The Cal-look Lounge

ooh, can't wait to see this!  ;D

I'm trying. Having to learn the site, the scanner, the image editing software. Are you seeing anything?
I think this is going to take a little time at first. Its 2am here, I'm getting tired.

A couple of teaser's

The Pre DELUX67 at a city park in Anaheim Ca. Goss and I were there fooling around taking pictures of the car.

However the Officer of the Anahiem P.D. failed to recognize or appreciate our creativity in using the city's park for a photo op.
So much so that I got a pretty stiff fine for the ticket he gave me.
We should have tried to outrun that 1975 Chevy barge with the 140hp V8 the cop rolled up on us in. Power to weight ratio you know.
No Guts No Glory. No glory that day  :(

New posting on the way

This was the DELUX before it was the DELUX. It was a nice car. It had dual 42DCNF carborators 87mm pistons and cylinders making it 1641cc's and an engle 120 cam shaft. This was the car my good friend Roger Grago saw on his way to Cal Stater Fullerton each morning. One day he stopped and left his DKP membership card under my wiper blade. This is roughly mid 1976
One thing led to another and I get bit hard by the Bug bug.  :D

This is going to be cool. Nice car!

X2

Some images of the places and people that helped make what the car came to be, possible. Some things and faces you may recognize. The man working on buggy is Ron Fleming of FAT Performance, then there is Mark Thurber (shirt off) the "T" in FAT at the time. Then the man leaning on the cane is Pete Bagnard, who has since passed on. Pete was at one time the chassis builder for the drag race celebrity of the day, Raymond Beadle. And finally a view of the side of the building that was the FAT Performance location in the late 70's and 1980's. This is where the vast majority of the work on the DELUX was performed .

DKP II meeting at the carpet store (our club house at the time) on Commonwealth Blvd. in Fullerton, Ca.
Top image Mike Martinez and Ron Griener talking together.
Second Image Doug Mische with his 1969 Karmen Ghia. This car has an interesting history. Long story short, car was stolen and then about 10 years later the car is located minus all the good stuff. Doug found out about it, Keith Goss was somehow brought into identify the car. The car had been altered so much that the key evidence that the car was in fact Doug's was Keith recognized some specialized work he had done around the car's engine compartment years earlier. BUSTED!!
Third is an image of the 1775cc Weber motor in Roger Grago's car.

Club outing to a Bug In at Orange County International Speedway, about 1978 ish. Need to double check this.
Looks like we're on our way into the event, Roger in the lead towing his KG#2 (although the image is incorrectly positioned in #2 spot) for participation in the days car show.
The caravan follows close behind with Doug in #2 position and Mike Martinez in his Chop Top in #3 position.
Cool Huh?

Some DKP pals and gals. Note Doug Berg. This guy was everywhere and he likes hangin with the cutie VW chicks. Yep that was her car. He shows up in many photo's from that era. That's my buddy Keith Goss next to Doug (sitting on the stinger) and the Berg family race car at the Winter Nationals at Pomona

waouww super coo picture mike , thx for sharing those with us

rgd
fabs

that girl  is Connie lowry(ken's daughter)  and the car with purple graphics is one from DDS and was stolen

Some more shots of DKPII buddies.
Top shot my two very good friends Keith Goss and Bill Rogers (back up singer with his brother Paul for the rock group Bad Company. Bill has a terrific joke telling voice, but his singing eeaahh??? I still find it interesting that Bill has no British accent whatsoever. Berlitz?)

Second shot, Keith painting the headlight rims for His now Russel Richie's Chop Top.

Third, some guy made a wise crack about quality of this strangers car and the guy made a crack right back at him.  ;D

I said three years ago that I was going to do this. I always do what I say I'm going to do but I never say how fast  :)
I've only begun to post.

    Mike

    Glad you are posting some of these pictures for all of us to see. Did I get you all wound up at the host hotel last Saturday I think you need to build another car as the 67 was. Keep in touch nice hanging out with you good memories.

   Thanks
   Frenchy

Looking forward to seeing more pics!

Thanks Mike.

