The Cal-look Lounge

Here's an old photograph I found whilst looking through some files on my computer. It was taken after the VolksWorld Show and includes Pal Rui's Split on the BRMs he aged by burying them in his garden over winter! My '67 on orginal DDS pie pans, my old low light Ghia on Empi Sprints (I don't know why I ever sold the Ghia, the DDS or the Sprints?), then we've got Paul Turner's Zenith blue US Spec '67 on Sprints, A UK spec '67 on Fuchs and Rikki Ryatt black 'US spec '67. Brings back a few memories for me.

I thought the car with the rutabega BRMS was a little strange. Trying to force an aged look on a Cal Look car?    ???

It is a super cool car Jim - a little bit different as well, which can only be a good thing.

Pete Roberts has this picture on his workshop wall, I love it, a great selection of cars.

its Paul rui's car I think its an orginal set of BRM wheels

Strange in positive way, after 10 years that is still one of the coolest cars that I know..

They are OG magnesium Berms. They lived underground for a whole winter in Norway. 

well call me a freak, or whatever, but I think BRMs should glisten and sparkle like diamonds.  ;D

cool picture and all cool cars

You would have to see the car Jim. The whole thing looks like someone stuck a early cal-looker in a barn and left it there for 30 years. There was a pic in Volksworld and the car is way cool.

--louis

I remember that article , it takes a brave man to bury a set of old BRM's to get the look he wants . wish I could find a set of them while digging about in my back garden  ::)

yeah I have the article. I don't get it.

Pal wanted to make the car look like an old 'barnfind' California Looker - when he bought the car it was a basically show condition Split Window. He then rubbed the fresh shiny paint out and did all he could to age everything. He virtually got arrested for stealing salt water in a bucket and throwing back the water he didn't need. The police didn't understand that a grown man would be taking sea water to rub on magnesium wheels to age them.

Don't you just love the wonderful world of VWs?

I think the salt water story relates to causing rust on his Barndoor Porsche race support Bus. As if that makes it any less crazy! :D

 :o :o :o
 ::) ::)
 :D

so they do had ratlooks back in the days :P

Hi Ivan, do you have more pictures of all these nice cars ???

I saw his barn twice (bugshow and volksworld-show) its the most crazy bus I ever seen the splitwindow was featured in magazine but the bus??? who got pictures please

The 67 is currently in the SAS VW club, still looks immaculate to this day and will have a 2276 "John Walklett" built motor with my old wedgeports and 48`s for 2008, ready for Big Bang 2008 (UK)!! sweet looker.

Poe ;)

what happened to the green and the black 67 at the end?
they were from west drayton area apparently...??

I've got a few of them heres a taster
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/line.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/line23.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/ivan67c.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/Pauls67.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/PMWRR.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/PMWRRrear.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/line5.jpg)

Pål´s split beetle is a great car with amazing attention to detail. But it´s not for everyone. I think the salt-water story is getting out of hand, I´ve heard a good number of versions over the years...  :D
I think one of the really cool things about OG BRM´s is that the magnesium oxidize easily, giving them a finish that sets them apart from repro alu wheels. The car (and wheels) where at EBI this year where it picked up the "Pure Cal-look" award. Firestone slicks at the back. To me, that is one of the coolest combos ever.

I saw it there and in the magazine, it looks like a aged(used) car...
It s just looks perfect.

I not a fan of those shiny new restored(unused) cars.

My 2 cents

Kind Regards Edgar

EDIT: There is also the red  Belgian Beetle on aged BRM s and with Fat Bisquit interior, that one is also looking very good in my eyes.

Cheers Poe  ;D

The split...

(http://i2.tinypic.com/86t98pi.jpg)

The "other" split...

(http://i6.tinypic.com/8a37ew6.jpg)

More.. Bug Run 1998, 2000..

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/1998_BugRun_34.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/1998_BugRun_35.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2000_BugRun_50.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2000_BugRun_47.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2000_BugRun_48.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2000_BugRun_49.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2000_BugRun_59.jpg)

Bug Run 2001..

