The Cal-look Lounge

Street rods are driven by old men... hot rods in the early style are driven by young guys...
In the VW world the kids drive resto lookers or rat rides... and the older "kids" wants super shiny lookers... with high tech engines still trying to keep true to the style.

makes me wonder...are we painting us into a corner?

When we first started the lounge it was full of young European guys doing their thing... call it a entry level cal-look style... they are to a large degree gone...
With their less than perfect paint and stock interiors they now seek other venues.. hasn't the Lounge/cal-look anything to offer them?

With every week that passes there are more and more comments like, "if it isn't clean / nice or shiny it isn't cal-look"
I think I have heard the same thing said in the Street rod crowd... and that is a dying breed... once you loose the kids, you are headed for history...

This might be a bigger problem on the forum than in real life... as most people don't give a rats ass about peoples opinions in real life... but they don't put up with it on the net...

Any thoughts?

There is a big stretch from the 70's cal-looker to the newer supershiny resto-cals, and many people, cars and opinions in between.
I belivere you are covering a topic here that is of big importance to the scene.
Personally I dont think one end of the scale is more cal-look then the other, but I respect that people try to stay true to the part of the timeline they appreciate.

The comments you are talking about are bullshit and if that prevents even one guy from posting his opinions, car or project on The Lounge, we might have "lost" our purpose.
It would be really sad if the comments/opinions of a group of people unfairly dominates the quality, width and atmosphere that we have here on The Lounge.

What you mention might be a culture/trend worldwide, but with our purpose for creating this forum in mind, I hope we can avoid it here.

To say it another way; the day I have to split the cal-look board into two boards, one for each timeline, thats the day I turn off the power instead.

being 30 I don't think I'm a kid anymore, but my car still has less than perfect paint (in fact it's getting worse every day) and the interior...well,  :P but I keep checking every day the lounge!

My view is there is room for all and we should all appreaciate that, its far better to a car eveolve by the owner as was done in the day rather than heres another new one, dont get me wrong i like shiny new ones as well but i still think a non perfect car looks alot harder and better and true to our style that we love.

Cal-look will survive as long as there are some guys that built simple, fonctional, fast and well-thinked air-cooled VWs in their garage. Shiny or not we don't care if the car is made with good feelings.

Shine will NEVER replace attitude!

When our club was in it's beginnings we had a bunch of not finished cars.  We still do.  Some still look great to me.  I was always looking for incremental improvements in the cars.  The owners were always making small affordable improvements in their cars.  We should not criticize but encourage everyone to participate and enjoy the scene.  Not everyone can throw money at the problem to make it better.  Most have to do the work for themselves little by little.  I know that I had my car eleven years before it was nice enough to really be proud of it.  I did the little things to make it look better and more reliable first, but I couldn't afford the big engine and new paint for years.  I always did the mechanical stuff first, because I could to that myself.  Just because some cars look kind of ratty doesn't mean that we should discourage the owners.  I realize that the hood ride scene doesn't help, but we need to get past that to grow the hobby.  My car is getting old now and doesn't look near what it did nor what I would like it to.  This hobby draws a broad spectrum of people from all over the world.  Remember it takes a special person to drive a 40 year old car and work on it daily.  I guess that makes us all special.  We know these little cars are very special.  I am less concerned about the hobby than I am about quality parts availability.  Many shops have gone under in the past few years making it harder to get the stuff you need.  If the good manufacturers decide it is no longer profitable then we really have a problem.  JMO...

2 VWs I like.
(http://www.cal-look.nl/gallery/albums/userpics/10011/PICT0054.jpg)
(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h311/cmhauer/Worriers/Java_1.jpg)

You've got to start someplace and for most here it wasn't with a finished car.  There have been plenty of stories shared from us older guys of how we thrashed to shine up worn paint and make our stuff the best we could with what we had.  To just jump into the scene with a perfect car is not how most here have done it.  I'd like to think things will continue on the way they are with Cal Look... we are just a small niche group of the overall VW picture but one that we should all be proud to be a part of.  Most importantly, we need to be supportive of the new guys that come our way... it's hard to know it all and do it right when money's an issue and your not sure of yourself.  

