The Cal-look Lounge

One of the highlights of my life has been being able to attend some of the earliest BUG-Ins at OCIR.  In 1966 we moved from RIVERSIDE to northern California. I was not as close to what was going on but still saw the evolution of EMPI/Econo Motors and later was able to drive down and attend the early BUG-Ins. I took a lot of shots and I am just now pulling some of them out to share.

Here are the first of a few well known early drag cars, some of which are now in England and Europe. Hope you enjoy them.

Rick Mortensen

Here are a couple more you will all recognize.  It is the dualing FIATS.  In the picture are three guys in yellow shirts.  The first one on the left is none other than a young Lloyd Moshier.  Rich Stanchfield, another early VW racer, is up in the far left corner. 

The second shot is one of the old LITTLE GIANT KILLER fiat and the TUFF-E-NUFF chop top sedan.

Rick Mortensen

Here is one of my rare shots of the early LIGHTNING BUG type 4 powered dragster taken at an early California BUG-In. I have another shot of it with the chopped STUTT BEE that I will dig out and post later.

Rick Mortensen

This is a shot of a car I saw at later BUG-INs.  Many of you old timers in So Cal will remember Mike Mabe's turbo ghia. It was one car that ran as nice as it looked. It always impressed me.  This car was street driven. Look at how hard it would launch.

Rick Mortensen

Here are two very well known early GHIAs facing off at one of the rounds at an early BUG-In.  The famous STEVE TIMS "Mean Machine" ghia and the "California Sting" Ghia.  Both frequented the early BUG-IN events.

Rick Mortensen

Here is a shot few people have seen.  It was from a special presentation I prepared for the Dean Lowry wake at COMPETITION ENGINEERING in TEMPE, Arizona, shortly after Dean Lowry passed away here in Arizona.  It is a memorable shot of Dean and Ken in 1969 when they were running DDS, pictured at an event with the famous Deano Dyno Soar.

Rick Mortensen

Rick,

good that you found the photobox and you are willing to share them with us.  thx.

Dem

thx for those history pictures rick  8) 8).................... ;)
fabs

Wow thanks for sharing Rick  ;D

Great shot, Rick! I took almost the exact same picture with my 110. The "Jumbo Shrimp" was one of my early h/p influences. Used to watch 'em run and really got a kick out of those "little" things. I worked as a supervisor for Thrifty in those days. A new guy was sent to my department and he was wearing a "Jumbo Shrimp" t-shirt. Close to the end of the day I couldn't help myself and asked "What do you know about the "Jumbo Shrimp"?....He turned out to be one the partners who worked on it (I don't know if he was a n owner or not). Jim Nolan. Ended up makin' friends with guy. He helped me on my car, a little. We went to many a Bug-In and Drag Day together. He was well known over at SCS at the time.

Thanks Gary.  I took the shots of the starting line launches from the first set of bleachers next to the old octagon shaped tower at OCIR. I had a great telephoto. All the pix I took back then were with my YASHICA camera on ECKTACHROME slide film.  I've been working on getting all the shots on CDs in recent years. It is a costly process to have them done at a photoshop.

Rick M

Great photos, Rick! And thank heavens you used Ektachrome rather than regular Kodachrome film – at least Ektachome holds its colour whereas Kodachrome would probably have faded into nothing by now. Nothing worse than opening a box of 30-year-old transparencies only to discover the images have faded away!  :) 8)

Yeah Keith.  I had an old photographer at one of the events recommend it.  Turned out to preserve my little memories really well. Will you be at the Classic?

Rick M

Nice photos Rick! Those bring back some great memories! Thanks for sharing.

Lems

Founds some more great ones to share with you guys. These are more shots I took of the LEE LEIGHTON car, which I believe Russell is now redoing. Notice one has BRMs on the back and the other has the DEANO Wheels on all 4 corners.

Hope you guys enjoy these. I am digging out more.

