The Cal-look Lounge

When someone has owned a car as long as Ivan has, there has got to be some great stories.  SO lets hear it Ivan.  Where did you get the car, why, how.....?
Have you ever considered chroming your BRM's?  :-*

I got it from the original owners Mr and Mrs Henderson (I don't recall them having a Sasquach though). I'd been to look at something like twenty '67s and was getting bored of people not knowing what car they were selling. Here in the UK cars in general are know by the year of manufacture rather than model year. So driving for two hours to be presented with a '68 got boring after the second time! I ended up going through a check list on the 'phone before I'd go and see a car. Question one; do you fill the gas through a door in the side of the car or do you have to lift the bonnet up?

Anyway - it was the best I could find a UK spec RHD 1300 model - so it was five lug, had sloping headlights and six volt electrics.

The shifter jumped out of second, the oil light flickered and it needed two rear fenders/wings, the paint wasn't too good - it had loads of touch ins and was pretty horrid close up.

The car had a lot of history with it  - right back to the original purchase receipt and letter dated the next day which said the deposit cheque was enclosed as it wasn't signed.

I had to promise it would be restored - Mr Henderson didn't want it to see it with  'big wheels and painted bright pink'.  I thought about telling him how rare Big Wheels actually are. And that even if I could have found a set  - I still prefer BRMs.

Anyway, I broke the promise within less than a week. It was dumped at the front, had EMPI bumper bars, BRMs an EMPI GT woodrim and an EMPI EZR shifter on it.

The car progressed from here over a long period - but money was always really tight so I couldn't step up like I wanted to.

In 1992 it had a serious engine fire due to a fuel line not being clamped properly - and that was nearly the end of the car, and the wheels!

I had to stand by the side of the road for about ten minutes watching the rear end of the car burning away and the flames going right near magnesium wheels...Talk about the worst experience ever!        

The car was toasted - the engine, rear end paintwork, interior, headliner - all gone. The car was a mess, it looked terrible and smelled a lot worse.

The insurance company agreed to have the damaged repaired, and thanks to then a nightmare turned back into a dream.

The car was stripped, repaired and repainted - this was done by Luke at Terrys Beetle Services. Then it was retrimmed by Bernard Newbury. The cars first 2007 with 48IDAs was then fitted and it was like this that it starred on the cover of VolksWorld and in The California Look Book. Back then we did not have any Old School style cars here in the UK, it was the first.

In terms of the motor, it was a RIMCO'd new case, Pauter wedgemated 78mm with Pauter reworked heads - I loved those heads! The camshaft was a Pauter P4E8. It had Skat-Trak's and Pauter roller rockers. I drove it everywhere and it made too many passes to count. The motor is now owned by Mike Pye, our Feature Editor and has been given a freshen up recently. It's waiting to go into his Oval.

If you want more info - I've got plenty of stories. :o

Oh, and chromed BRMs? That'd be as sensible as fitting a sunroof into a Convertible!

i've this one in my garage since 1996 i 've bought this one to you at the vw euro when it was on the oval speedway

and another pictures of your 67 at vw euro in 98 you were there with mike pye and his black 65 , and i was parked with the 61 aside your car that day
remember ???

here's an old links from the event on eldud web site vweuro98 (http://www2.cal-look.com/nostalgia/VWeuro1998.htm)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/img185-1.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/img187-1.jpg)

me next to ivans bug at bug jam must have been right after he bought it
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/img188.jpg)

another of Ivans little passions shown in this shot he love's his monkey bikes

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/img087.jpg)

Ivan did I see your '67 at BugFreeze in '96 with stock rims on it?

more photos please

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67e.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67c.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/line2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67b.jpg)

Nice story and I think it is cool that you allready knew what you wanted the car to look like back then.
I changed styles many times with my first car before it was finished but I am always a bit amased at how determined some people are  and stick with their plans. ;)

Keep those storys coming,

 Michael

I've posted this one on here before - its one I took a few years back when the fan let go. Can't remember date or event.

(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/496234.jpg)

Such a cool bug!