I think you said everything  8). Where is the pleasure to buy a finished car ? For me starting with an used car, try to make it run and look as nice as possible, and then start restoring it when the time has come, doing all I can with my hands is a big part of the pleasure to have an old car.

In all car cultures there all types. people should build what they want not what other people think is cool. And I don't think the street rod industry is slowing down a bit,take for instince the steel 32 3 window coupe body's brookville is reproduceing at about 25 thousand a copy. Do not think they would invest the money and time in tooling if the street rod thing was dieing. In the vw industry there's room for the new guys and old guys but we are definately a breed of are own and most are getting older and can afford the {shiney} cars and appreciate ALL vws. Cal-look is  a yes on attitude! ok i,m done BYE.

I was just thinking about this very same train of thought this morning while I was feeding my son, Lucas. I was thinking, "is this little guy going to have the same opportunities for fun as I did and my peers did when I was 16-17-18-19 years old?"
Honestly, if he follows my interests in cars and car culture and historic racecars, cool. If not... that's cool too.

Anyway, things are obviously much different in the world today than they were 15, 20, 30 years ago. I think the days of high school parking lots brimming over with teenagers' VW cal look cars are long gone. Which is a sad thing, because who has more enthusiasm for developing a small scene around him, automotive-wise, than a adrenaline filled teenager with a fresh driver's license? Not a 38 year old like me, that's for sure. You get older, you gain responsibilities, you gain worries to keep you from sleeping at night, you make more money but you spend more, and instead of going out and having fun, we sit around and catch up with old friends, trying to relive "the old days." We need the kids and their freedom and thier energy. But do kids want to get in a 50 year old economy car, that was designed pre-WWII nowadays.... and then actually work on them? Maybe, but I bet you lunch the number of kids is shrinking big time. Instead they can go get a Scion or a Civic or....? and plug chips in and show off their blue headlights (instead of their Weber 44's). Not the same now is it?
I don't think it's right that only "world beater" cars deserved to be appreciated as "real cal look" cars..... to me that's baloney. I think too many guys have spread the "cost is no object" theory onto too many parts of the car, and onto too many cars. You end up with these $50,000+ cars that rarely see light of day and that, in my opinion, don't attract newcomers. Maybe cool in some people's books to have a car of that caliber, and that's cool for them, but to me, those cars are not where it's at. To me a hot rod VW should be driven, and driven fairly hard. You never know when there's gonna be some 12-13 yr old blossoming young gearhead cruising down the street on his BMX, listening and watching in awe as you run through the gears with your Webers wide open. No joke.... it happened to me.
I hope the VW hobby, as we practice it, isn't a dying breed. I think it's sort of our responsibility to welcome young new blood and help encourage them. While the world is different, things cost more, traffic is more dangerous, the "I want it now" thing prevailing.... still, I think for real car guys, nothing will ever beat hanging out with like minded friends on a Saturday night in some guys' garage, talking about cars.

Offcourse cal-look will survive, but when I look in the Netherlands for instance, a lot of the 'kids' (like me @ 21 years old) are slamming their bugs, rolling them and make rat rides of them. Well that's really not my thing. But I can understand why they do it, costs are low. You won't need a shiny paint, big motors, expensive wheels and accessoires. And when I go to a meeting the crowd is always looking more to their rats than my cal-looker  ???  :(

For me I'm just trying to make the best of it, it's hard being a student but I will get there. Maybe the 'old' guys could tell us the 'kids' something more about their first cars, and engines, that would give great input on us.

When you see the prices of parts some buy to lower the car (dropped spindles, narrowed beam, notched spring plates, airbags kits, etc...).

We talked about kids and this style on another thread, but there are young guys in the cal-look/racing thing.

We should never exclude someone based on how much or how little they spent on their car if it is in the spirit of Cal-look. Part of the problem with attracting younger folks is the cost of entry into the hobby. While rust free cars are still cheap in some areas of the US, its not the norm in most parts of the world. Add to that motor, tranny, wheels, tires, interior, etc and the cost can rise quickly. Now you can do it on a budget and you can do it a little at a time, but it will still cost a good bit of coin. There is also the problem of attitude you see with some of the members of the Cal-look community. While most on here are very friendly, there are a lot of folks in this hobby who would not give some young kid the time of day.

