The Cal-look Lounge

So, let's see your very first VW guys..., the one that got you pointed in the direction of The Cal-look Lounge.  Mine was this '56.  I bought it for $300 in 1964 from the choir director at church.  This car was the test bed for many of my early mechanical experiments..., painting tires with tire black, adding custom "dumped" bell tips to the stock muffler, stealing a nice brass door knob from the elementary school for the heater knob, shortening the shift lever six inches and adding a chrome gear ball (poor mans quick shift, but stiff as hell to operate), you get the idea.  It was also the car I drove to Fullerton Junior College... the one I was driving when I bumped into Pete Dayton, DKP's founder.  I didn't keep the car long..., sold it to the girl down the street.  The trans gave up about a month after the sale... the Porsche diaphram clutch musta' taken it's toll ::) ;D  Sorry about the crap photo...it's been around a while.

My first VW is the '67 I still have today! I bought it from my uncle who bought it from the first owners in 1969 or so. We were hanging out at my uncles house one day in October 1990 and he said he was thinking of selling his beat up old blue bug. I remeber riding around in it when I was pretty young but at he time it had just been sitting in the drive way for a couple years. My cousins and I used to play in it in fact. Anyway, I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said he'd take 50 bucks. Being all of 12 years old, $50 was about all the money I had, but I bought it. My Dad and I went home and got a battery and he told me how to put it in and with a little starting fluid, the old single port fired up. We drove it home and the rest is history. Over the years it's been through a lot of changes, but I still drive it all the time. In fact I've put ver 90k miles on it. I've bought and sold 20 other bugs since then, but I'll always have the old '67.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f315/67bug/077-2.jpg)

Hey Sarge,

Don't have a pic of the first, but one morning my Dad came home from working the graveyard shift and said "get up if you want a car".  I had been reading VW mags for a couple of years and had just got my licence but didn't know what was going to be in the garage when we got there.

1964 Canadian Standard - white and in pretty nice shape as I remember. Being a standard and not having a gas gauge as well as only having an after school job to pay for insurance and gas I think I pushed the car more than I drove it and this is when $5.00 would get you half a tank.

After a while I wanted to start doing some modification, but only having a one car garage there was no space to do the work. That car made it's way down the road to make way for a couple of A1 sciroccos and then back to the beetle.

(http://www.akernel.com/cal_look/56_beetle.jpg)

After a few years I started a complete re build, but alas our weather and some shotty work done by the previous owner - read braised in rusted heater channels help make the decision to build the 54 I have today.

Here's my first car.

heres a shot of me taking my first drive of my first car after a 4 year rebuild (with my younger brother shotgun)  ;D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/firstdriveofnewbug.jpg)
and another of how it looked berfore I sold it  :'(
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/streetvw/streetvw_3.jpg)

My very Firstn VW  is still my current '68.  :D

I buy it in  February 2004 and I'm still working on it since.

And like Sarge, it is my laboratory to learn mechanical. From the brakes to the engine, I learn all on this car.

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/002/548/818/20061111/dyn001_original_640_480_jpeg_2548818_ffa37d18c0a03ce0c0e20cf6bc951d08.jpg)

My first when i lived in florida

Taken from my resto thread ;D

Here's my first, it started life as a Sky Blue 1972 1200 Base Model brought for me by my Dad for my 18th Birthday way back in 1994! and well you guys know the rest  ;) :)

I'll have to get some pictures scanned at some point!

Mine was a bone stock 1968 1300 in pale blue (bad re-spray!) that I got in March 1995 aged 17 - 13 days later I lost it on black ice and hit a grass bank so hard that I bent the beam. Cue one lowered beam! ;) I'll confess that the back did come down for a year or so, but went up when I saw the light! :D During the year that followed my Dad and I welded up some rusty parts, dechromed it, swapped panels to make it look like a US-spec '67, then painted it Vauxhall Glacier White - it was as close to the Aronson car as I could get! Later on it got 5-bolt '66-'67 drums and a set of Empi 5 spokes and then sold to my brother. Couple of years later it got fully restored (pretty much every pannel replaced!) and painted dark red with 912 seats and American Eagle wide 5 fuchs, and I bought it back earlier this year. It needs some more work doing to it - lots of the repro repair panels have rotted out with the car having sat for more years than it has been used for since the rest 10 years ago! :(