Rick Mortensen

Yes Rick, I'll be at Classic! Chance to meet up again – been a while! Love the photos (but then I would, wouldn't I!).  :D

Lee leighton is a great gasser... :o very nice photo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

heres a few I have

A few More ;D

A few More ;D ;D

Fantastic pictures guys, amazing piece of history right here on these pages 8)

heres a few more I found

Here are a couple more.

Rick M

And yet here are a few more. Some of these were old color prints I had. I still have a lot of ecktachrome stuff too. I will share some car show shots I took of cars I liked.

Rick M

Here is another favorite. The porsche bodied drag car of Ray Vallero.

Rick M

It's cool looking through some of these shots. Anyone get Lil Red on film?

WOW!!!  So 8) thank`s for sharing!
There are little pic`s about t lightning bug dragster...
In what ET regions did it it went down the 1/4?

picture isn't at ocir

How can you tell?

 ;D ;D ;D
 no , but i remember seeing this picture on the net , and they don't said any thing about ocir bu another dragstrip but wich  one ???

aand if you look the rear scenery don't look ocir , the panel behind wasn't the same

I was curious because I don't see anything that makes me say yes it is or no it isn't OCIR

Wait... which picture are we talking about? I'm talking about the one with the Lighting Bug rail in it.

no i 'm talking about this one rick  ;D ;D.......... ;)
(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9218.0;attach=30729;image)

Ahh that makes sense

The picture of the Lightning Bug rail I took the same day I shot the one with the STUTT BEE next to it in the pits.  THis is hillarious. I was there fella's.  You weren't. Who is a better judge of where the picture was taken????????????????

Rick Mortensen

Ok...sorry for the response.  I just see a lot of guys on these forums who have actually used pictures I took and put their logos on them.  Very irritating.

Rick M

That blows Rick. Sorry ppl are pirating your work.

I don't mind sharing old photos but when guys pull them off the internet and put their url or business name on them...that is weak. It doesn't really matter that much as long as people don't start selling the material.

Rick M

I have a shot of Lil Red somewhere before the chopped version. This is a shot I took on an early morning, overcast day (like most OCIR mornings) with the chopped version of Lil Red waiting first in the staging lanes at OCIR.

Rick M

lil red is a favorite of mine, all the the photos are wicked keep em coming.

DON"T get me started on that subject!... ::)

Keith,

I bet you could recall a few poached pictures during your time as a writer/photographer/editor.  It really burns me when people do it. Like another post said, at least they could give credit for it instead of take credit for it.

Rick M

The worst is having complete features scanned and posted, or web pages repeated in somebody else's site without credit. I even came across a South American magazine which had scanned whole features of mine from UK magazines and reprinted them in their magazine without credit! ::) Most recent is a PR agency using photos scanned from one of my books where the original publisher had paid thousands to have studio photos taken. The agency had flopped the photos or changed the colour of the car in Photoshop in an effort to hide their origins, but it didn't work. Basically I just give up... :(

I rarely have problem as long as people ask first and a credit is given. It's common courtesy. :)

you guys are absolutely right.

Did someone on the forum do this?

RM

Hey Rick,
See if you can bring back my memory, (the 60's-70's were nervous) I had a friend that had a shop in Long Beach, CA called Flemings VW repair and his name was Richard Bays.  He had a bahama yellow fiat 600 with a 912 porsche motor that was running low 14's and a street car. On friday nights we would drive that car to Lions Drag Strip and what a blast.  Later, that car was runnnig low 12's and no longer a street car, (he had a stack of fiat 600 transmissions on the side of the shop).  The point is, the car was called the "Little Giant Killer" and he ended up selling the car and the new owner built a whole new chassis, chopped it and so on and I think this is it.  Could I be right?

regards,
Jim

Hey Jim,

A little side note... I met Richard Bays in 1984 as his Snap-on Tools dealer. Rich is a cool guy... super smart too. Aanybody know where he is?
I believe he was in the NVRA back in the day... Rich could tell some stories for sure.
Rich also partnered with Mert Littlefield, they campaigned the Littlefield-Bays Funny cars.