--louis

Cal Look will never die.

Thanks Mark,  8)

I think you've got it figured out what turns kids on.... the experience. I'm sure something "clicked" with you when you were young, right?

for me it was a number of events, most happened before I had my own VW! There was a pair of guys in my sophmore drafting class in high school, they never got a flipping piece of work done because all they did was talk about Volkswagens. I found it annoying, to be honest. I wasn't into them yet (I wanted an Alfa Romeo or an MG.... this was 1984 before they all rusted away,...), but man, these guys would sit there for 90 minutes every day and talk about cases and heads and Webers vs Dellortos and 8 spokes and Fuldas and on and on and on it went. I thought "what a waste of time"... until one day one of the kids, Dan Jackson was his name, pulled into this strip mall parking lot in his yellow late model Bug while i sat perched on my BMX bike. he saw me and since he was sick of my heckling in class, proceded to send the car sideways in a huge plume of tire smoke and a big deep Weber growl. I was stunned. Next was going to Baylands, just after getting my '67, and seeing VW's run down 1/4 in 13 sec or less. Oh my Lord!
Next was riding in my friend's 2180cc '64 Bug (while we were street racing a 1978 Trrans Am). I'd have to say that was the final staw... I was hooked for sure after we smoked that guy. I was 17 at the time.... so 21 years ago.... wow.

I think it is as easy as "bang for the buck"... Young kids know how hard it is to get cash, they want the maximum amount of attention for their cash...
A slammed resto or a bagged Rat is a headturner... but so is a 14-15 sec looker, but in a so much more fun way...



I am aware of these investments being made, the industry obviously wont die in many years, but these kinds of investments also makes my point stand out even more clearly. How many young kids get's into hopping up a hotrod nowadays? It's an "old mans" game... some kids do it of course...  because they want to do like their grandpa or father did. But I don't think even they consider a Brookville body as starting point. Again "bang for the buck"....


I believe that this is the way young guys get in to the Cal-thing.. except for the wheels perhaps... I dig it, it looks like fun!!
(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h311/cmhauer/Worriers/Java_1.jpg)

I don't know about you guy's but Ive been into cars from the time I was old enough to by hot wheel till now, And thirty years ago every time I saw a lowered vw with some kind of porsche wheel empi etc.. it was just cool and hard to figure out but hopefully us and the kids comeing up will keep getting that high.And as fare as prices its a little out of hand, But remember this stuff is 40-50- years old. But on the other hand it kinda cool to see how fare this stuff has came value wise. remember when you could not give some of this stuff away, Kind of a hidden complment. Just my 3- 1/2 cents

kids need to realize that they don't HAVE to run 911 alloys or Torque Thrusts or OG Empis... chrome 356-style wheels work just fine. My car was no less fun when I ran those. Going to see the big-caliber Cal Look cars for me when I was a teenager and seeing the stuff I couldn't afford yet kept my momentum going though... mostly in the go-fast department. Once I had connections thru work, I found guys that had stuff ratholed away, like Weber 48's. But before that, it was no less fun, it was probably more so actually, because it's like anything else, you want to do it so badly, you try and try and try, and then finally get to, and then you're hooked and then you have to keep doing it... sound familiar?
One of my best memories of youth is driving by myself at 6:30am on my way to Baylands, only 1641, windows rolled down, Zeppelin blasting from 6 x 9's, car as clean as a 16 yr old could get it...  ;D
Kids should experience what a high a car can give them....

Not everybody has to start out with a high dollar car to be Cal-look, I don't  know about everone else but I try to build something nicer or different than the last one. And after 30 years of doing it , Yes they do get pricey but thats why I,m always working on something for a little extra money so I can spend it on this fricken habit that some of us have.For me I'd rather spend the money on my car than blow it setting on a bar stool or something else waistful. All I can say is that buildind these cars has been fun and some of my best friend have came from this hobby!

c'mon guys quit posting that green hoodride...   :P

Whats wrong, don't want to be the poster child for an entry level cal-looker.  :D

Though I think your car is cool too. (Its all in the stance.)