Yes...!!! Wound up tighter than a $3 watch.
I've have plans to see people and do things that were not even on the radar as recent as 5 days ago.
Another 67 ? I certainly want to. Already have an idea how I'd go about it. It was good hanging with you too.

Hang in there, more coming.

Thanks for sharing those old pics, so sad to hear of Pete's passing. What a character! The guy could definitely lay down a bead. Also good to see Gary Rolison's Manx.
That must have been just before we installed the Marvin Miller NOS on it. It sure doesn't feel like 30 plus years have passed, oh wait.  Ouch!...It does.

How does this work for ya Phil?
Rolison's Myers Manx in all it's glory!

Remember Aronson's panel delivery?

Man, great stuff!  Love the old pics from "back in the day."  That manx was one of all time favorites and I wore out my Hot VWs that it was on the cover of.   8)

Thanks for the stories and pics.

Do you mean the "we're all goin to lunch wagon" ?  ;D  O'Yah. That and Ron's bus with the 2.5 911  ;D  And the shop Subaru 360 aka "Too Slo".

Or Kenny Youngbloods "2 Low".  Those were crazy days, never a dull moment. [attachment=1]

I remember a party at Rolison's house in the Spy Glass area of Newport Beach $1,000,000 view. This guy had some serious buying power!
I forgot all about that issue of Hot VW's. The issue looks to be in new coondition.

My 1967 Ruby Red circa 1977

Bottom Photo DKP Trip to San Diego for the 1/8 drags at Jack Murphy Stadium.
We all stayed at the Holiday In on Hotel Circle in Mission Valley.
We all had such a good time no one can really remeber much about it.

You know what they say about the 70's...
If you can remember the 70's....YOU WEREN'T THERE!!  :o :D :-X

What do they call that Jack Murphy Stadium now?.... ah....Edison, Staples, Home Dept Corporation Field Stadium Incorporporated or something like that?
At least Dodger Stadium is still called Dodger Stadium! No sell outs againt tradition in LA yet. I miss ol Jack.

That race between the Vet and I was special for me but more specifically special for the club members that witnessed it.
There I was with my 90-100hp reving through the 42's behind my head. I semi side step the clutch, the car launches I jerk second gear, hit third, and of course heard the third gear bog giving me a chance to look around to see why the hell I was smoking this guy and then I hear it, then feel my car begin vibrating then all of a sudden my car gets blown to the right by a huge gust of wind pressure and the car goes SCREAMING by me faster than I can really see it.
I was momentarily deflated but realized com'on man, that's a blower sticking out of that guys hood.
Mike Dumphey snapped the picture just as the Vet was overcoming me. Everybody loved the race cause the Vet killed his motor when he launced so he re-started it, re-launched it and then blew by me away and some of them saw the stupid look on my face as I went throught the lights.
What they loved even more was the photo which nobody knew about for a week or two.
A great memory!

Keith Goss and Gene Valdez

At Keith's House in Anaheim 1977

Awesome pictures mike, keep em coming  8)

 ;)
(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8646.0;attach=28485;image)

I am so pleased. I was digging around in my pictures and related material and found my single original copy of this same flyer listed above. I forgot I saved one for myself. I have a few more interesting documents I hung onto. They may be of interest to some.

OFFICIAL: The Best Thread EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

But where is it NOW!? ???

thanks for posting these, and some of the captions are funny, but when i read "because goss hated the wheels" i laughed!

SWEET!  My Favorite for sure   thanks Mike

I was thinking the same thing, Goss was right! ;D

So while the car was out having bodywork and paint I began to refocus on the running gear.
This a couple images of the engine build I did at FAT Performance when the shop was located on Glassel Street in Orange. Yea that's me, full head of (not long to exist) hair and all.
One thing that might be of interest. Even 30 years ago getting a German crank cases was no easy task. Most of the cases we used for new motors then were
Mexican or Brazilian. I preferred the Brazilian. Both however, came with 8mm head studs.
I understood the theory as to why 8mm head studs were supposed to be better but I didn't buy it. So I removed the 8mm case savers, installed 10mm case savers and reinstalled the 10mm studs into my new Brazilian case that were from the German case my 1641 was built on.
The switch worked just fine. I never heard a single head leak and even after the engine was good and warmed up, the valve train seemed quieter than most other motors with 8mm headstuds and chrome molly pushrods.
Note the boss on the right side of the case that I ground down (right side as your viewing it) near the hole for the oil pump. That was to accommodate the "original" EMPI oil pump that incorporated an oil filter. Very, very clean way to go. I personally didn't like the idea of running oil lines all over the place (personal preference).