~Dave

As a side note, i put my name across them to stop copying not to pretend i took them, especially all the IP3 pics i have.

Jim,

Lloyd Moshier could probably fill in all the blanks about the Rich  Bays car. Lloyd is the one that campaigned the chopped "Little Giant Killer" fiat and later build a dragster that used the name too. I have a lot of great shots of both cars. Lloyd still runs a shop over in Upland, California.  The Fiat bodied car ended up in Europe. I'm not sure who ended up with it.

Rick Mortensen

Shubee, there are some you have? What? Taken back then? Or taken from this forum?
At least the two pictures of the Andersonbros car and Tarbabe are from my archives and were taken by a friend of mine back then. I showed them in the Gasser thread. So why are you pretending you took them? Why show them again? Who knows to whom the other pictures belong...

Besides that: Thanks you for sharing your old photos with us, Rick!

Thanks for that, great looking car. If you find that other shot it'd be cool to see it too. Much appreciated.  :)

she's in belgium now in process to be rebuild , the new owner is on the lounge too  ;)

here's some picture i took some year ago at the DAS DRAG DAY3

 ;)

 ;)

;)

jim here's some old pictures of rich bays fiat , i remember a guys named geezer on the samba who post them  :o :o


rgd
 fabs

?So why are you pretending you took them? Why show them again? Who knows to whom the other pictures belong...  The Thread is Early Bug In Pictures Why dose it Matter who Took Them?? I save any photos that I remember from My Glory Days at Bug In if you or someone else has a Picture I dont Have that I Want I save to my Photos Sorry if that  Bakes Your Potato ;D ;D ;D

As for my pictures, I have them on ECKTACHROME Slides and also on 35mm pix I actually took.  I could careless what the copy cats on the forums think.  I share them to show some of the things I enjoyed from attending early events.  I also have 21 years worth of the Phoenix Bug-O-Rama...which I started 3 months after the last BUG-IN at OCIR (Actually called in the Arizona Bug-Run in 1984) painstakingly promoted and kept going for years.  I am probably entitle to share them too.

Rick M

Remember this guy?

Rick M

I do!....Always a great run....
Say Rick, since you've mentioned Bug-O.....Do you still the the pics of the "Precision Bug Builders" car from around '84? You had a great wheelie shot at Firebird. My cousin and friends from Precision Bug Builders collaberated on that car. A few stories there.
Gary

Gary,

Give me some time and I will find it for you.  I remember the red car with the stretched front end. Didn't it have moon discs on it at one time?

Rick M

Lame excuse. It's so easy to write a side note like "Various pictures I found on the internet", otherwise you do pretend that there were taken by you. It's just a matter of behavior...

Georg: What is your email? Drop me a line at "oas @ scatec .no" (no spacing) Oystein

Wow! This subject is not meant to upset anyone. Not sure I should post any more shots based on the direction this is being taken.

RM

gary i found this on my archive  from vw trends  ;)

We didn't have the front end extended at that time....It didn't get much more track time (from us) when we did that. It eventually went to Joel Mohr and Clyde Berg drove it with a Kadron powered motor 6 or 7 years ago. I think the guys here would love to see it. Especially the pic you gave me years ago....Thanks!
gary

That's it! Thanks........what a kick. Note the engine size on the wing. I only drove it twice. David did most of the driving. I think that day we broke the wastegate dump. I ran ALL around the pits trying to get some welding help. The Shultz's (Sum Fun) offered to help out, but the rest of the guys were afraid of anymore damage, so we just watched the rest of the day. If I remember correctly, we qualified for Q-16. Ha!

