The Cal-look Lounge

Do you ever wonder how much of the scene's rich history simply went to the scrapyard and rusted away into oblivion? I'm not just talking complete cars, but stuff like cylinder heads, cranks, rods, wheels, gauges, etc. Think about "landmark" parts and pieces of Cal Look History, for instance, the 2180 roller crank motor from Mahaffey's split. Where did that SPG crank go? The heads from Underdog. Sarge's old GENE'S mag IDA manifolds. 1700 from Dean Kirsten's blue '67 (later went to sandrail?). Even some of my oldies but goodies, I wonder whatever happened to some of my old "junk", my old 44IDFs, my original H case from my car, all the 69mm c/w cranks I ran, my dad's 94 x 74, my old 4-T merge header, my 82mm Scat... it's unnerving to think some of this stuff maybe went to the crusher.
I wonder, if guys knew way back when, that this whole retro-appreciation for all things of yesteryear would come around in 35 years or so, if more stuff would have been "shelved." It's hard to stomach that so and so's SPG crank got traded or sold off 8 times, and ended up a boat anchor (there was an 82mm SPG just lying forlornly under my ex-boss' workbench, covered in dust and shavings, he said it was twisted beyond repair), or an old set of Fleming/Aronson big valve heads ended up on some Baja Bug that oxidized away into a pile of white fuzz in a damp field in BFE somewhere. I’m sure a lot of guys did hang onto some treasures, but in reality, how many guys know where their “stuff” went and if it’s still in good hands?

Back in the late '80s a friend had a '69 Bug.  It wasn't real nice, but it was his and he personalized it to suit him.  He always wanted a Ghia vert so when he got the chance he swapped it out for a 71 Ghia vert.  about 5 years later we were scrounging around All German a local VW salvage yard.  All German had been huge with buses piled on top of buses a regular treasure trove.  As we wandered through some of the smaller stuff he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.  We went over and there was a VW fan housing with custom paint.  It had been the one that my friend spent hours on to make it unique years earlier and had been on the engine in his '69. We couldn't find the '69, but the fan housing pointed out the harsh reality of what happens to discarded cars and parts.

No worries, I'm sure someone will eventually come out with affordable knock-offs of the originals so that the common everyday Joe can afford to have the 'look.'  ::)  Okay, that was sarcasm, but I've been trying to be good as of late...;D

In regards to my old 1700cc which was in my '67. I saved the complete engine when I sold my car to Julie Martin. That engine, with new heads and exhaust, went into my sandrail. Eventually, I took the crank, rods, 110 cam and so on, and built a 78x92 for the rail with a 120/125 cam. The inners of the 1700 went into my brother's 1600 which he still has, including my 010 and so on. My deano manifolds, Berg linkage and IDAs went to Ricky Riatt in England.

See, that's cool. Not like you ran upon your parts under an inch of dust and grime in some lousy swap spot @ Sac.

I ended up buying a 2110 ida motor off Luke Theochari from Ricky Riatts 67 bug  for my 64 project about 6 years ago. Could the carbs etc been the same ones? You never know!

Most likely yes! As I said awhile ago, my old IDAs came from Mike Hunsaker's J/G street car. So, those IDAs have seen some action! Look for oversized accelerator pump rods...

I know where this engine went  ;D

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/rebec1/Blue%20Jim/P1050174.jpg)

madfrog

I know of some orginal BRMs that went into a local scrap yard... :o

Hey Deano do you know what happen to your blue 67? do you know were it's at today?

well there a heap of that old stuff in my garage......

I have the same Deano IDA manifolds that Dave Cormack had in a VW Trends article :)

I know where my DKK vert went back in 82 (the infamous "Pervertable").  It was stolen and parted out (Berg motor, Foltz trans, OG 5 spokes, Speedwell steering wheel, etc etc...) and shipped in pieces to Japan.  Yah cant stop progress.  Uh!

My old Black 67 KG was stolen and parted out. Schwimmer found the pan sitting in a field in Anaheim about a block from Aase Bros Porsche. The guy who stole it was eventually got caught stealing another car. In his backyard sat my KG body with the roof cut off. His house backed up to Aase Bros salvage yard, never foung the 82 mm SPG roller motor. (82 x 94 motor with Drino Miller heads, 48 IDAS etc)

glenn, would that be the black KG with britax ragtop?
if so, i love that one! sorry to hear.

In the East Bay up in Northern Calif, we circulated stuff around as well. My 1991 Super Flows went to Frank Schirado in trade for a set of Street Eliminator castings and some other stuff. They then ended up on Jason Popper's race car. I think he recently ditched them for Autocraft 910's. My 48's came from Mike Collins who had them on a mini stocker. My old German "gold" filled-back case came from Jimmy Hannan's lavender-colored lowered Squareback (polished alloys, 2054cc, Engle 130, 44DCNFs), who also did the portwork on my first stroker and later my Super Flows. A lot of stuff got recycled and re used on McNulty's '66 street/drag sedan. I think most of my 2276 FK10 motor ended up morphing into the 12.80 sec 1914 that was in that car. I know Frank, John Bates, Dorman and E-max all were swapping parts like baseball cards too in mid 1990's. The infamous 1914/K8/Pauter heads/Crown flywheel in Frank's red '67 got peeled apart and detuned and ended up in Dorman's '65 Bus, then in his dune buggy. Danny W's 2164 full tilt 84 stroke motor got ripped down and some jackass left the parts outside to rust (after Danny, RIP, traded a $15K motor for a $1500 1776 Kadron motor... why Danny? Why?)

That would be it. The car had just been repainted by Santini (5-days fresh and about $5000.00) I was living in Arizona at the time and I came back to my moms house in OC, drove the car that 1-night and it vanished.

you have any pics of the 67 kg?

Please, could somebody upload scans from this number of Hot VW's about engine building ?
Thnx in advance !

it's in KS's second book, chapter 5 i think it is. 2 photos on the left hand page.
do you have any other pics yourself, glenn? i couldn't make out the front on those pics. unless the KG had filled nostrils then it might have been posted on here  a while ago.
82x94? what year was that then, early 80ies?

Might be copyright issues involved with that, I think they may still have it available for purchase through Hot VWs, though?

It was 82/83 ish. Nostrils were not filled in. I think filling the nostrils only looks good in certain colors  Red, Baby blue, but not black.

didnt the wheels from tar babe end up on Roger Crawford's green 67

Yes they did but are back on tar babe where they belong.

Russell...I busted my rear from 11pm to 7 am after the nightmare ride home from Nicks burgers before the classic in an attempt to revitalize your newly aquired black historic oval / you took pics and seemed pleased and was wondering when you will share them as I take pride in what I do and it was a "gift of Love"  to you to see the car come back to life. As a result from detail fatigue I failed to make it to the classic for the first time since its inception as I also stayed up and finished steve neindorfs 51 green vert that I heard you later purchased as well, congrats..!!   Will you please share some pics ....I know others would love to see your new ride/brought back memories for me and heard many cool things about the cars while at the event. It was very cool to see you in action under the hood too..!! Thank you/I love the BABE/dyno      ...sorry guys/wasnt sure if this was meant for another post/thread or not..?

Do they?

Speaking of reusing old parts: I have a shifter from a 9second drag car. But this is just an Empi trigger shifter and I don't think it make it a lot more special than the others ;) Works great though.

There are a few stray copies of HVWs Engine Book #2 laying around somewhere in that office.... Engine Book #1 is 100% gone...