The bottom three images are of the 2 litre motor I built for it on the dyno at FAT.
For those of you interested... The motor consisted of the following parts and pieces,
-Brazilian Volkswagen Case, appropriately modified
-Okrasa 78.4MM crank X Cima 90.5 pistons and cylinders
-Engle 140 Cam with chrome molly pushrods, stock rocker arms with Porsche valve lash adjusters and hardened and modified rocker assemblies.
-Brand new Heads ported and polished by Ron Flematio hm hm in mean Fleming of FAT Performance. 40mm X 37.5mm valves, inners and outers and all that stuff.
Empi magnesium alloy intake manifold gifted to me by Ron topped off with brand new 48IDA Weber's. In one of the pics above you can actually see the box laying on the workbench that held one of the new carbs.
I used a stock late model doghouse style fan housing and oil cooler off a 1975 VW Thing.
I used stock parts wherever I could as they tended to be most reliable, for example the valve covers. Stock valve covers never leaked although I couldn't resist chrome plating the valve cover bales. The car actually had more chrome under it then on it ;D. I don't know if I'd do all the chrome work again.
The throttle linkage was custom built by Pete Bagnard who was a star class fabricator.
The motor was pretty healthy. I remember the power being 168hp. I just ran across and posted an old dyno sheet that got wet at the bottom of my tool box that said 169hp. Ron and I filled out the form when we were dyno-ing the motor. In either case 168-170hp measured at the flywheel sans belt and mufflers was respectable output by the standards of the day.
If I were to do it again I would try to build as much horsepower as I could reasonably put in a street car as it wouldn't be a daily driver but a weekend warrior. For the time being the car just exists in various stages of build in my imagination.
 
That's all that comes to mind now. If I or someone else can think of something to add I'll do it.


The last of the three is the BERG 5 Speed I built for the car. It was the second street car with this (experimental hadn't been perfected yet) gear box. Gary Berg, naturally, had the first street car with the 5 speed box. The modification and fabrication for this gearbox was ingenious.
Oh...note the B model Porsche brake drum laying on the floor beneath the tranny on the engine stand. Guess where that ended up?

I'm so pleased the car so well detailed. If not, I would,ve forgot who took the picture. But I do know as I recognize the VW reflecting in my door. The blue early 60's VW (friend Goss helped me with the ID) belonged Roger's Grago's  girlfriend at the time, Sheila. I think the photo was taken by Christi one of the gals that may have been riding with Sheila at the time. Have to think about though or get confirmation.
Now that I think about it, that image may have been taken while the club was on it's way to Craig Park in Brea where the famous photo of the club was taken for the cover of Hot VW's.
I guess Andy Warhol may have been right?

And life in So Cal went on and Ronald Reagan was elected president ;D

That is Mike Martinez of AL MARTINEZ Body and paint from Santa Ana racing his black Chop Top ( some of you might get the meaning of this... but as I write AL MARTINIEZ BODY... etc....I hear Larry Huffmans radio announcer voice  saying on the radio in my head, "Sponsered by Al Martinez Body and Paint of Santa Ana.) .

The other image is of some guy, who at the top end of the OCIR drag strip, got the motor in front of the race car.
Eh...It happens :-[

The next few cars/images are favorites of mine from (oops almost used the expression) the DKP II era.
I'm getting sick of the expression "back in the day" that's become popular recerntly.
When I hear it used, I automatically think of the 1850's California gold rush days, you know.." (Walter Brennan, weather hardened, little old man voice saying in my minds ear " you know sonny, back in the day we used to hike 10 miles in waist high snow to get to....). (For our Euro friends...that expression is an American baby boomers thing. You had to watch a ton of syndicated TV show reruns from the 50's or have a father who liked to exaggerate a point.)
If you don't know who Walter Brennan is shame on you. Google it!