2 mores

Rich Cowles was a DVB member back in 1975 he still has the car today but it has been sitting for years I was talking to Dee Berg about Rich when I was at Bug In 34

(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9218.0;attach=30867;image)

LOVE the bones T-shirt  ;D ;D ;D

Rick,

Please do not stop posting pictures!

I'm 51 and many of your photos were from my heyday in the VW scene... UNfortunately, I never took photos... I'm still bad about that today but I thank guys like you who have the photos to share for a visual history lesson to the young guys, and a cool stroll down memory lane for the elders.

I look forward to meeting you in person someday.

~Dave

I agree with Dave Rick, this thread is to be viewed in fun and for pure enjoyment. So pleases keep posting what you find along with the memories behind them and all others as well.

  Also I dig the Bones shirt in that last shot too.

Don't worry, Rick, you are not upsetting anyone! Keep 'em coming!  :)

I've heard this car spoken of on some of the forums.  Does anyone remember this car from the early Bug-Ins?  It was a 12.20 car that looked relatively stock with the exception of the lettering.

Rick M

oh yeah! that looks so 'period correct'  ;D, that and a screaming hand t-shirt.

I can't remember what Bug-In this was at but I liked the Orange DKP2 Car with alloys on it.  Was a great looking car. It was parked along the fence north of the bleachers with other DKP cars.

Rick Mortensen

it's written  photos by S&S   ???  and another came on other pages SCOTT LILES (associate editor vw trends)

 ;)

love that car , it was the one on the cover of the hot vws june 77 dkp II  and feb 80 cal look issue , and was at the dkp cruise night before bug in 
(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/Rennsurfer2/Cruise%20Night/09BIHarrisBug2.jpg)

(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/Rennsurfer2/Cruise%20Night/09BIHarrisBug.jpg)

(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/Rennsurfer2/Cruise%20Night/09BIHarrisBug3.jpg)

Regarding "BC's Thumper" That car was owned by Bob Rooks, he was at one time the manager of the Van Nuys CA Auto Haus store. He was a member of the California Volksmasters, I remember the car well, I do not know what happened to the car. It started life as John Mader's street car used to be a 2-tome primer car light grey with dark gray fenders, John worked at Van Nuys auto Haus store for years, it was a fast street car he used to park in on the sidewalk outside the store.

I can't get over going to the early Bug-Ins and seeing literally hundreds of drag cars...many of them street driven.  It was that insanity that started me strong in the hobby. Unfortunately we moved from Riverside in the late 60's to Sacramento.  I had to stay in touch from a distance. We used to leave Saturday night and drive down for the early Bug-Ins. We'd get off the fwy at the Sand Canyon exit and sleep in line, attend the event and drive back home...11-12 hours....then go to work Monday.

It was pure madness...but what we all did in one way or another.  I attended events from event 5 till I left and lived in England from 1974 to 1976.  As soon as I got back, another Cal Looker was built.  Crazy how this stays in your blood.

Rick M

Back in 1987's , I got the same T-shirt in red color when I'm Skate with my "Powell Ray Underhill" ! but sorry not yet !

;)

Remember Von Rollins dragster?  I was always amazed at his ingenuity in using reduction gears to reverse the drive on the automatic transmission and mid mount motor. Great dragster for its day. I don't think it ever really reached it's full potential et wise or MPH but it was very cool.

Rick M

I like the look of the VW dragsters from this era, for dragsters they look pretty cool.  8)

Wow, who bought the red 67 DKP car?  I saw a pic of it  at the Classic (I think) a few years back and wondered where it had gone.
Any more info on that one?

this picture dave ???

Some more info on that car would be cool - Anyone? :)

Yep, thats the pic!  :)

According to Roger Grago, it belonged to a Jim Smith(?). The photo in my book on page 62 wrongly accredits it to Jim Logudice, but that has been corrected in the second printing of the book, which is now out in the UK. :)

Didn't the car come up for sale on thesamba at about the same time?