My first drag vw beetle:

It's the 68 I still have today, I bought it when I was 16 and start to restore it after driving it 2 month. You know the deal, you spot a little bit of rust on the pan so you decide to fix it, and after one afternoon the car is half-dismantled in your garage !  ;D

here's mine , i've it since 94
she started is live as an 74 deluxe and after I aged it in  66 model  
 still have the car , now waiting for a new bodywork  ::)

My first VW, a 66 de-chromed, looked like Darth Vaders Helmet! Bought in '95

(http://i37.tinypic.com/2uh46r4.png)

Empi-VDM wheel, popouts, Porsche 356 wheels with black centres and silver outer ring, red rear lenses and taper tips! It rocked a 1300cc power house!

here's mine Had it 22 years in feb 8)

This car looks awesome!

(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6569.0;attach=20816;image)

Thank you. You say it each time you see a picture of it  :D :D

anymore pics please?
looks cool!  8)

Just one more on the computer (poor quality), but do have some photos somewhere at home.

It was a fun car. When I had it (it's now in Ireland) my best mate at the time had a white 67 on Sprints, should dig some pics out of the two together and scan them in. Used to rip up the streets of sunny Guildford in them!  :D

I bought it from one of Ivan's mates.

(http://i36.tinypic.com/30nbq5l.jpg)

cool topic Sarge and nice to see the culprit car that got you into this hobby.... I like the exhaust tips. No, really!

My first Volkswagen is the same '67 I have now. It was my first car too. I got it for Christmas in 1986, a very cool present, but needing a lot of work. The LH door was the wrong year, and didn't latch shut (it was roped shut to the seat belt hoop on the tunnel), it had no running boards, some of the electrical didn't work, and the H-case single-port was on its last breath. Even with straight Kendall 40W the pressure light was on at warm idle. The cool little bits were it had a German 009 distributor (then a big problem for smog  ::)) and the stock tailpipes were gutted hollow, so it had a bit of a rumble. I learned the basics about points, valve adjust, oil change and strainer cleaning and other things from John Muir book. In about 5 months, I wanted to replace the engine, and bought an off the shelf 1641 dual port from Bruce @ Bugformance in SJ, put a 32/36 Weber on it, painted the tinware Ford engine blue and bolted up an S&S exhaust to it. It was night and day comapred to the asthmatic 1500 single port. By a year later, I sold the 32/36, went to dual ICT's, then sold those and went single 36mm DRLA, then ripped the motor apart because I was bored, and built my first engine, a 1641 with Engle VZ25, 041 heads, HD springs, solid rocker shafts, swivel feet, etc etc... it ran like a top fueler with the single 2bbl, so I sold that and bought dual 36DRLAs, and it was like a Porsche. Smooth and fast. December 1989 the car was repainted and has that same paint today.
By 1990 I was working at BH and by the fall of that year I had put the first of an endless list of stroker motors in the car. First time drag racing it was at Sacramento, leaving line in 3rd gear, running a blistering 18 sec e.t. 8)
I think the cam companies come up with new cams just because of my OCD thing about changing motors/cams.

here's a really bad picture of the 1641 with 32/36, circa 1987

Thanks Mark. Eventually I will repaint it and fix the little chips, nicks, etc. That exhaust sounded good on that motor, but was damn near impossible to get in or out of any driveway. It was fragile too. I progressed to the 4-tip S & S Rally thing after that, then all kinds of quiet packs, Turbo tucked mufflers, then Flowmaster 2-1/2", then finally the good ol' A1's.

you should hang a sign under your car saying "smile you're on candid camera"

my first Vdub and still in the garage  :D

We had to put Mark in an intense intervention program because of that Monza thing. At least he can talk about it now without going into vomiting convulsions.

