The Cal-look Lounge

I think I would be hard pressed to find an event more fun than the first two BERG Cruises I participated in between 1996 and 1997. The first year I took my 67 Cal Looker as a backup car for Donny Bulitta....and I drove the second year as I got tired of being called a trailer queen.

Back then we were working to dispell the long running myth that large motors could not be driven, could not be trusted and were not reliable.  I think Art Thraen, Don and I proved everyone wrong. Art and I had the biggest motors the first year and second year of the cruise. Both of us had 48mm carbs and were averaging over 22-24 mpg. I can still remember firing them up on a brisk, cold morning in Little America, somewhere in Wyoming. What a great time.

What great times with great people.  What are some of your most memorable road trips?

Rick M

Don and I have discussed this in some length but the stories that he wrote about those cruises is what has inspired me to want to drive my car from Florida to the Classic one year. I love the idea of taking a Cal-look car on long road trips. Don't have any good stories yet, but I am sure I will soon.

--louis

Great memories Rick.  Thanks for bringing them back all over again.  I will have to dig out the albums of those two cruises and flip through them again.  So many pictures and so little time...

I still think a VW version of Americruise would be a killer idea. Have four or five "tours" that meet up in some central location. One day maybe.

--louis

Or just participate in the Power Tour or the Americruise.  Rick and I talked about that a while back.  I think that would be pretty cool although I don't know what kind of reception we would get.  At least I had the car out last night.  We cruised to a greasy spoon in Cave Creek and had a great time!

Yeah I have thought about that too for when the '67 is finished. What would be cool is to get 20+ cal-lookers to participate and all park together at the show. I bet that would get some folks attention. We could call ourselves the Lounge Lizards.  ;D

--louis

I think you would get a VERY good reception on the Americruise. My friend and I joined the tail end of it in 04ish and were the talk of the next stop atPosie's street rod shop. In fact when Posie saw us roll in he moved two reserved signs and had us back our lookers in right next to his cars! I even saw him take Roy Brizio over and show him our VW's. That was one of my most memorable runs. LikeLouis said you two inspired me to REALLY drive my car. Thankyou for that.

Hey Mike you sure it was Posie hisself?  He doesn't have a rep as being that nice a guy around here.  Must have caught him on a bad day!

The trip to Phoenix Bug o Rama 1990...  the whole story is here:

http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,2784.0.html

I met you and Don at VWOA in Michigan on that trip.
Fun Times.
 ;D

My best vw road trip was in the summer of 2001. Myself, Fritter ( Mike Fritz ) and another friend of ours left the Chicago area headed for the classic. Some people said we were nuts, 3 guys and 3 old vw's. That was the great part, you had the time to yourself and yet we all talked on two way radios and at fuel stops. I was able to see parts of the country I had never seen. We were all very excited to get to socal, so the trip out went very fast. The drive left Illnois and headed out 80 west through Denver down to Vegas and on to LA. We took in all the activites the VW world had to offer that classic weekend. The way back I broke down in Needles CA, spun the splines out of a rear drum. We even had fun while being down. The return took us through Az, Nm, Tx, Ok and back home to Illinois. Yeah, it's true, there were times we thought we would have to dig a hole in the Desert and leave someone behind, but we got over it. We logged around 5000 miles and had NO engine problems, dual carbs and stroker motors can make the drive!


Someday I hope to re-create that two weeks........................someday

It was definetly him. He even tracked me down at lunch to tell me about a split that he kept an eye on for years. I am telling you he is a closet cal-look lover!

I think we need to have a mid states Cal Look Re-Union somewhere near the Americruise and all do a leg of it together.  Heck, I will have my 66 Chop and cruiser motor ready this spring....85.5x84 motor with dual carbs, heater boxes and road ready.  Anyone up for it?

Attached is another shot of my car on the BERG Cruise in 1997 with my wife and Dee Berg driving my car. I was in Art Thraen's 66 (yes Art the IDA God) and was taking a picture of my car going down the road.  Everyone told me it had the drag car stance.  It looked fast setting still.

Rick M

It would be really cool, but it looks like they canceled Americruise this year. Apparently R&C no longer organizes the cruise. An alternative would be to pick a VW event that is sorta central, say some where in Tejas and meet up there. Not sure I could swing it this year it would depend on the show, but next year I could swing it for sure. I might even have the 2 liter done by then.

If we could pic a show to meet at I would be up for organizing a southeastern group. We could plan out some routes with places to meet up on the way. Nothing too organized though. Nice an low key.

--louis

You mean someone actually read that stuff?  You wouldn't believe how many said we couldn't do it even after seeing it done.  Those trips were great.  If you two became inspired by our endeavors Rick and I are humbled.  Thank you guys.

   Back in 1973/1975  I was working for Steve Tims at the Royal Bugee Haus in Bell Calif and I had told Steve that I wanted to go to the Northwest Bug - In in Kent Washington with a friend. Steve had no problem with me taking time off for the trip. Steve sugested that I should rebuilt the motor in my 56 oval before making the trip. So on Tueday after work I removed the engine from the car and started cleaning parts and ordering parts. Working on the motor Wednesday and Thursday and late on that day the motor was in the car and running. Not a big motor but reliable for the trip 1641 cc engle 120 cam with a pair of 40P11 Solex with tall stacks with a Q P muffler. I drove all the way to Portland in 22 hours straight and I stopped only for fuel and slept in the car at rest areas. The next day we made it to Seattle WA. The best part of the trip was when I pulled up at the raceway on Sunday morning and everyone was looking at the car like the car had a problem,not realizing that no other cars were lowered. People came by and asked me if I had a problem with my front end been so low. Keep in mind that the Cal Look scene wasn't in that area at the time ( July of 1974 and 1975 ). After the show I decided to take the long route home to the coast. I visited the islands in Washington state and took the ferry boat across and found that there was a VW Dealership on one of the island and to my surprise they had new Notchback on their lot for sale I which they were there now. And I made it back home three days later. I think road trips are great if you have a few other friends to cruise with. You can see a picture of the oval in Hot VW December 1975. I also have made a trip to Memphis Tennesse to visit my sister for a day with my 1973 VW .

Thanks
 Frenchy ( Doc Detail )

Chuck it was a great trip!!!  We will do it again some day for sure!!!  And maybe even bring along the guy who was almost left in a shallow grave (if his wife lets him go).

@

Holy crap that was crazy!!!! Im laughing right now thinking that I drove your bug on hwy 1 on acid, hahahahahahaha
Kids dont try this at home,man we were pretty freakin stupid when we were young

/

What about HOT ROD's Power Tour?  I bet that'd get some reactions!