VERY COOL!!!

Goss and I were talking last night. He told me to look up an old episode of Top Gear to check out an episode his Chop Top was in when Keith Seume owned it.
He asked me if I noticed that people (those biased toward american muscle cars, euro rods, guys on TV shows doing topics on cars etc) kind of refer down to VW's , Hot VW's, people that like VW's in a rather disparaging superior manor. The guy on Top Gear kind of gave the impression that fast VW's were kind of like petulant children playing where they weren't supposed to.
My response was, yes, ever since I owned my first dual carb'd car.
We agreed that they hate us out of power to weight ratio jealousy and of course the rear engine weight bias advantage.

Mean Machine

A really nice Spliit belonging to Rick Goodin a guy that hung around DKP II

Ron Griner a DKP II member in his 1969? VW . Nice motor with 48 Weber
I think he currently works at SCAT Truhaft. If not let me know.
Any other pertanent information please advise.

mike ,, ron worked at the buena park auto haus  no???

and thx for those cool picture ,

fabs

Do you mean where is my car now?

GOSS says yes, Auto Haus stores around Orange County. Shoot Goss a message to post about some of these details. He has a remarkably sharp recall for much of this detail.

Send Goss a note about your question about Ron Griner or other info. He has remarkably good recall about detail from this period.
As for your question regarding Ron's employment at Auto Haus the answer is yes. He worked at a number of Orange County Auto Haus locations, this according to Mr. Goss.

De Nada Fred

mike have you received my mail??

mark here're the one with Ron  greiner ;)

fabs the search engine  ;D ;D

 ;)

Two images of one of my favorite beaters. This vert was a ratty 1963 steamy windowed in the rain that would occasionally splash me through the floorpan, rust bucket.
This car was a real chick magnet. Had to beat'em off, they all wanted a ride with me...Not!
Actually when I got done with the motor and trans it ran great, 6 volt system and all. Bought it for $300 drove it a year and sold it for $1200. Not bad.

The third image was Mike Dumphey's oval window parked at the Auto Haus in Orange. I shot this picture through the window of the store because there was a rain storm and the car was parked at the far corner of the parking lot.

Ron Griener worked at a couple of different AHs finishing up at the Orange AH.

He currently owns Profromance in Orange.

He's on The Lounge but he only pops in from time to time.

 ;D ;D  mark  my archives are tidied up to be quickly found  ;D

My GENE BERG 5 Speed after I built it but prior to mounting the Crown axels with the chrome axle tubes.
Gear ratios...ring and pinion 4:37, First Gear 3.78, Second 2.08 Third 1.58, Fourth 1.21 Fifth 0.89. It really liked freeways.
Hey Diedereck(67-indeed/DVK), note the aircraft fitting at the top and back of the housing plate that serpates the stock gear housing from the Berg 5th gear housing/nose cone. That's where the 4th hose to the crank case breather box ran from.

Front axle beams

NEW IMAGE TO BE ADDED

A shot through the rear window.

Rear shot before, actually well before motor installation. Note I put in a new through out bearing (I spared no expense)

Jere Alhadeff roving ace journalist and photographer on the Cal Look Hot VW scene stopped by for a visit and some photos after a day at work.

Notice that roll of fabric standing up against the wall in the left background. That is a roll of mohair fabric that Brad of "Brads Interiors" was going
to install as part of the new interior installation.

Look at that hair...yea but on closer inspection its apparent the tide is beginning to recede.

See that picture frame hanging on the wall in the background? It's actually one of the photo's posted earlier in this thread.  

No Comment Necessary....Agree?

A fisheye shot through the right window.
I want to make sure that I mention that all of these high quality images were taken by Jere Alhadeff of Jere Alhadeff Photography

Some images of the car as it was getting close to Bug In 25. Last minute touches before towing the car back to FAT for the motor installation.

Great pics Mike!

I remember when that car hit the magazine, that is one beautiful car, when I saw it, I drooled. Talk about a perfect car. Maybe I missed it Mike, but what ever happen to that car? Where is it today??