This is a shot I took from the bleachers just west of the starting line at OCIR.  It is one of my altime favorites from the early BUG-Ins, in the area of drag bugs. It was the BAE Turbo car of Bob McClure.  This thing was rediculous.

My favorite engine combo he ran was the hilborne injected, blow through turbo motor.  It was a destroked, big bore engine that ran in the 9's.  The car was not light either. It was a mostly steel car with one big driver.  Bob was no little guy.

We used to sit in the small bleachers at the top end of OCIR (Pit Side) and hear him come screaming through the lights. This was a car that really helped start some of the turbo madness...way before its time.

Rick Mortensen

Here is another shot of a great Bug-In participant...Steve Tims in the "Mean Ghia". Steve is launging the car.

Rick M

the orange 67 with the plaid interior (stiched by his mom)was owned by jimmy harris, one of the first cars with alloys from santa ana.good friend of mike martinez. sold lately to steve, Prounounced " toon-dag". In picture,who's family owns mcfaddendale hardware. Great guy..I don't know how he (jimmy) got the dkp decals as he was not in the cliub as i remember but hung out alot with us..Jimmy had a buggy who got caught racing at"nabisco' after a rally ,ended up giving the cop a ride....another story... bill

The orange car with alloys belonged to Jim Harris, he also had a Meyers buggy that was wicked fast for the day.  As I recall it ran in the 11's.  
He gave a Buena Park cop a ride in it late one night after everyone left from street racing behind Nabisco.  The cop said he just about had to clean out his pants after the ride.

All the best!

Roger Grago

jinx, rog...

That's only a small part of the story.

Roger

gary i found a picture you took of the car  ;)

Yup...I took that shot. Still have it my archives somewhere. I think that was '84. We had just put the lettering on before that race. Thanks!

Just for the record, The shot of the Lightning Bug is one of my pictures that was posted on the Cal-look forum years ago. It was taken at Great Lakes dragway, Union Grove, Wisconsin in the early 70's. Several of the pictures Shubee 2 posted were other pictures of mine. I'm just glad they are out there for others to enjoy, instead of stuck in an old photo album in the far ends of Iowa.  (now back to your regularly scheduled program)

thx for the info mark ,if you've more share with us please

thx
fabs

Here is another pair of shots of a great racing team. Bear and his late wife Anne both used to run cars from their shop. Bear drove the modified compact and Anne drove the dragster. Both vehicles were part of the GOLD FEVER racing team from Beaumont, Texas.   

Unfortunately Bear lost his wife some time after this.  He still has a shop today in Hawaii and is still building big horsepower for VW racers there. Bear is truly an innovative and skilled engine and VW race car builder. He used to tease a local friend (when stopping in Phoenix and visiting  the late John Isaacs) about how his little motors could pull the weenie off the big motors John was building.

Bear will always be one of the top VW engine builders and racers in my book.

Rick M

 Hey Rick do you have any pictures of Bruce Lowry's white lightning or the Davis brothers red oval?

ThankS for the memories,
Eric H.

Eric,

I think I do. I have to dig back through some boxes I recently pulled out of storage and check. I will post them if I come across them.

Rick M

Hi Rick,

thank you very much for all these great shots!

Do you have any pictures of my car, the Pink Panther? It showed up at a Bug In only one time, it was Bug In 13 in 1974. The mexican crew air-freighted their Car up from Mexico City. They won K/Gas with a ET of 11.82, runner-up was Lee Leighton.

Saludos,
Ole

i think that in the first bug in years dune buggy thing was probably at its top, and an important part of of the meeting. i cant find buggy pics at bug in though. i think too that dune buggy history is unbelivably underconsidered these days. i would like to see more period dune buggy pics. i would like to see more dune buggies at european bug in. i will bring mine this year.

Ole,

From 1974 to 1976 I was living in England.  I don't have any shots from that period.

Rick M

Too bad...

Anyway, muchas gracias for your pics!

Saludos,
Ole