Good stuff, Mark and Jim.  I spent WAY too much time and cash at Phil's Muffler in La Habra with the '56..., one bad idea after another ::).  My favorite was the "header system" we came up with that invoved j-tubes for #'s one and three and a cross over for #'s 3 and four.... two pipes on each side that exited under the taillights.  For mufflers, I used stock VW chrome tips.  It was fourth of July weekend and I got stopped at least a half dozen times for excessive noise before being chased into Phil's Tuesday morning by yet another cop.  Ah, youth ;D

 :D :D :D
 ;)

its not my first one ( i did not find any pics yet ) its my second bug. I bought it from an other E11 member back in 1989, added empi 5 spokes and a lowering kit, some more details and the car was done. i drove it many years and sold it to a policemen later in the late 90s  :'(

My first car back in '95.
The second pic is how it is now.

Good one Sarge  ;D
I think I have a shoebox full, somewhere, of Pleasanton P.D. "fix it" tickets for noise.  You name the exhaust, it got me in hot water. Even qp mufflers.
Speaking of that S&S exhaust I had and header shops....  ::)
I remember just after I got the car running with that header, I realized how often I was polishing the alumnim mufflers under there (never mind the oil leaking onto them from the chrome valve covers :D) and engineered this Really Cool Plan to solve the issue. I went to RPM Mufflers, on A Street in Hayward, and had them cut me a 30" long piece of 3" exhaust tubing. I remember going there in my car, just barely old enough to drive, a skinny 16 yr old (with mullet) in a VW asking for 3" exhaust tubing. The guy was one of those rough, growly guys, like always unshaven and always with some stub of a damp cigar clamped in his jaw... he looked at me and my VW and said "what in the HELL are YOU going to do with 3" pipe on that thing?" Anyway, I took it home and slant cut it into two matching sleeves, then slid them over the mufflers and used self tapping screws to hold them on. Oh yeah.... great plan. Let's make a heavy, fragile, too low exhaust system heavier, MORE fragile and lower. I think it lasted a few days before I left a muffler on the freeway somewhere. Probably went through some poor guy's front grille.

Hahahaha....good one, Jim!  After graduating high school, I took a job at Industrial Tools in Pico Rivera (my dad worked there and landed me the job).  It was there that I first laid eyes on a sandblasting cabinet.  I remember this low-rider dude that was always back there blasting stuff, so I got him to show me how it worked.  One day at lunch time, I crawled under the '56 and unsnapped the valve covers for a quick sandblasting.  Funny, I thought to myself..., some of the crud comes right off (paint), but some of it took quite a bit of effort (permatexed ancient gaskets)...WTF?? ???  I snapped the covers back on (much easier then taking them off as there was no more gaskets) after work and headed for home.  It didn't take long for the oil to start burning on the exhaust pipes...., live and learn ;D ::)

Only picture I have on my PC off my first VW.
It was a '67 pickup.  Picture was taken in '99, cars gone, girlfriend stilll here...

Jelle

Love the exhaust in your pic from 1987 Jim ;D

here's the chronology of my '67:

when i bought it (6/2004) was rusty and had flooded several times due to the faulty working sunroof.
the next picture is the moment i first liked the look of it (12/2006).
and the last was taken on the way back from bitburg and resembles how i've been driving round for the last year and a few months. i'm hoping to have a lot of things done to it by next season  ;D

Are those "rostyle" wheels? They look a lot the wheels on an MG my Dad had a while ago.

KPZ sportrad wheels

correct as always fabs ;)

too bad they're steelies, so they gotta go soon ;D

Don't be so fast to lose them, they look real good on that car!

Derek, whay haven't you told us abut your car here? It was your first.... jeez I could fricking tell it for you. WTF's the holdup?

I see it too, Mark. At least we can hallucinate together.

Somehow I knew you'd invoke that line!

I'm serious.