Ted

Thanks for sharing your pics. To this day, I can still remember seeing your car at the Bug In. It definitely deserved the title. I can also remember people asking why you didn't polish your alloys ,but in my opinion it looked better the way you presented them. Yes, where is this car today??

Ted,
The car is MIA I have no idea. The last time I saw it was about 1988. Wish I never sold it but I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise.

[quote author=WCB الكالسيوم نظرة العرب المسافرون link=topic=18386.msg262984#msg262984 date=1336370719]
Thanks for sharing your pics. To this day, I can still remember seeing your car at the Bug In. It definitely deserved the title. I can also remember people asking why you didn't polish your alloys ,but in my opinion it looked better the way you presented them. Yes, where is this car today??
[/quote]

I actually paid to have the wheels restored to their original finish as they came from the factory. Had the caps painted to match the Porsche logo.
The car has vanished. It's unbelievable really, considering the notoriety of the car.

BUG IN 25 PROGRAM

Simply beautiful, Mike....

Long time no see. Hope all is well!

Keith

Super thread!

What did you do for turn signals at the front?

It was the thing I liked least about the dash setup. If you look closely above the tach and speedo you might make out the little green lights. Left blinker green light is centered above speedo and same above the tach. Worked fine but against by the VDO gauges, IMO the lights looked a bit cheesy.

Ron works for Scat,Dave greiner owns Proformance in orange :)

cheers richie

Beautiful car...!  Just curious, but were the one piece windows by San Bernadino Glass?  They look to be similar to ones I've seen by them.

Thanks Keith, appreciate the sentiments. Hope all is well for you too.
Remember, I get first right of refusal on my old club jacket. What was I thinking? ???

I really don't remember whose glass kit it was but I do remember what a pain in the ass it was to get the windows to roll up and down in a stock-like manner. They wiggled, waggled, rattled and cocked. Took a lot more work get them somewhat tight and to roll up and down properly than it did to get them mounted in the doors. Somebody wasn't thinking when they designed them and I was already committed when I realized i wasn't thinking by installing them but there was no going back. They did look good though.

DOH!!! I got my Greiners mixed up.

Damn, that sounds painful! Did you tell the doctor? :D

I'm in the ER right now and surfing the web from my smart phone!  ;D

I sure do dude  :)

Its out there, Somewhere  ;) :)

it seems that the most commonly told story is that is has either been shipped to the land of the rising sun or that it has been crashed...

i do however have to admit that Jere's photos with the fish bowl lens made it look even better than it probably already did. love those shots!

My opinion and also the opinion of Rich Kimball and I must admit he's seems pretty convinced himself is that the kid he sold it to, the one who came by my house in the late 80's to see if I could fix it ,crashed the car in the Riverside/San Bernardino area of So. Cal.
The car does't exist anymore. Otherwise, at the very least, parts from the car pedigree'd back to my build  would have surfaced by now if not long ago. Anybody who's in the know would've eventually located bits and pieces. It was probably totaled out by an insurance company which payed the kid and it became part of junkyard heaven.
There are lots of guys that do business with Japan. If it were in a collection over there it seems to me we may have heard about it by now.
Who knows? The only positive I can take away from this is that the car will most likely be linked to my build until folks begin to forget about it. Amazingly to me is that this hasn't happened yet in 31 years.
One day I may post how, just by chance, I found out about the Lounge thru a DKP III member who I believe was once a DKP I member .  He used to come by FAT quite a bit which is how we met.
His current ride a 67 of course, at first glance looks very much like mine and it always illicit's a double take from me.
Those are my thoughts as of now and are subject to change based on more conclusive information.
If anyone wants to share any leads i'd be most interested and enthusiastic. Time for bed.
Best wishes to all,
Thanks,
 Mike

not sure  mike , look at fenchy ghia who went to japan too and DKK lisa same stuuf their cars went to japan  and were well know in socal in the late 70's early 80's , and we never heard something about them  , only lisa  know that is car still exist in japan  and there's a picture of frenchy ghia repainted  , so who knows for yours ???