Is it true that you are putting a turbo on it this year?   :D  

Loved his 67 for a long time, this is from beetle bash 96, the year the yanks came over and showed us brits how to crash properly!
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-27-24_121020086571.jpg[/img]](http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-27-24_121020086571.jpg) (http://[IMG)
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-29-08_12102008661.jpg[/img]](http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-29-08_12102008661.jpg) (http://[IMG)

More from 96
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-26-12_12102008655.jpg[/img]](http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l242/vwhelmot/Bug%20jam/2008-10-12_20-26-12_12102008655.jpg) (http://[IMG)

that was the show that Ivan took me for a spin in his car and then let me drive it back to avon park I'll never forget the burbling noise from the 48's when you gave it a load of right foot awesome  8)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67a.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67d.jpg)

Still think I've got about £50 worth of BRM dust up my nose from de-fuzzing them last year  ;D

Awesome always liked this car  ;D

Not only the first,but still owned......almost as cool as the car,is the generosity of Ivan with the car,how many people have you heard say"when I drove Ivan's 67"? or been lent the car for a weekend?Nice car,nice bloke ;)

A day I'll never forget. For a while there had been a weird screeching noise when you gave it a bootfull of throttle. Not always, but every now and again. This was the new 2007 motor, it has a Berg 78mm forged crank, Carillo rods, Pauter heads and an FK10.
I drove up to Santa Pod made a few passes and then made a pass holding it in third a little longer than usual BANG - a really loud BANG.
I coasted the car and when I got to the return road I found the extent of the damage. The fan had let go at about 6,500rpm and made a real mess of things. The Brazilian fanhousing which had been coated along with the tinware by Adam Wik - who'd built the engine was trashed. Pieces of the had destroyed one or two of the velocity stacks, other pieces had tried to leave the car through the RH side of the engine bay denting the bodywork of the car from the inside. I was really lucky that more damage wasn't done - as the parts of the fan which went on a journey down south could have done a lot of damage - they had tried to go through the roof of the case and tried to take some head fins off. Naughty!

The decklid was also damaged - if you look closely you'll the thing end of the hinge panel is monstered.

Still every could has a silver lining. Once all the bits of fan had been removed and things were cleaned up a bit - I took it back out without a fan and it ran like a champ an did a 13.6.


Repairing the damage took a bit longer than 13 seconds though!  :D

An expensive mistake and my advice is don't cut corners, learn by my mistake and FIT A WELDED FAN!

Hi Alex, what was the deal again? I know it was  - you say I'm a nice guy and I'll pay you. But I can't remember what the fee we agreed on was?!
 ;D

In all seriousness - cheers.   

When did you find out?  ;)

I visualised how I wanted the car way before I found the car. I didn't want to de-chrome it or fit one-piece windows (had them and was never happy with them - I also like the way you can direct quarter lights to get a good breeze when its really hot.) I didn't want running board trim - not sure why. 
I wanted original coloured running board mats - just because it was original spec but not really something people were doing. Also I think it gives the car such a different look. Pal Rui got them for me from Norway - NOS.
The interior - well, I'd seen the cloth about a year previously at Bernard Newbury's workshop. He had a roll of it and it was originally from a Talbot Rancho. I said to him there and then to hang onto it - as that was the trim I wanted for my project. He thought I was nuts. At the time no one in the UK was having cars trimmed in plaid. Once it was done and in the car - he knew I wasn't mad. He went on to do many, many similar interiors.

The car has progressed from my original ideas, but I have always put a lot of thought into every change. I won't do anything unless I think it is correct for the car and will not ruin of over do things.

The only thing I didn't really know before I found the car was what colour it would be - I was and always would have been restricted by this fact as I decided from the start that what ever colour I ended up with, that is what I would stay with. Initially I was not too impressed with beige, but I grew into the colour very quickly - and today I can honestly say I love the fact it is beige. It really helps with the whole sleeper element of the car.

I had that original ECONO motors licence plate frame on the car for years - but sadly the vibration shattered it. So I gave it to Adam Wise in pieces as he said he would try and glue it back together.


