot without thinking about it while all the time she is getting splashed with water and cant figure out where it is coming from. When I get her to the car I figure this is my chance and ask her if she would like to go get some dinner. She couldn't that night, but she said we could get lunch with me tomorrow. Later I found out that the only reason she agreed to go have lunch with me is she felt sorry for me having to drive a beat up old VW that rained inside. 

Anyway, that was 13 years ago and we are still happily married. 

--louis

[Donny B.]

Nice story Louis!

[Rennsurfer]

Wow Fred....forget the VW memorabilia...keep posting the Cal LOOKER lady shots...Ha, Ha, Ha...

Any KC Winkler? Probably half of the Popular Hot Rodding issues through late 80's had her 

I have another shot of another girl from a different car show. When I find it, I'll post it.