The Cal-look Lounge

It's awesome how you remember so many details after all this time.  Keep the stories coming. ;D

My earliest come from around '60. We lived in Anaheim near Wilken Way and Harbor (not too far from Belisles, sp). My grandparents lived in Corona Del Mar. We'd take the 5 South and get off at what was then Newport Blvd. From there we'd drive the 2 lane road and turn left at MacArthur (by the Paulo drive-in movies) and go through what my Dad called "the foothills" to get to PCH. He said then "these hills will be covered with houses in a few years". Well, we know what happened there. Anyway, on our little drive to the grandparents house, every time he saw a VW he would say "there goes a doodle-bug". It would always wake me up!

Belisles..... wow, great food and lots of it. That ugly pink building on the corner of Chapman and Harbor. Always a post Disneyland feedbag (or Chris & Pitts). Massive pies, mungo portions, huge money for the time...

I remember being in the back of my fathers '72 Beetle. He didn't have the backrest on the rear seat, and I would lay on the parcel shelf with my head touching one wheel tub and my feet on the other tub. I would look up at the trees through the rear window and count the turns to our house. When I got bigger I moved down to the seat cushion :)
I also remember driving our '71 Westy through the twisty mountain roads to Jerome, me flopping about the interior at every turn ;D

Back to your post.... My neighbor back in 1961, was a German language teacher and loved VWs. He drove a Oval-Window to school. I still recall him showing my brother and I a movie about how they make VWs, and it was all in German. He translated it, so we would know what they said. I saw this movie again, this time at the VW Museum in 1986. Great images that still remain with me today.

Flash forward to Pomona Fairgrounds in 1966, and seeing the Inch Pincher at the KFWB Drags.

Flash forward to 1968 when my brother bought his first VW, a 1962 ragtop.

Then, Sarge giving me a ride in his 1835cc 40P11 killer around 1972.

Great topic...

My first memory of a VW came from Mr. Reynolds "The Bubblegum Man" and his Porsche powered VW (see "Bubblegum Day"  http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?topic=8091.0 )
I met him in the mid 60's... I was only seven or so. Some years later my Brother bought his first VW, a '65 Beetle that he gave the full fiberglass and wide tire treatment... Shortly after that the same Brother bought a red Meyers Manx... By then I was completely hooked!!

OK, where was I... Oh yeah, the first VW I ever drove was my Brothers Manx... I was twelve or thirteen when my Brother and his Wife took a three week vacation and left both VW's at my Mom's house with me in charge of starting the cars once a week to keep the 6v batteries up............... what was he thinking??  As soon as I could, I promptly snuck the Manx out for some joyrides around the block... Yes, I got caught--but not by the cops... a neighbor told my Mom... good times...

As they say, "the rest is history" 

~DR.

My earliest VW mammary is going to the local Kragen Auto Parts with my Dad in 79 or 80. He needed exhaust gaskets for his "Nor" Cal Look 66 Notchback. The clerk kept insisting he needed the usually metal crush gasket but after the third trip they determined my Dad's car was equipped with a 1.8 liter type 4 engine with a Solex/Mikuni 44mm 2 barrel sidedraft. My Dad bought it at a used car lot in Oakland in 1975 for $500 and had no idea what it had for an engine, he just knew it would walk away from Datsun 280Zs and small block Chevelles and Camaros up to 110mph.

He gave the car way in 1986 after my parents divorced and 2 years later he bought a 68 bus for $150 with a blown up 1835. I was 13 by now and he had me rebuild a junk 1600(not one new part.....seriously). It lasted 6 months before it ate it's self and I was hooked from then on. I still have the ex 1835, now 1776 sitting under my work bench waiting

Oooh, a ‘73-only low-profile dog-house Thing fanshroud...

My first recollection was seeing a split-window Bug parked in a driveway on the way to primary school (what Yanks call 'elementary', I think?) back in about 1962 or ‘63. It was black. Then, the guy sold it and replaced it with another Split, this time in red. Years later I found the car in a wrecking yard, the motor sat on the back seat. It had already been sold – probably to make into a Buggy. Saw the Doug Church (later the EMPI) dragster run at Blackbushe airstrip in ‘64 or ‘65. Then my brother went off to university in 1968 and came back after the first term enthusing about a friend's Beetle. The guy was a farmer's son and used to use the Bug (a ‘65 in Ruby Red) as a Land Rover, driving round the farm in Yorkshire. My brother bought a 1959 Bug in Garnet Red (one year only colour) which we used to take it 'green laning' – driving down farm tracks, old rural dirt roads etc – and I was hooked. My brother's friend (Glenn Scott) came to stay and one time he let me drive his Beetle off road – I was 14 and the rest is history...