   Mike

   When we spoke at the Host hotel for the Bug In a few weeks ago see if you can locate the VIN# of the car if somehow you may have one of the old registration and see if you can run the VIN's and see where it may be you never know until you try. Take care
 
    Frenchy

Frenchy,
The likelihood of me having old vin# in zero to none.

We tried this before, Come on Mike you MUST find that VIN#  ;) ;D

   Mike I will give the personalized plate to a friend and see how far back he can go and see if we can get a VIN with that plate.


   Frenchy

Perhaps your insurance company does?  Also, I was under the impression that law enforcement has access to old DMV records.
I recall news stories of theft recoveries decades after the theft.

I changed insurance companies
25 years ago.
I'm amazed by the number of things I've actually found thus far.

Gotta find a friendly friend in law that can possibly track down what I sent you earlier.

These references to the car being in Japan makes me imagine Mister Miyagi telling Daniel-san "wax on wax off Daniel-san, wax on wax off". And then Mr. Miyagi giving the car away to Daniel-san as a gift.
Mister Miyagi Give it to Me, Give to Me !!!

Seriously though, I'd love to know the car still exists. Truthfully, who more than I would like to find it? I literally dream about the car a dozen times a year.
I'll be going through some old boxes and whatnot that have been in storage for decades. Perhaps something will turn up then, which of course could be wonderful. :)
Now Daniel-san show me sand the floor! (Perseverance right?)

Speaking of old documents, one thing some of my friends on the Lounge may be interested in seeing is a few of pages of records related to The DELUX I come across last evening.
I'll be imaging and uploading those when at the first opportunity.

   Mike funny I have all of the receipt when I did my Ghia which all the parts were bought at Don Ross Volkswagen 4 J Motors Lakewood Motors and a few others some from Auto Haus, Gene Berg Ent,Scatt,and a few others. Back in the days there was no Wolfsburg,West Coast Metric, for all the rubbers you needed  the dealers had them.

   Frenchy

Frenchy,
I am amazed at what I'm finding considering my record keeping is not that hot.
Two marriages, four houses, rampaging kids don't help in the quest for solid record keeping, tool retention, library organization, you name it. My life has not been my own for 30 years. That's a good thing....,right? That's what I keep telling my shrink  ;D

   Mike

    You could call Rich and ask him if perhaps if he has records or the VIN # on your car. I remember when Rich had your car in his garage.

   Frenchy

(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t318/Photokernow/IMG_1644.jpg)
 ;D ;D

Too Funny, too funny! What a coincidence that you'd have this image. LOL   ;D

Some friends had the plate made up and stuck it on my car last year! ;D

 ;D that would not happen to be Mr Lewis by any chance  ;D

With the help of my new friend Fabian aka Speedwell, the master archivist, I have additional images (of which he has more than I) of The Delux to share with my friends and admirer's
Thanks Fabian

This is the Front cover of VW Porsche Magazine.
Images compliments of Jere Alhadeff.

This image has as a backdrop what used to be city buildings of the city of Brea behind the parking lot at the Brea Mall in Brea Ca.
The image back ground would most likely interest residents of Orange County at the time. Some local knowledge for anyone interested, California was initially settled by the Spaniards and then later the Mexicans. Brea is the Spanish word for tar. Lots of oil rigs and the like located in Brea back then, actually most all of Orange County that's how OC got its name. However as urban sprawl began real estate prices made it impossible for the growers to resist the prices offered for their land and the orange groves slowly disappeared and were replaced by asphalt and tract housing and then of course the ever growing traffic that have the dubious distinction of being famous for.  Also less areas for street racing ( I know not a good thing but who hasn't done it a t some point) and more importantly race tracks. Lyons, Long Beach, Ontario,OCIR.

One of the members on the Lounge says it best...His happiness increases as his fossil fuel consumption increases or something to that affect.
I hear ya man and I tend to agree, even at these ridiculously manipulated prices. Lets drill for our own on our own land etc. Any takers??

Rear Shot of the DELUX

A nice shot of the undercarriage motor to transmission. Look closely, only a handful of guys that I am aware of did this back then, I put early bus swing axel snubbers to help reduce oversquat under hard out of the hole launches. I built the car with the intent of it being a daily driver so I  didn't want the car to ride too stiff with bigger torsion bars. The snubbers did what they were supposed to do most all the time.