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people equate Cal-look with DKP/JG54/DKK/etc quality cars so they feel they have to put up big bucks to be included.

--louis

Even beyond DKP cars, if you ask me...
DKP cars, for the most part, all get driven. My car is probably the roughest appearing of the bunch, but none of the cars that regularly come around, are perfect. That's what makes them cool, to me.

Soul, not perfection. Cars with soul can tell a story. The worldbeaters just kind of come and go.... no story behind them.

Jim, you know the DKP cars get driven and have the road scars to prove it. But a lot of people don't see that. What they see is what is featured in magazines and books, which are show quality cars with all the bells and whistles. They, and the other clubs like them, are considered the creme of the crop and most people expect them to be flawless. And since that is the expectation, they think to be a cal-looker you have to have the same quality. They also see all the 48s and 2 liters and berg 5s in the mags and think you have to have those to be cal-look. When the truth is, you can do a lot simpler and still get that Cal-look soul. But that is not what you see in the mags.

--louis

Believe me, I'll take it...admittedly it is a great surpise to see my car posted in this thread.  Thanks gang!

And I agree with Jim and Louis about the DKP cars being driven and having the minor wear to prove it.  Its like "proof of love."

That sounds very strange to me.. Has people really left this forum due to that?

What you're referring with "presentable car vs. patina" is IMO mostly a cultural difference between Europe and US. Based on some forums I read on regular basis most of the Yanks seem to think that a car with worn out paint automatically looks like it belongs to some poor kid who is flipping burgers for living.

I personally think that the Lounge has made positive leap from it was in the beginning with pointless arguing whether this and this car with or without trim is Cal Look or not and whether some drawing from 1975 is the only way to go :D

That's true, Louis, and that's what's cool about the Lounge. Mike's java green '67 featured here, to me, is just as cool as any other car, really. I know he has done a lot with the car, and has a lot of plans for it. His buddy's car, Maize's, that car is about as cool as they come, and then some. I think it is too bad if the magazines are turning guys away because they present the Cal Look thing as this "rich man's" hobby that only the elite few can aspire to or be part of. That's so far from the truth. It's not all about the money into cars. It's about the friends you made along the way, the stuff you learned, the funny memories, the parts you broke, the times you had to push car uphill....
I think for the scene to get passed on, if you will, there has to be more love for the cars and less focus on how much money guys have sunk into cars. To me finding the time to do stuff is more satisfying than finding the $ to do stuff. I've never had a lot of money to spend on stuff, hence I tried to become as self sufficient as I could over the years. I learned how to do as much stuff on these cars as I could. The stuff I don't know hwo to do and that I have to have others do is what is lacking on my car.... it's pretty obvious (paint, headliner, etc.).
Problems you and I can't control? the cars are nowhere near as plentiful as they used to be, and cars that make a good foundation are even harder to find, I know. But they're out there. I see a worn, but obviously cared-for Zenith Blue '67 almost every day, that this lady drives around Chatsworth. Someday she may want to sell it, and if she hasn't visited the (many) VW message boards and ebay/samba things, she's probably not going to charge some orbital price for it either. On the other hand you have these kids selling hoodride cars, which are no more than useless trash on samba for stupid money. They are making it harder for the young guys to get into the scene....
A clean car with a nice stance, a 1776 with good, used Webers or Kadrons, that shows it's cared for is something to be proud of! Does it have to be a '67 or earlier? NO. Does it have to have BRM's? NO. Does it have to have gauges, berg shifter, Empi GT wheel, 48's, 5-speed...? NO NO NO NO NO....
Check out Sarge's '63. Started out as a big bore 40HP (right Sarge?), then 1679 single port with Zenith (or Holley?), then 1679 with dual ports and 40PII's, then the IDA 1835.... he evolved. And is there anybody more deserving of being "cal look" than Sarge?  ;D

I don't think cal-look as a style will ever die.
Compared to all these other styles and trends that comes and goes cal-look has a history going some 40 years back and strong roots in the VW society today. I'm sure the following will decrease in some years as kids today have different taste and so many options when it comes to cars, but then again I think the fast simple cars and the history that go with them will appeal to enough of them to keep the scene alive.
After all the look and interest in it is more alive today than 10-15 years ago. At least when it comes to the interest in how it all started and building cars the way they were back then. This internet thing has made a lot of information available and old parts have never been as hot as they are now..