Hey guys,these are great stories,it's nice to read them.For me it began in the early '70's.
At that time,we had no car but a friend(who used to work at the local vw dealership) of my parents,drove
a beige late model (I believe it was a 68).So wen we went on holidays??(daytrips to the sea  ;D ),there were 4 adults
and me and my brother.I remember me sitting behind the backseat(parcel shelf?)and listening to the sound of the engine....that was fun.
And so it all began.Great memories. 

Peter  ;)

You sure about that mate? Isn't that flathead from a Puma?

I found this photo of Belisles from way back...

That's what I thought... Things were the same as a Beelte shroud, minus the heater ducts.

My earliest memory of a VW goes back to the mid 50s (yes I’m old).  My parents had moved us across town and my mom decide to go visit our friends in the old neighborhood.  We stopped by to spend some time with my old Den mother from the cub scouts.  She was really cool.  They always drove old junkers, but they had just purchase a VW station wagon.  That is what they called them around 1955.  It was a red and white deluxe bus.  I didn’t get to ride in it but my mom thought it looked so cute…

Years later after I got out of the service I bought my first car a ’66 Mustang.  I was working nights and used to drive down town to hook up with friends that worked nights in the computer room of a local bank.  This would be about 1:30 in the morning.  One of the guys had just traded in his ’61 Impala on a brand new ’66 Bug.  He got a deal because the ‘67s were now out.  I got to drive that ’66 around the parking lot of the bank a few times.  Little did I know that years later I would buy the one owner ’66 for $800 that I still own today.

My parents bought an oval window in 1972 (just about a year prior to my birth) from the original owner, a woman who attended church with my grandmother.  I drove around occassionally in that car as a child as it was an extra car and my parents normally drove newer cars. My older sister, as well as myself and my younger brother all learned to drive in that car but  even though we all wanted that car my parents never did let that car be driven be any of us on a regular basis in fear of it bieng stolen or destroyed.  When my father retired in 1999 and my parents sold their home to by something smaller, I finally got the call to come and get it. ;D  I blew the car apart wanting to restore it and give it back to the old man as a thank you but he found out about my plans from my mother and called me and said he didnt want it anymore and I should keep and enjoy his old friend but never sell it or he'd pull my feet from the grave in my sleep.  So now I have all the drivetrain back together and powdercoated,  new Rancho trans and wheels and tires for my tired old friend.  It's getting the cal-look treatment now baby.

You're right about the Puma bit (not familiar with the details of them over here)... but that shroud was indeed used on Things, too, presumably using up left-over parts!

I'm not entirely sure but I think the first one I was aware of was our neighbours orange estate car (Type III) probably circa '74/'76. The guy used to fly to the States a lot and was still playing around with VW's well into the 90's. There were many others since obviously but I think that's the first.

This is a great thread.  I can remember my Dad's first bug clearly - He bought it new, a Ruby Red 62 with steel foxcraft fender skirts painted to match.  Six years after '62 I also remember laying down behind the back seat of it when I was very little (4 yrs old I think) looking up as our family (my two sisters, Mom and Dad) drove everywhere in this car.  I remember just listening to the engine rev up and down as we drove through town.  I also remember being behind the seat when my Dad would be washing it and he would spray water on the rear window trying to scare me.  When ever i got bored I would go sit in that car and read my ghost rider comic books or look at Hot Rod magazines.  We had that car until 1972.

Then my dad bought a light blue Super beetle brand new in 1972.  I remember him telling me he paid around 3K for it. He thought the super would be better as it was a little bigger than the standard beetle.  I remember being at the VW dealership when he was picking it out, and I would play with the displays of the Sapphire radios that were options for the cars at that time.  My Dad put a lot of accessories on that car - Fuchs hub caps, that check strip kit that went over the roof and accross the doors, sun visor, repainted the fender skirts from the '62, dual Phoenix header exhaust, wood dash insert kit, formula vee shifter.  When I was 15 (1980) my Dad let me drive the Super on the Highway when he and I were in the car coming home from a trip.  It was the first car I ever drove.  I remember thinking how great it was to drive that car, I was hooked....  The family went everywhere in that car too.  He finally sold the super in 1987.  I don't remember how many miles were on it.  He had it repainted the factory color in 1983, never needed an engine overhaul, or valve job! Just a clutch, brakes, fuel pump, tires - the typical expendable items.  I wish that I had the '62 and '72....