Nice shot of the left 48IDA Weber. New Carberator on an original magnesium alloy EMPI manifold courtesy of Mr. Ron Fleming. The manifolds were a gift as well as his port and polish job on my heads. Found out from Roger Grago the other day that Ron asked Brad of Brads Interiors to do my interior work on my car despite the fact that Brad stopped working on cars in favor of boats.
Thanks Ron and Roger nad anyone else who helped me along the way.

Another shot of the car form an interesting angle.
How do you all like it?

Undercarriage Shot at BUG IN 25.
Shows some nice detail.

The best color shot of the engine compartment.
Notice the gold anodized firewall application. Looks easier than it was to fit it properly. It I think was worth the effort. I'd probably do it again given the right circumstances.

This is a shot form the cover of VW Trends magazine. Photo was taken by Jere Alhadeff Circa 1981.
I MISS THIS CAR as some of you can well imagine. I lived and breathed it for over 2 years and still can't believe I finished it so relatively quickly.
Working for my bosses Ron Fleming, Greg Aronson and Mark Thurber at FAT Performance who were my good supporters and then friends plus the help from DKP members, friends and associates like Roger Grago and Keith Goss to name a couple and then the support of many many others helped me make this dream become reality.
Thank you to everybody!

Two of my very, very close friends from DKPII.
On the left Mr. Roger Grago and on the right Mr. Bill Rogers.
Roger and Bill shared a very nice bungalow style duplex on the Balboa peninsula near the water in the Newport Beach area of Orange County.
To say they were in the middle of all the action would be a gross understatement.
They lived the dream for quite some time. And of course the unit had and adjoining 2 car garage that Roger made into a one Porsche garage.
Very typical for Roger, afterall a guy who paints his Porsche the color of an eggplant and calls it aubergine (the actual name for the color) deserves more garage space.
Its like gravity you know its there and therefore one behaves accordingly.

Great pics Mike!

Mike, looking at these photos of your awesome car, like we talked about at the Bug-in, this would be a very expensive car to replace today, using those same parts and attention to detail. So, if you get the "Bug" be prepared to spend some serious $$$$. After all these years, expect some sticker shock.

I do tend to get carried away.
If it ever happens again though, first rights are yours.   :)

   Mike

   I am still looking into your car. Also if you build another Cal Looker what size engine are you looking to build. Let me know.

   Thanks
 Frenchy

From first hand experience, it is very hard to go back to the old school, when there are sooo many cool parts now available. For example. You will pay $500 for a pair of Empi globe manifolds, but they are not good for porting and welding... But on the other hand, try and find a mint German case today, and those Porsche B brakes... And, and...

You're in my head. I'm thinking about just those things.

More old school rants... Becker Paint in 1973 was $350 complete, inside and out, dechrome, etc. for urethane. Complete Brad's interior in 1974 was about $500 with trunk done. I had about $2500 in my '67 in the day, sold it with a stock engine for $1800 in February, 1975. Last week, I spent $250 for a small bag of 8mm stainless 12-point nuts. We are all crazy.

Okay, you convinced me. 1967 Chevrolet Nova. No more 4 bangers!
What da ya think?? Its close to the right color.
Just Kidding. Who wants to trade one craziness for another?

Side View Shot in the back 40 acres of the parking lot at the Brea Mall n Brea, California.

A different rear shot

3/4 Front Shot with fisheye lens.
Becker's Bug House Really did do a fabulous job on the paint and bodywork.

Black and White Shot of Interior through the Fisheye Lens

Front and Rear Axel Assemblies

Mike - read your personal messages NOW!!!!

Come on, quicker than that. Reference your message to me... ;)

Keith I got my smart phone in one hand and this computer in the other. Got the bid down and hope all goes well.
Thanks again for the tip.
Oh yea, do you know the name of the that mag Roger's car will be in and the release date.
PS Keep you eyes peeled, am going to be listing some runs from our racing friend. I'll advise when to search for them.
Mike

It's in Classic Porsche, issue #11. Should be in Barnes & Noble now...  :)

And I thank you.