This was my first bug. Bought it from my brother when I was fifteen and had it ready for my eighteen birth day in 89.
Built my first engine to this car, a 1835 with 041 heads and Engle W120. Had 14" splitbus wheels, cut-turn-weld lowering in the front, bucket seats ++
Many cool memories with this car :)

i know an interesting fact about rostyles that the brm guys will like ... ;)

Cool car, Berger..., love those painted brake drums!  In the old days (dark ages), there were no wheel choices, so about the only thing left was painting the drums.  Bright yellow matched the Competition Yellow '55 / '56 / '57 Chevys of the day and became the choice of many.  My car came with some spiffy, slotted aluminum beauty rings which quickly turned to shit after they were scoured with cleanser a few times by some idiot ::) ;D

Great topic! I found some ol' ones stuck together too. I sold my Robinson bmx bikes and parts to buy this 62 before I even had my license. My mom was so cool; she followed me as I drove the thing home! Went through many fazes with this car. Stock motor, 1835 with Webbers. And the stinger! Never will forget the street racing days with the friggin' exhaust leaking, fire spitting stinger. I thought I was soooooo cool back then. What a dildo as I look back. Sold it, had a 60, 65, 66 since and then the latest part II of the beryl 62. Great memories these little cars bring us..huh. Later, Casey.

(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/vishfab/oldshit4.jpg)
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/vishfab/oldshit5.jpg)

Part II
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/vishfab/IMG_4979.jpg)

casey you 've a delorean ??

Thanks Sarge :)
Our first car, and what do we do then..? Paint the drums!! Funny...!! :D

Show us more of it ! :P

 
Funny... My red '68 is also my first and current car and I also bought it in February 2004...  :)

Mhh, seems to be a good karma for this month  ;)

The day I bought it was the 14th... Valentine's day. And the day I got the license plate was April 13, my birthday. And it was only coincidence...  :o
Definitively, this car is part of the family  :)

mark&john, yes they are cut out it. i didn't fabricate them myself, otherwise i would've showed them off in the what parts have you made for your car ?? thread   ;D

i have reason to believe the artist in question was inspired by the rare italian indicators which look only the slightest bit nicer  ;) :D

My 68, got it when I was 16. Learned to drive with it. It was supposed to be my daily driver. Guess that's not gone well... ;D

Mine:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l169/beetlecharles/72%201300%20bug/CIMG3616.jpg)

(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l169/beetlecharles/72%201300%20bug/CIMG3649.jpg)

(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l169/beetlecharles/72%201300%20bug/CIMG3618.jpg)
I've owned it since I was 14 and still have it now approaching 18.

Sadly the bodywork is too bad to bother making a 'looker out of it so i'm sticking with the rallyish theme and building a period 70's 1300 mouse motor for it with Cartune tail pipes, de-baffled stock exhaust, Reece Fish carburettor, ported heads, opened out inlet manifold, Speedwell velocity stack, ratio rockers, possibly an NOS Sig Erson 70's cam and a counterweighted 69mm crank.

Hopefully one day i'll have a nice mid to late 60's looker to sit on the drive with it.  ;)

I really like this car!!! It reminds me of something right out of the THE VW IN MOTOR SPORTS BOOK ;D

me too.... I can picture that car getting put to good use in Carrizo Plain.  8)
Super cool.

Yeah, I've tried to make it look like an authentic late 60's - early 70's UK Rally / hill climb / Autotest car such as the Beetles used by Peter Noad. The extra front fog and spot lamps are from a slightly earlier period but I don't really mind as i think they look pretty good.  ;D


Thanks for the compliments Ratto, Fred and Sheep. I hadn't imagined my car would get such a good reception on the 'lounge being what it is but I've been pleasantly surprised!

Its also kitted out with two mounted fire extinguishers, a quick shift, a Securon harness for the driver, US Spec high back seats etc for safety and ease of use. The front is lowered about 2" with the rear a shade below stock height with a shimmed Z bar swing axle rear suspension set up. There are Magnet Marelli gas shocks on all four corners too with the braking being sorted by a disc conversion up front with fast road pads and all new rear drum set ups. I'm also going to be fitting a hydraulic hand brake over this winter!

With the period engine upgrades in progress and all of the above it makes for quite a fun drive round corners as well as on the straights and I've gained membership to a club so next year i'll be able to make a start in local Clubman/Classic motorsport competing in hill climbs, road rallies, autotests etc.

