The Cal-look Lounge

I decided to get started once again with my ongoing project: my 86 Mexican bug called El Picaro which will become a Late Looker.
This little mexican bug was my daily driver when I was a student but has been taken of the road some 10 years ago. It became a project back then.
Most of the welding is allready done but some small things needs some more attention.
The rearvalance is allready removable, a new section on the a-post has been crafted in (donor piece from the 1300S i've cut up several years ago  ???), holes have been cut to get easy acces to the carbs...
Next on is getting the wings ready for the basecoat. Only one of the wings is the original one from the car as I decided to get rid of the big rear lights and replace them with smaller units.
The little Mexican will be running on a set of Pedrini's and the chassis wil get its fair share of alternations including type 3 rear brakes, coil over front Spaxx shocks and dropped spindles...
Once ready for paint, the color of choice will be VW Paprika red.

go wim!!  8)

Let el picaro run on fuchs!!!!!!

No way, Perdini's are the only way to go...
Or maybe I should pick the Empi Sprinstars in 4.5 and 5.5 I have laying around...

5.5 Sprint Stars look cool on the back... but if it is IRS you will have to narrow the trailing arms if you want to get a real tire under there, even a 165 on a stock drum will stick out a little bit!! Been there, done that ::) If it is swingaxle, it is easy to just install short axles. The Pedrini's will work great for on either stock IRS or stock long axles... good luck ;)

I have a friend who tried to put 5.5 sprint star on a ghia once, but the wouldn't fit. We were told that EMPI made sprint stars in different offsets, but have never found any.

The 4.5's were made for Ghia's and type 3's, they have a full 4.5" of backspace!! The 5.5's (and everything else) have a measley 3.5" :-\ I think it would be cool to make a 7"... basically take a 5.5" and add 1.5" to the inside :)

cool ride guillermo!
i think paprika red is an awesome colour!! good luck on this one :)

Cool Project, Go Pedrini !!! No Problems.

Nah, don't ruin a great looking car with those ugly pedrini wheels, they won't fit anyway, and they're far too heavy. You do know those are absolutely not cal-look? Put the sprintstars on it, and I'll take those ugly pedrini wheels, so they won't bother you any longer...  ;)

That's what makes The Lounge a great place... Loungers making great sacrifices for other Loungers!  ;D ;D ;D

Haven't been able to do some more work on El Picaro lately.
The things I've done is give my bus some attention in the ride height department, so he's ready for the showseason.

One more week to work and then I've 2.5 months of holiday, so this should give me some time to work on project.

I'll keep you updated.

Greetz

Wim

cool bus! damn i need to find myself one...

As my bug will have some kind of Mexican infuences being a Mexican bug with a Mexican name, DVf'er Timme aka Dr Jeckill made a special rear window for the car. Timme is the man behind the DVF artwork and a lot more... Thanks for the nice work Timme.

I know it's not 100% Cal Look but sometimes we should be able to add a little personality to our rides.

The rear window has the name of my car painted on it with real metal flakes and is shurely has a Mexican influence.

Just check it out yourself.

Now all I need to do is get the car finished so I can put the window in.

Looks like an interesting project, later than most! Are you retaining the bumpers and trim on it?

 :)

Yes I think so but I am not shure yet.

I don't like the look of late style T-bars.

That's my view too, in some ways it presents a challenge in balancing the look but I guess that makes it more interesting from the project perspective, good luck with it. :)

This weekend I did some things to my project.
As I wasn't happy with the way the sparewheelwel was repaired I decided to redo it. So the bad repairs were cut out and some new metal will be crafted in. I know it's sounds crazy to start over again as the car was almost ready for paint, but I wanted it to be right so this project would stand the test of time for a long time to come.
Well I was busy with the welder, I started to point of no return and welded up some holes for the trim in. No way back, dechroming has begun... Just hope I don't regret it...

Dechroming... yeahh!!! 8) go Wim!

Hey Wim, you can do my car later :)

hey wim -- i can always provide you some chrome vinyl strips  ;)

no way you will regret that...   8)  and holes are drilled more easy then weld up a painted car...  GO FOR IT!

I made some more progress today, I know it's not a lot but it keeps me motivated to keep on going.
As I wasn't happy with the finish of the new panel where the washerbottle is located, I decided to cut it out and made something different.
The new panel, which was made from scratch will house, the brakefluid bottles and maybe the fuel pump.