And I interviewed Roger for a small piece in Excellence Magazine - next months issue.  :)

You also paid $4 per gallon of gas last week ye old geezer.  :P  ;)

What you need to do is restore an early 911 and then go back to VW's. It really puts costs in perspective..trust me!  :)

so nice-cool photos!!!

   Mike

   Once you figure out what size engine you are looking to build let me know. You buy all the parts and take care of the machining and if you want I will build the engine for FREE unless you can find someone cheaper LOL!!!


   Frenchy

Well..., since you asked. If we could reverse the build process, you buy, I build, I could be rolling in a month and it would be much, much cheaper....for me ;D hehehehe

Is this the start of "Lets build Mike a new car" thread?

If so I'll start off with a pair of B rears, you'll need shoes & cyl's.

Phil,
No question that this is something I would very much like to do. At this moment I am short of making an absolute commitment to doing so and you working with me for many years knows that I don't make committments lightly. I know you know and other friends on the forum have made it abudantly clear to me that this is no insignificant undertaking (not that it was in the past) considering the financial expenditure as well as the time and labor necessary to do a good job.
At any rate I accept your offer of the B model drums and will take possesion, with your blessing of course, once the commitment is made to go forward with the project.
Thank you for the generous donation.
Kindest regards,
Mike

Mike,
       I understand where you're coming from, trying to duplicate your 67 under current circumstances would be agony. Perhaps after considering the time, money
and effort, buying a "finished" car and changing it to suit your taste may be an alternative. At least that has worked for me. The mods have been minor and at my leisure,
not overwhelming projects that consume me and my monies.  Maybe I'm getting old, but sometimes I just want to sit on the porch and watch the world go by.

OK, I lied. Sometimes I just want to hit the shift light and watch the world go by  :D

At any rate, please yourself first. And keep those great stories coming  ;D

Phil

Agony? Financial agony perhaps but I've found a car, it's begging to be torn down, haven't bought it yet though got some details to work through. But if all goes well perhaps the Delux will roll again. I did it at 23 perhaps I can do it at 50 hmhm.
Anybody have any constructive thoughts or ideas?

Rather than a straight reproduction, was there anything that you weren't totally happy with last time round? Anything you'd do differently now? I love the car but there's always something on everything I do that I'm not 100% sure on! :D

I wasn't satisfied with the way the brakes worked. The fronts locked before the rear's. I installed a new master cylinder but came to the conclusion that it needed a proportioning valve.  I talked with some guys who had a similar set up like mine who found that an earlier style single stage master cylinder worked better for them.
Also despite the dog house late model oil cooler and relatively low compression 8.5 to 1, it ran warmer than I would like. I wanted to avoid running oil lines to an external cooler. I ran a power pulley and later thought a stock size pulley would've worked better. So I guess I might add an external cooler in addition to the stock late model cooler, a stock size pulley and perhaps try out the earlier master cylinder or perhaps instead of front karman ghia discs and 356 drums, maybe try disc brakes all the way around. Not sure yet, lots to consider. Oh and naturally more displacement and stronger bottom and top end parts that weren't available then. But those are the things that come to mind.
Thanks for asking.

just wanted add a minor, minute note to your comment on the CR. i'd be led to believe that the CR was too low rather than too high, the overlap of an engle 140 would allow for a little more compression than 8.5:1 would provide... i'd figure that with a higher compression ratio the engine would run more efficiently all together and as a result cooler.

-=something with 2 cents=-

Point noted. It makes sense.
Gas was a bit less consistent and unleaded gas was something of a mystery then and many of us were concerned with excess heat, pre ignition etc etc. At least that's my recall.
Thanks for your input.

great car...great story... keep it commin'

Cheeerz

I want to bump this thread  ;)

Killer thread about a landmark car. finally got the time to go thru every post, what a timepiece and how ahead of its time. These pics are my favorite. Why the scene ever had to evolve from this is beyond me.

I love this thread  ;D

So any more info on this one in the last year???  ;) :)

So any new infomation???

Still a little disapointed we have no more info on this AMAZING car! :/