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2001_BugRun_23.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2001_BugRun_22.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2001_BugRun_21.jpg)

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2001_BugRun_00b.jpg)

cool photos, that's the time when I got into the cal look stuff. pics like that were a huge inspiration to me. damn, those DDS pie pans look awesome, what a shame that I sold my '60 with Ercos.  :-\

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

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/r6752.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/brenieoval6.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/brenieoval5.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/brenieoval8.jpg)

Bernies Oval has to be one of the most hardcore cal look bugs ever built IMHO

the green one was for sale on the volkszone forums fairly recently, still looking awesome! I have the Volksworld right up on the car and the car is very well detailed.

the green 67 was a very nice car infact it won best cal look at the volksworld show that year, the guys name was Mike but his surname escapes me at the moment

all this got me looking through my old photos anyone in the uk know what happened to the car this was built for?

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

I remember the engine and box been built at John Mahers the guy spared no expence and then just dissappeared I think he was from Bolton or Bury, I never saw the shell but I heard it was really clean? 

I can't see the photos - stupid school firewall blocks stuff for teachers as well as kids! - but I assume you mean the floorpan that JMR had at Volksworld in 1997 or so. I heard that it was John's personal project, based on a brand new Mexican pan, porsche brakes, IRS etc. Berg five in an Autocraft case.

no it belonged to one of John's customers you'll have to wait until you can see it, the pan you are on about was on display the second time me and my brother helped John out on his stand at the show as far as I can remember that just had a dummy engine setup displaying what John had planned I don't now if he ever finished it I know he had a new Mexican shell for that it was going to be more German look than cal look and he was planning on driving it to Germany and taking it on the Autobahn to see if he could get it to go 150MPH and then drive it home, but I don't know if that Idea went out the window when he moved to the Isle of Harris

Kind Regards Edgar

EDIT: There is also the red  Belgian Beetle on aged BRM s and with Fat Bisquit interior, that one is also looking very good in my eyes.

[/quote]

Thanks Eddie

It's strange to see how different us Cal-look enthusiasts responds to a car (Paul Ruis in this case). A flat paint job and dull real BRM's, who would like to drive around in a barnfind? Let alone BUILD one.

To explain why this car is generally liked in Europe, but looks strange in the US i think we have to look at the difference between the two sides of the Atlantic.
For us far away from America and the Cal-look history, the HISTORY really is a HUGE part of this, we really dig to find old magazines and newer before seen pictures to better grasp the mindset of the first builders. The Cal-look history is exotic to us, not just old. As is America as a whole. Any of us would love to travel back in time and BE there where the history was made. But we can't so the next best thing is to get you hands on the old magazines, the old correct parts or better still a PRESERVED Cal-looker.

This is where Paul's split comes into play, we CANT find Old American cal-lookers stashed away in Norway/Europe, but WHAT IF?
Paul Rui is a visionary and dare I say Artist when it comes to building cars. A real performance artist. There is never just a car, there is a story and a history to go with it.
I remember stumbling over this dull split at a Norwegian show in the mid ninety's, it looked so out of place and intriguing, where was this car imported from? and who had built it back in the day?, you could almost smell the hay form the barn it was pulled out of. And on the passenger seat lay some paperwork from back in the day, one of the papers looked like a letter written on EMPI stationary, where some past owner of the car I was looking was invited to display his car along Inch Pincher Too in some show!?!
WOW this car had really had been in the center of attention at some time in the distant past, probably when it still was in the states. Later that evening i got to talk with a couple of guys over that car, and since then they have become good friends of mine, namely BABOON (Vegard) and Folkevogn (Folke). I remember us getting all worked up over the letter from Vittone and how cool it was with a real Cal-looker at a Norwegian show. That evening is one of my fondest memories, us three under the starry night sky talking all things cal-look and going over the finer details of the cal-look history with the names, the parts and the years. All spurred on by this one car.

The next day reality caught up with us, we found out the letter was a fake, and that the car was just a fantastic realization of our dreams. I remember feeling a little disappointed at first, but after giving it some thought I came to love the idea Paul executed here.

WHY not build a dream... I think his way of thinking is quite different, and it gives us the onlookers inspiration and dreams.
Unfortunately the "real" history is hard to keep from the public and this overclouds the product I feel.