You look about 14 years old!  ;D And, you're correct that was the first time I took it to a show after getting it. The crazy thing is that it was only 25 years old then and had only had one owner. Now it's 43 years old! I am counting down to the day I can say I've had it longer than the original owner. Don't know why that appeals to me, but it does. 

more like 21 and awe struck at the sight of BRM's sad eh!!!! but I'd never seen a set of real BRM's before and they looked great shame they were mounted on some old shed of a 67  at the time ;)

I feel the same way about my '66!  I got it from the original owner who had it for 18 years back in '84.  This July I will have owned it for 26 years.  I thought it was really cool back in 2002 when I actually passed the original owner in time owned.  My wife says she is going to bury me in it.  LOL

All those greenhearts down the side of the page.......looks like someone playing Solitaire ;D.......you owe me nothing mate,credit where credit's due,(should have the tyres ready for you this weekend)

Mind they don't get gunned down by another squadron Alex  :D

As for the 67, great stories, pics and great car.

(http://i49.tinypic.com/df7g0.jpg)

What up Tim reading into things again. ;) :D

Hello Martin; sorry no idea what you mean?  ???

Anyway - back on topic:

(http://i46.tinypic.com/10xa7p2.jpg)

Crikey Steve, I looked at that photo and never clicked it was you!!!

Thinking of it, this 67 is the first Cal Looker I ever saw in the flesh :D

So I think I can blame thank you and Mr Roberts for the Cal Look takeover and heading for my own Greenheart!

who the hell's Steve????  ??? :P

am I having a senior moment? ;)

This was at the 1st European Bug-In

one of my all-time favourite cars.....


its a classic, just like Ivan! ;)

And this was when it still has sloping headlights in 1994.
Why did I change them?

Two reasons - Firstly; I love the look of US Spec '67s with upright headlights. Secondly; NOS sloping headlight wings proved really hard to find and very expensive and I had a pair of Genuine VW upright headlight wings from a dealer clearout I did.

Here's another shot from the VolksWorld Show when it had the DDS pie-pans on it. The crew cab was also mine. Shouldn't have sold that one! It's now worth four times what I got for it!

Cheers Martin. xx

The DDS wheels looked so perfect on your car!

Love your car Ivan, and also love both the BRMs and the alumalites. Timeless.

A selection...

(http://i50.tinypic.com/25sr2f5.jpg)

Update on the front wings - my memory told me they were from a dealer clearout - but Pal Rui has just let me know they were from Norway. Sorry 'bout that.

...you were right about them being NOS...I seem to remember the price was 25 Pounds ;D

I have to join the list of people who love the look of the car with upright lights - so much so that when I did my own '68 as a "wrong 'un" in 1996, I put a long bonnet, '67 lid, blade bumpers and 1200 lights on it, but then horrified people by leaving the original headlights in place and simply welding up the bumper slots in the front wings! I didn't really know any more about US spec cars, but that one really inspired me.

I also once changed the US spec wings on my 67 to give the euro 67 look... but I never really liked it. The upright headlights give the car a much more aggresive look.

We've done some good guy deals over the years - haven't we?!  ;)

I will never forget the time you were over in the UK visiting me and we were out in my car on the motorway and I said look what's coming towards us, and over on the other side of road was Ed China on his road legal couch. You couldn't get your head around it at all... And the look on your face was priceless.

The question is, if you moved to the UK would you get into Couch Look?

In case you haven't seen it - here's some of the other road legal creations he's built - enjoy my friend! http://www.cummfybanana.com/ 

And here it is in action!
 ;D
http://www.funny-videos.co.uk/videofunnytransport.html

This was from last year's European Bug-In when Serge Le Flohic, Editor of the French VW magazine Super VW had a drive in the car and 'Speedwell' from the Lounge, well Belgium drove his first Right Hand Drive car.

They had to take the chance while they could - as Gregg Bunch and his wife had the keys most of the weekend. Well it's better than anything Avis or Hertz could offer...

Fabs looks a little nervous with it being a right hand drive  ;D

He was at first - but when he came back he was beaming!

>:(...yes i was nervous   james , because , my brain  thought a lot to send the good information to my feet, not to make a mistake about pedal  ;D ;D ;D ;D
for sure it was a real pleasure to drive your car ivan  , and another scoop it was my first ida's car i drove  , and that's decide me to build an ida engine for the 61 or another car
thx for the gear
fabs  ;)

i am guessing this was when we all went to goodwood?