Here's another one, but it actually was for my older brother. He owned this stock '63 Bug, 40hp on a good day, and for years, that was his idea of how a VW ran. Well, years later, when I had my '67 full blown with IDAs, big heads, cam, this and that, I threw my keys to my brother and told him to take it for a spin. Now, he had never went for a ride in it, let alone drove it without me in the car (he had never been around a VW with IDAs!). So, with little delay, he and his then-wife fired it up, and away they went. About 1/2 hour later, he comes back down the driveway, grinning from ear to ear. He scared the crap out of his wife (served her right!), and about killed them both. He was able to "VDO it", somewhere on Imperial Highway, which is when you go fast enough to take the needle to the bottom center of the speedo (VDO land). I think he was shaking when he got out of the car. I asked him what rpm did he shift at? Say what? I didn't have time to notice. Oh, great.

I was hooked by the neighbor across the street he had just purchased a new 67 Bug with all the trimmings, chrome wheels, flared tail pipe tips the complete wood knob kit and the Shakey Jake pin striping. A couple of week later he joined a VW club, if I can remember it was called DMW,  I just remember the initials. One Saturday night they had a meeting or it might had been a route for one of the many rallies that came right in front of my house, I thought it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. About one week later he seen me walking home from school and gave me a ride home; all I can say is the rest is history!

My first encounter with the Volkswagen was 1962.  My neighbor Larry Brankov, Brother of Ron and Russ Brankov that would be in DKP later had purchased a brand new 1962 bug from Cotton Goff Volkswagen in Buena Park.  It was loaded with all the accessoriesyou could have on one at that time.  Flaired exhaust, chrome rear grill cover, chrome wheels and lots more.  Used to love driving around in it.  Their Mom used to take Russ and I to school in it when it would rain.  When I passed my drivers test and being around DKP members back then that was the only car I wanted to have.. All my friends wanted chevys and such.  I only wanted a Volkswagen and then to go out and kick their butts.  That was the fun part and I must say they were a little dissapointed in their Detroit iron.     Thanks                       Dave Rhoads   DRF

I literally grew up surrounded by VW's. My dad had an L33 Vw Blue '67 sunroof bug for when I was four or five years old. I used to ride in the luggage area behind the rear seat.  My uncle Ed had a light green small window bug that I want to say it was a '64 but I'm not positive, followed by a biege '68 and my grandfather had a red '68 squareback for a while as well. I think my favorite early memories are of my Uncle Dan's VW blue '67, though. The paint was faded through to the primer in most areas and had a grey left front fender. There were t-shirts covering the torn front seats too, but I thought it was the coolest car! I remember "helping" my Dad and my uncle replace the clutch in it a couple times too. They hooked a come-along to the rafters in our carport and yanked the back of the bug up by the bumper to get the engine out. My uncle eventaully parked the car due clutch problems and bought a red '70 bus to drive instead. Whenever we went over to my uncles house, I would go sit the bug and pretend to drive. When I was 12 years old, uncle sold me the bug for $50 and it's the same bug I have today. When he sold me he car, my dad and I put a battery in it and right away the radio and headlights came on because I had been playing with the buttons! 

"Being around those DKP members...."

As most all of you know, Dave is our resident DRF member residing in DKP.  Dave, I gotta ask; what possessed you to join DRF in the first place?  Was it the schwag clubhouse, the wild Thumper matches, caravaning to remote locations for um, "camping" ::)....  ???

Back in the early 60's there was an article in the newspaper about the amount of VW bugs around. The columnist proposed a game about spotting different colored bugs and keeping score as to who saw them first. Green ones were the highest score, as I remember. Since my little brother and I never sat still in the back of the families 55' Chevy wagon on trips, Mom got us playing this game. After a couple of years of spotting anything with a rounded roof and screaming out the color and location to be varified, I started noticing that all the people in those cars had a smile on their face as they met us hanging out the window, pointing. In the back of my mind was the idea that somehow that car had something to do with that smile. No one has been able to convince me otherwise to this day. As a side note, that early training still causes me to spot a Bug hidden in the trees of a farm grove from miles off the highway. My wife is always so thrilled by the little side trips to make sure of their authenticity.

My earliest memory was when my brother and his friend took me for a ride in his hopped up 40hp with wide tires out back, took this corner at 60 mph and made it.....so the story goes my brother took my moms 65 around the same corner at 60mph.....well he didn't make it,  he did end up right side up but after a few 360's came to rest in a ditch....his friend hauled ass leaving my brother to clean up the oil in the engine compartment and repairing a flattened tire, complete with grass in the bead.  Well my parents never found out, but my brother did find out later my dad skimped out and had recap tires on mom's car.... :o

