The Cal-look Lounge

For me , no, not yet.

No, me either. Probably never will either.

--louis

I can see my "dream Bug" coming to fruition, with enough time, it could be done, fairly easily. Nothing fancy.

Yeah, but the thing is, your dream bug and mine are probably different.

--louis

I could not do it with just one car. 

No. Every car I have ever seen, I would change at least one thing. Wade Nishimota's 67 is the closest for me but I would change a few things like the wheel finish and seat covers.

For me..Almost. My current car is what I have wanted to do for years, I am worried what I will do when it's "done".  ???

Hands down Greg Aronson's bug and his 356! sweet. Runner up Craig Fosters "Vega"
( I can hear the keys clicking from here)

anything built by danny gabbard or bill schwimmer

Jim Kaforski bug.  It not complicated it doesn't even look like its trying, its just right. :)
(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/639/018_99a9a414e38af1154a388f308f1d1ba3.jpg)

once PROJECT 66 is finished I am pretty sure I will have built MY perfect cal looker  ;) :)

Billings red '67 comes pretty close for me. Wade's car almost as close. Yes, if Wade's car had satin & black alloys.... royal flush

And of course Mike's 67 - I would give ANYTHING for that car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;) :)

I think there is a tremendous difference between a car and your own car, seeing to the fact that some apply the question to their own cars  ;)
At least if I may speak for myself, taste evolves (god, I wish I had dechromed my car) and you tend to be extra critical about your car moreover at some point you’ve probably seen every part of the car which you can judge other cars by from a magazine feature.

And it’s personal as well. Small dislikeable things are always to be found. Don’t get me wrong I love Mike’s ’67 but I’d like to see the front come down just 1 centimetre no more and the exhaust sticks out way too far in my opinion.

But hey, when looking at it this way, you’re question isn’t being answered. This is more like answering to ‘has there been any astonishing cal-look car that’s just perfectly flawless?’. You’re asking for cars that exceed our dreams, so let’s hear it  ;D

my "perfect" VW Bug would be very close to that car. Different color (think color of my '67, but no moldings, no T bars, no bumpers, no horn grilles, no lucas lights, no VW emblem on hood). Same wheels (satin finish alloys), CN36's out back, 155's in front, Racemark steering wheel or Momo Prototipo, 356 Carrera GT buckets in royal blue cordurouy, rubber mats, Perlon carpet, VDO's, Berg5, tinited glass, 260hp 8500 redline, VW early 40hp shroud adapted to late cooler, 52mm IDAs, alodine-gold coated tall manifolds, gabfab cylinder covers, all engine sheet metal match painted to car, 911 carb linkage adapted to VW with IDAs. Big muffler tucked under RH valve cover with pipe ending under RH running board, like Mason's car used to run.

My "Perfect" looker ie PROJECT 66 will also have a very similar look to the billing car but with NO T bars, Porsche Scheel seats, steering wheel similar doug mische ghia, colour coded headlamp rings, satin fuchs 6" & 7"s  etc etc etc you'll all have to wait and see ;)

Here's mikes for now  ;D

There you go Lee – I've corrected your mistakes. :D

Yeah, Mike's car and DKK Lemonade's '67, and also one pale blue '67 with polished Fuchs (DKK car? it was in Jim's aqua cars thread) gave some good vibes to me, hopefully the vibes materialize to something once the current non-Cal Look project is finished and sold  :D

The early & late Fuchs combination in Mike's car looks really good like in Keith Goss chop-top and I used to hate that kind of a mismatch combination before.

What I would like (besides having the skills and budget too) would be exterior like the cars mentioned above with different interior and the level of detailing current cars have. This link is not to Cal Look car but the build quality is unbelievable; (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=366837&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=366837&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) Those smoothed chassis parts would work also in Cal Looker as they look simplier and so much smoother than stock.

That is the quality I am shooting for with my car. Now the question is will I reach it.

Actually, scratch that. He went a little too far even for me. But I would like to have the same quality as modern hot rods have.

And why did he go to all that trouble to detail every last nut and bolt, then put split boots on the SA tranny?  ::)

--louis

That's the most retarded thing I've seen today!

The pale blue '67 with full polished alloys is probably the one built by DKKs Mark Dean. That personally would come closest to my fulfillment of this thread... not too wild about the color but everything else was spot on. It's  too bad we don't have more pictures of it.


Here's some pics..

Sorry dude I've corrected YOUR mistake  ;)

And that GermanFolk car is just SILLY I would like to see it in a couple of years when all that filler has sunk and cracked especially on the Chassis  ::) :)

just added a roll cage to 56 oval rag, to daniel brown over the top ultimate pan, and mr brown will take over build.
retained Pat Downs for a 11sec engine. Look out for this one next season.