But then what do we define as cal-look?
Of course the style has evolved over the years, almost to the point of no return in the mid eighties then more back on track and inspired by the early cars in later years. By inspired by I mean cars that have lot of the look and spirit of the original look, but often softened up a bit. Comfort is set higher than before, things like bumpers and trim often stay and so on. Nice cars, but not rock hard clean cal-lookers..

There has been a trend here in Europe in recent years where we look back to the roots and make the cars we would have built in the seventies if we had the opportunity. We tend to look back on a history we never had..
I think that's one of the reasons we like to make cars that look like "barnfind lookers". Worn cars that show strong signs of use combined with period cal-look parts and the right touch make the cars that we would love to find but never can..
I guess you can call building cars this way faking history, but who cares as long as it keeps the scene alive and the owners happy  :)
The one thing I like most about this approach is that you can build a car without literally blasting it's history and vintage feel away.
The interior still smells old VW, not like a new chinese car  ;D
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against well built clean and shiny cars, I just think that an equally well built battlescarred car with the right touch is no less cal-looker. I think it's more about the total package and the owners ability to make a car in the right spirit than how shiny the paint is.

I know a lot of americans find it hard to "get" this worn looker thing. Of course it was always a goal back in the day to have a nice, clean and shiny car and it still is today. I'm sure the thought of "faking" an old car seems a lot less desirable when you live where the look originated and have had the cars around you since day one. It's more natural that things evolve then to look back. And even I appreciate that there are people that still come up with new ideas and make progress. After all, if everone looks back things have a tendency to stop after a while..

Cal-look will never die.

Best Post of Today!

I think a good project for one of the mags would be an entry level Cal-look build up. Take a sold starter, make it late model even. And give it the full Cal-look treatment on a beginners budget. Lowered in the front, 356 or 8 spoke repops, 1776 or 1941 with dual kads/IDF 40s, simple interior redo, budget or home grown respray, etc. Put a limit on the budget of say $3000 for the base car and another $5000 or less for the mods. And then build a bitching car that anyone would be proud to drive. (And would be fun to drive.)

--louis

Yes, this is what they tell me...

I don't take the credit for bringing that up, but it is an observation I have seen from time to time...

another point to add is that a cal look car is now normally a second car, or a hobby car or a toy, very few of them are used as daily transport and if they are they are bound to look worn with the european weather. back in the day this was there transport so were more work to keep in tip top condition, but well worth the effort.

of course it can, and for usually less than you think. it doesnt take a million dollars, just patience, common courtesy, some good friends and you can still build one relatively cheap. my 60 rag for instance, i traded some work to a friend for the car and paint job, so far $0, mind you this car was intended for my son and i to put together for his first car. we insstalled rag headliner and windows as soon as it was painted. cloth rag, window rubber and headliner$ 700. since it still didn't look like much, my 14 y.o. son says he doesn't really like it and wants a chevelle, so i say whatever put a tarp over it and dont touch it for another year, all the while picking up parts and pieces at swaps and from friends, spending maybe $1100 on rubber pieces, door panels, running boards and misc. parts. my so is now nearing 15 1/2 and we get him an 70 el camino, same as a chevelle but he can haul his dirtbike to the track, which he decides hes not really into working on, he wants something done already(dont we all). i tell start saving your money cause hes on his own now. ive also been saving my money and have dave folts build me a gearbox$1375, andpick up some 48's $990 and a set of brms $800 plus tires an adjustable front beam w/ discs $400.  i pull the tarp off and make the boy help me seperate body from pan, paint the pan and start installing all the goodies, reaquaint the body and now the car is starting to look like something and the boy is starting to get into it, all the while i'm still planning on giving him the car, but making him put some effort out, while he thinks hes still gonna have to save his money. now by my tally im into this car for about $5000. then out of nowhere my dad goes and buys the little bastard a truck and completely ruins my present to him as he again looses all interest in this car. so now i say screw it this car is mine and build a screamin 78x92 motor,10:5-1 comp. lightly ported heads $4800 to put those 48's on. buy the carpet kit$150, have the seats recovered$700, and buy some bumpers$700. put the rest of this stuff on and have a very nice looking and running car for under $11000 over the coarse of 2 1/2- 3 years. and yes, the little bastard is cryin about how bad he wants this car now, especially after i let him drive it, i hear him tellin his friends how bitchen it is, maybe when he gets out of the air force i might just let him have it. :)

oh yeah, i forgot to mention the look on his face after driving it: PRICELESS. yes he will carry the torch