Yep - was an awesome day out  8)

I was the first time I drove a leftie, love them now  :D

This was at, I think, the VolksWorld Summer Nationals at Avon Park Raceway in 1994. The car still had an EMPI GT Woodrim and an Berndt Ahnendrop (BAS) exhaust system - that exited through the normal tailpipe cut outs - to 35mm bore tailpipes. Great system, I really like it.
You'll notice I only had time to polish the front wheels. Slacker! At this time it also had EMPI bumper bars.
At this stage it was still running on a stock 1300 transmission - considering the abuse it got it lasted really well. When it eventually came out the oil was drained and it was like liquid silver. Still, it never let me down or left me stranded.

Ivan, car looks great.  Your car has a nice "not overrestored" patina to it that I like.  In other words, it's not perfect and has "character".  Not saying that as a bad thing by any means...

Also, I had one of those BAS exhausts on my '65 about 10 years ago.....very nice fitting, looking and sounding piece....

It's got a few 'war wounds' but considering the paint was done 17 years ago it has lasted really well, especially for the U.K. Glad you like it! Thanks.

[attachment=2]Here's the old girl at work...

And this is one of my all time favourite shots of my car. Thanks go to VolksWorld's man behind the camera, Julian Hunt!

 ;D probably one of the most well known uk built vw?

got any pics pre cal look?

I haven't got a single photograph of it as I got it, but it was a stocker which needed a bit of love, and horsepower.

some pictures i took of ivan's car at EBI3

 :D

 ;)

some internationals guests who had the pleasure to drive the car

MR komori san ,with nao on the passenger seat  ;)

mike ebi organizer  and serge le flohic from super vw mag

inside the car with gregg and pam   :o

Did anybody have some pics with Speedwell behind the wheel?
 ;D

our host  with fast freddy ........they're talking about girls or monkey bike  ::) ::)....... ;D ;D

page 2  G  ;) it was a great moment for me  you remember the big smile on my face   ;D

another from ebi#1

and another well know 67 savanna beige

That was on the car from new. It's never had a radio fitted. But has an stereo made in Italy by a company called Weber.

The Weber stereo system seems to have more of a 'surround sound' facility than the Dell Orto system fitted to my other '67. And the Dell Orto system doesn't seem to have such a good right foot operated volume control as the Weber stereo. It's a bit like one is playing Black Flag or The Cult while the other is stuck on Vanilla Ice. And I've never been a fan of Vanilla Ice. ;D   

I love The Cult though!

I dug out some of the original paperwork from the car to share if anyone is interested.


The first pic is from Feb 21st '67 and  was confirming the order for the car and telling Mr Henderson the registration number/licence plate would be UBH 140E. It also says that his cheque was being returned to him as he hadn't signed it. The deposit for the car was £20.

The second is the original bill of sale with all the info on it. The car cost £697 on the road. Today that equates to $1092.

Next is the Volkswagen Vehicle Check List - this had to be filled in when the car arrived at the dealership. It is a check that the car had 2 keys, a spare fan belt, a spare wheels, a door mirror, a jack, an instruction book and so on. It's dated 23-11-66. I did a check once and the car was built in August '66.

Finally, there a pic of the document folder from the dealership.

The pics aren't great as they're done on my phone
 

Dyno Don at the controls

wow a picture of Ivan driving his own 67 this is a rare shot indeed   :o :o ;D

(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11680.0;attach=39301;image)

I don't mind letting others enjoy it too, as ultimately I get to drive it home and can enjoy it whenever I like and the best thing is that I know I will own it until the day I die, and then it'll be handed down to my son Oscar. He's only three at the moment - so he's a future Cal Look fan in training.  ;D

 " I don't mind letting others enjoy it too, as ultimately I get to drive it home and can enjoy it whenever I like "

I had a mate with a girlfriend like that , nice girl  :D ;D

yeah, everyone knows her!  ;D

ivans 67 was 'the' car that got me into vws back in the 90s, my first car was inspired by it, can you tell?(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f200/trekker76/Adolf1.jpg) (http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f200/trekker76/Adolf2.jpg)

Nice car, razoredge. Looks great on the rivs. What size tires did you have? What brand steering wheel?

sorry i dont remember what tyres i was running it was 14 years ago!!! the front wheels were genuine 4.5 mag alloy and the rear were 5.5 early copies. i made the steering wheel from scratch ( stainless & teak i think).