My first memory would go back to '71. I was 6 and my brother had bought his first car at the age of 16; a dark blue '69 sunroof beetle with white interior ... 100% bone stock, whitewalls and all!
I remember him tinkering with it time and time again, multiple extractor exhausts, chrome intake with a Holley bugspray, white fiberglass scoops over the front and rear air intakes (remember those?!), a Hurst Indy shifter, TigerPaw oversize radials ... just a few items I remember.
Fast forward about 3 or 4 years later he had graduated high school and over the summer was moving into his first stroker motor! We drove my mom's car down to meet a guy to purchase the crank, a 78mm! The guy brought it to the meeting place wrapped in towels, strapped to the back of a Honda Minitrail ... LOL! The engine was spread out all over the floor of the garage ... my dad peeked out one evening at the display only to turn back while muttering, "It will never run again." He got it all put together with some ported 40X35 non-welded heads done by a local machinist named Bridges, carburation was 40DCNFs via Claudes Buggies, pistons & cylinders were 90.5s, I think the can was a Norris.
I was probably 9 or 10 at the time, and though I did very little other that hand tools and watch, I did have the most glamourous job of cleaning all his tools!
So he gets it fired up and we're ready to go for a ride! This is about midnight. He romps it down the highway towards the end of the neighborhood and all the sudden THUMP and it looses all oil pressure! We pull into the last street to see that the oil hose has come loose from the external cooler; I think it was behind the fan shroud (?).
We run back to the house, about 3 miles, load up all needed tools and supplies into my mom's Skylark ... everyone else is long since asleep ... drive back to the scene of the spindletop to fill and button all back together, and we're ready to go.
Problem was, how to get both cars back to the house with out involving those less concerned? Long story a little shorter, I drove the Skylark back by myself, following my brother all through the neighborhood ... like I said, I was MAYBE 10!

Well, I've got many more and sorry for the long rant.
Suffice it to say that it's easy for these stories to come back to my mind. All I have to do is walk out into my garage today, sit in the car, and relive the old memories. ;) ;D

i know my earliest memory of a vw is not that old but about 10 year ago (I was 16) I took a ride in alain's 70's orange beetle. It was the first time I got in a bug as a passenger and he was one of the first guy around to have a "big" engine... I was blow away by the feel of the speed in the small car even if maybe we were not that fast but back then it was a revelation to me, I was just a kid....

Since then, Alain passed away but it well always be a memory I will always remember. Miss you buddy, thanks for letting me know about fast VW's...

my earliest memory of a vw was in 1986 when i was on holiday in california. from what i can remember it would have been a mid 60's squareback dechromed i think, pillerless rear side windows with centerlines in java ish green. i was only 9. it would have been near the galaxy motel which is no longer there. (anaheim somewhere). cheers dean

that shroud was from CB Performance circa 1992 or so.... it was on Sheep's 1915. Was a bitchin looking motor....all red tin, 48IDAs on talls, Berg linkage, 010, Santana pulley. We mounted the Holley "fuel tee" right on top of shroud with 3/8 lines push-lok lines going directly to Webers.

My earliest memories of a VW is probably getting a ride in first grade to school. My friend Jeff...his mom had an orange fuelie Super Bug.
My earliest memories of a "cool" VW has to be from about 12 year old, my neighbor around corner was builing a custom Cal Bug, 1968 or 69 I think, almost dead on same color as my 67 but fully shaved, cal look rubber,one piece windows, baby turbo Vitalonis and 4 lug 5.5" chromies. Think the motor was stock or 1641 but had S & S headers on it. Very cool car.
My earliest memory of a fast VW was that of a kid in my drafting class when I was 14 or 15...he was a few years older and had a yellow late model with mathc painted 8 spokes, Fulda radials and a screaming 1776 with VZ25 and Dells.... he pulled into a grocery store parking lot, saw me sitting on my BMX bike...flipping him the bird and he in turn lit the tires up like a top fuel car.

In the mid sixties a friend of my mothers had either a 62-63 Beetle. Her and my mom would pile us kids in the back, three boys and one girl, and head down to "Mothers Beach" in Newport Beach [for you so-cal locals]. I can remember fighting each other to see who could sit behind the rear seat! That is probably my earliest memory. Fast forward another 11 years [1976] and another neighbor had a mint '66 Ruby Red sunroof Beetle that they decided to sell. I was the first one to knock on the door with $600 and that began it all for me.

(http://www.cjvws.com/hosted/my66small.jpg)

After about six months it looked like this

(http://www.cjvws.com/hosted/my66callook_small)

I put a set of chromies and nipple caps, painted it a '77 Z28 Camero Firethorn burgandy and pulled all the little torsions out. Although it had the original fire breathing 1300 in it, I spiced it up a bit with a set of single port Kadrons, an 009, and a Berg Extractor and single QP. I was styling! I wish I took more/better pictures of that cart.

-jeffrey