Oh and the somewhat out of place skate and surf stickers on the rear quarter windows will soon be gone as i'm replacing them with lexan to save some weight!

I've already stripped out the carpets, sound deadening and lots of other rubbish to help the power to weight ratio and moved anything excess to the front of the car to sort the balance and aid handling.

Excellent work! I would love to go for a ride in your car!

Keep us posted as it progresses

Hey, speakin' of progress, how's YOUR car coming along?? ::) ;D

 >:(

don't start on me now....  I'm waiting for a new set of 88's to come from Taiwan for you.

Are they the new slip-in style 88's, Jim?

WTF are you waiting for a set of pistons from taiwan ???

no they are the new slip-outs

Lets get back on topic.. You assholers >:(

alright then....
Let's all hear about your first Volkswagen, was that the first tan '67 we towed home from Tracy? Or was it the '68 from Rob @ BH?
Your red car was like your 3rd VW right?

I only count the red 67, cause its the only one that ever ran ;D

I had a red '66 once. All different shades of primer red...everyone at BH laughed at me when I said I was building a sweep the floor 1915cc engine with a stock crank  8)   sheep probably doesn't remember (talking sh$t  ;D )

It was a 12 sec street engine  ;D but was the second of hundreds of vws that I owned. It was a real piece of sh$t! And only took me 10 years to finish it  8)

(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/429276.jpg)


oh, this is what I started with...



(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/204940.jpg)



tw

Nice car, Tony..., my FAVORITE color ;)

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/smitty59/scan00022.jpg)

Here's the car I had in high school, and then when I moved up to tahoe for college fall 77,
70 bug, zenith carb, s & s header, rivies, blaupunkt 8 track stereo

here it is after being painted before summer of 78.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/smitty59/scan00056-1.jpg)
I had recently been popped for no front plate.

 8) 8) 8)

I remember that motor in Tina's oval.... holy fast, dude.

Thanks Sarge...I can't seem to get away from the color...

My newest 10 year project  ::)



(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/479307.jpg)




tw

I remember Anton Belichek racing that car at Sac.

Here's my first Bug; a '70 factory sunroof car painted Pugoet Tullip Yellow.
 8)

Not my first bug but my second as my first was was written of just after completion by a drunk driver  :'( (its the green one by the way haha)

(http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47/mintbug/P9140091.jpg)

(http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47/mintbug/P9140092.jpg)

Time to sit down and have a few beers, dude... ten years is a long time to be under the same car!  :o ::) ;D




Nice car, Dave 8) 8) 8)


I like that Green! 8) 8) 8)

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I like that Green! 8) 8) 8)



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Cheers Sarge it was ment to be Diamond Green but think the painter got it slightly wrong  :o good job i liked it more when i saw it  :D ;D

This was my first dub that worked ( not counting a few rotten shells )

I am just 17 in these photos

1966 Behamma Blue
1500 Box
1641 - Twin 40s - Blew it up anyway lol
Polished 16" Fuchs

(http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/54oval/_10_0196.jpg)

(http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/54oval/__3_0189.jpg)

(http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/54oval/__4_0190.jpg)

(http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/54oval/_21_0206.jpg)

54caldub.... clean car. You motor reminds me of my old 1641...looked identical (at least when tin was black.... that changed weekly it seemed)
Cool pictures too.
 8)

 ;D

thanks.

Still waiting for kafercup's story. before I tell it and emabarass him.  :)

Looks good !

Come on, tell the story... >:( >:( >:( ;D

My first car was a Porsche India Red '67 with wide 5 porsche copies on it.  It had a black vinyl interor, dechromed body, early front fenders w/ Rossi's, hideaway muffler, etc...I paid $500 for it.  Fortunately for me, I lived close to Small Car Spec., FAT, Gene Berg Ent., and Dave Greiners Proformance.  I put a 1776 w/ Dual 40 Dellortos in it and quickly became noticed at high school.  Man I loved that car!!!!  I used to drive it everywhere. 

do you have a photo to go with your post?  ;)

I own two pictures of my old car.  I need to scan them still.  I'll do it!!!   ;)