Geoff Harts beryl green car is the only one i can think of right now that i wouldn't change a thing on....whether its a perfect cal-look car is another matter.......

this is kinda hard for me to answer this with one car, so ive picked 3 !

without doubt the car that has exceeded my dreams is Arnie Molhmans car, its plain simple, old, fast and very very cool for me a proper cal looker not a show car......

And if it was to be a more modern european car it would be Dirks Sunroof bug what a cool car that is.

And as for a modern amercan cal looker............... i think its under construction !

Jim Logudice's 67 - THIS is the one that did/does it for me.....

Now how could I forget Jim's car  ::) ;) :)

 Bernard Newbury`s oval as The Dark Lord. It simply was perfect and nothing has come close since for me! Colour, interior ,ffffat engine ,wheels, i could go on forever!!  ;D

If I were to be pinned to it I would have to say the Wocket.

--louis

I should also mention Dave Rhoads Green 64 - I can't believe i forgot about it ::) :)

No,  not really. I mean once you think you can do everything and put everything into the car, along comes someone with another great idea. I guess it has to be something you are happy with without settling.

Too many nice cars to choose only one !

Lee your right i also forgot about Daves Rhoads car..... in  fact Mr Sadlers yellow car is also a sure fire contender....

Yes this is stupid topic.... its far far too hard to answer correctly !

Im living my dream right now  ;), still got a ways to go and had more than a few nightmares getting there  ::)
Actually I'd have to pick two and they live under the same roof now
(http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff84/49-rag/indexphp-4.jpg)
The Keith Goss chop and Randy Carlson's awsome split

oh and of course the choptop  ;D

WHAT,no dual muffs on the "CREAM OF THE CHOPS"?  That was THEE car that led the dual muff craze.Car still looks great, every coming back to it's home state for a tour?? Maybe dkp reunion next year?? though keith (goss)never was a dkp 2 member.. (oops)... but hung out with us...

Good question.  I think it may have been misunderstood though  :)

I cant think of any one "Perfect" cal-look car.  Of all of my favorites, there is one or two things that I would do differently.  I think that is why most of us build our own.  Even my own car is not perfect in my own eyes though.  Rarely does anyone have the money, skills or time needed to do everything absolutly perfect.  Plus, by the time you finish, you may have seen some cool trick that you would have liked to incorporate in your own car. 

Perfection seems to be a moving target.  :)

I remember the first time I saw Gary Bergs '67 (owned by Rick Zavala by that time) along with Don Bullita's car on the Berg cruise up in Washington.
Those cars inspired me.
They weren't just at a show, they were true drivers.
"Perfection"? I can't say because I was so excited I didn't judge ... just allowed to be motivated.
I think that's what it's all about.

Well said.

Exactly what I was thinking, Dave. There is no such thing as "perfect", however, I was hoping to get some ideas of which cars most guys would use as an influence to bolt together something that comes as close to perfect as they could attain. For me, it would be my own '67, but with all the bugs and wrinkles worked out, cosmetically and mechanically. Most importantly, my glimpse of "perfection" would encompass the ability to drive the car under most conditions without needing a seance, a month's worth of tinkering before turning the key, and without stopping to put rockers back on, bolt wheels back on, etc. Cosmetically, I would want to have the car quietly stand out from the crowd, through color and subtle details. Overall, I'd want the thing to taste as much like a VW as possible, and keep it as far from the JEG's look as possible. Think a VW with early 911 genes handed down. You get my drift.

yeah, good luck with that!  When you figure it out, let me know.  ;D :D

was talking to Jim Kurlinski @ Classic about his copper '66, (which is another car that comes damn close to my Webster's dictionary definition of "perfect hot rod VW"), and what impressed me most about the car, is that Jim drove the car up to Sacramento for drags, then up to Lake Tahoe and back down US 395 to Southern California. If any of you out there are familiar with that drive, you know that's quite a feat for a big cc, 13 sec street VW. Seems he's got it fairly figured out.

I couldn't build one "perfect" car. There are so many different choices to the "Look", different years, headlight options, bumper treatments, engine choices, interiors, ect to be made and I like most all of them. I really like how AssHull's car is coming out, but when I do my own '67 it will be something completely different... and I've got other ideas for other cars, as well. I guess I'm not a one car kinda guy...

     My pick would be Keith Goss, Mike Billings,Doug Mische 67,and the newest White Karmann Ghia from the Classic with the Porsche Alloys.

     Thanks
     Frenchy

Photos aren't coming up for me?  I did see one pic of the engine bay, which was gorgeous!