I think Ruis way of thinking has rubbed of on most of us Norwegian enthusiasts, most anyone in Norway wants to build cars that "fit" into a era. It also thought us that not everything has to be perfect to be cool, and not everything should be like it was when new.
Just look at how Ole Endler keeps Pink Panther...  an example to follow, history is good.... lets keep it like it is.

But when it comes to Ruis car, its not just a looker....

Sorry for rambling... :P

Good ramble! I like the way Paul goes about stuff, his approach makes the end result entertaining. I remember him saying about someone who had been talking to him about the bus and they had said it was such a shame it didn't still have the other door with the original sign writing on. He then came up with another idea of sticking glass doors on an original 356 to make everyone think it's a replica. Wasn't the bus originally a Porsche team transporter for both Le Mans and the Tour De France?

 ;D

same here the first time i saw the porsche team barndoor i was tinking that one was from a real porsche team in the days
here's some picture i took at spa bug show some years ago awesome bus  8) 8)

Jon, you hit the nail right on the head! A very good explanation!

Paul's latest resto... Only one word: Amazing! :o
(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t318/Photokernow/Sepia356v2.jpg)

gmund coupe  8) 50 /51 ???

have any of you DAS boys got any shots of all the cal look cars lined up at the front of sandown park? I can't find any of mine  ::)

Whoa...that 356 is stunning!

I remember seeing Rui's brown aged car in Volksworld and I thought it was a totally cool car.  I don't have a patina cal look Bug (just my Buddy Hale painted '65 for sale on oldbug.com), but I do have a rust free '68 911 that has some original patina on it. 

I would not carry patina as far as Rui did, but I do prefer a car with a little patina and history (character I guess?) to a pristinely restored car.

do you have a photo of rui's ride perhaps?
such porsches look sweet!

Diederick, Rui's brown split and his green 356 are in this thread, look through it again.   :)

I have missed this thread for a while but I have to say that Paul rui's car has to be my favourite "modern built" Cal Looker - I love the idea of it being a "barn find" Looker from back in the day - I saw it up close at camberg and it was just as good as I always thought it would be, I just love the way i get used and abused  ;) :)

Also Ivan I think you 67 looks F$&KIN AWSOME on the Pie Pans - get some more dude  ;) :)

Yes Ivan your car kicks ass, of course I am partial to the color (same as my '65, pearl white L87?).  Original BRM's or DDS...you can't go wrong.  I have to admit I do like the mag BRM's with some patina on them better, but probably not to the point of burying them in the garden.  :D

heres one of Paul Rui's split next to Riki Riat's (spelling?) US 67

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/r6752.jpg)

Oh and heres one of Riki's motor

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

I was at that Volksworld Show setting up a friends sales booth (please don't ask for his name...), when Paul Rui was bringing in his split. There weren't much cars inside the building then, first thing I noticed was the sound of straight cuts and a stinger. It doesn't took long someone told me the story about the buried BRM's... It's been something different back then and still is today. What I like most about the car is that it's still in the same condition, more than ten years later. How many cars changed the look/style over the years?


That's easy, I just can't afford a proper paintjob... ::) ;D :D

Saludos,
Ole

Hi
Could you told me in which issue I can find an articla about Bernie's car ???

I think your best asking Speedwell that one he know what was featured were and when  ;)

Bernie's oval featured in Volksworld September 1997  ;)

lofty do it for me  ;D ;D

you must be loosing your edge speedwell  :o ;) ;D

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

I had a pile of Volksworld's next to me and that one just happened to be near the top  ;)

Cool interior!

I'm sure, and hope Pål won't mind me posting this picture he sent me a while back, anyone who likes art will love this!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v191/Jules.r/Pl_Rui_pic.jpg)

That would be worth framing.

--louis

Great car, but why does Bernie have Der Kleiner Panzers decals in the windows !?!
 ???

This 'car' still looks just the same, still not got a body on it! he's been a good friend of mine for years. good strong motor, lots of nice parts.

This just underlines my rambling on Pål's car building, who commissions a oil painting of their car?
And there are one or two hidden "opinions" in the painting too...  can anyone spot them?

nice painting/drawing
and welcome to the lounge julian
rgd
fabian/speedwell

Hi Jules
welcome to the lounge
and yes this must be the coolest state of the art postcard on this globe
thanks for sharing
have fun

Gunter