Hmmm, interesting subject. Can we think of anyone among us who has been able to earn a decent living, for the past thirty-plus years, from the California Look?  ??? ;D

Any OC Police officer..

Nope, thats why I'm starting the nevada look !!!

So true Bill...

For me, starting out in the mid 70's as a VW mechanic, then later as a garage owner specializing in air cooled VW, 356 & 912 Porsche, I had my hand in plenty of Cal-Look cars. I didn't really rely solely on those cars to make a living, it seemed I could never charge enough for all the custom work anyway... more like a labor of love. I did however make genuine, long lasting friendships (John Rayburn for instance), gain respect in the local VW community as being a go to guy, and really had a lot of fun working on the very cars that were our passion.
I look forward to keeping the "Cal-look" alive. I'm sure some of the billet croud must think we are a bunch of dinosaurs but I know we all share a passion in this "Brotherhood" for the true look, feel, and even smell that our cars have.
Until I joined this forum, I had no idea that building cars the way we did would still be impacting good people worldwide to this day... doggone awesome if you ask me.
Personally, I believe the "Look" will stay alive, but with all the choices the kids have today along with the "I want it now" mentality, you can see why the off the shelf, throw away, Tuner cars are so popular... although I doubt a 2008 Civic with original "patina" will be sought after 40 years from now.  ;)

~DR.

Amen brother!!! today is kind of the disposable car culture. or cookie cutter crowd. for the kids

I think callook will survive in some way or another,it did until now so i think it will the comming years.Look at guys like Jesse or Died on this forum and some others that are in their 20ties they are building 70's style lookers and i think there is some following.

You will always have the die hards true the years that will keep the spirit up.I think a mayor concern is the pricing of parts etc and young guys who want to make a callooker cant always afford to build a complete car with their school scholarships but still then i think you will have the die hards 8)

Of course it will survive. If it doesn't, I'm stuffed! :D

On the subject of clean and shiny or dull and patinated, all I say is that as long as scruffy paint isn't seen as being the be-all and end-all of a project, then fine. But I firmly believe that when a car is being built from scratch, the ultimate aim should be to have a good paintjob. Maybe not right now, but certainly down the road. It still doesn't stop the car from being driven. Look at Bill's car – it gets used and has been used a lot, but it scrubs up well and looks bitchin' every single time Bill brings it out. Simply saying 'it's all about the stance', or 'it's all about the attitude' is being lazy.

My 2 cents...

Yes,cal-look will survive.It's been there for so long now.As for the subject on shiny cars,(in my case) I can't afford building a hardcore looker from the beginning.It will take some time(years!!?) >:( ,and money before my looker will be finished.In the meantime i enjoy it the way it is. ;D

Sorry,the subject(title) is Will cal-look survive?.,and not "A";sorry :-\ ;D

Of course ... maybe it will not be the most popular style but it survive !!!

At least my 13 years old son already have a 1300 '72 beetle that he really wants to make it a real cal-looker, and I'm glad with that.
I never forced him anything, so he could easily like german-look or something else.
But I know his friends, and no one have interest in volkswagen beetle ... so that my son have interst in a cal-look beetle is really nice.

It may be lazy to say it, but it aint far from the truth...
If you take a stock type 1 and paint it, would it then look like a looker?
But if you take a stock 1 and gave it some "attitude", I bet it would look a lot like a looker...

In my opinion people should spend their money on what gives them the most fun... whether its a engine or paint...
They are all welcome here anyway is the point...

I agree.

Most of our cars are works in progress anyway.

I think a finished car should be painted, although I would have a hard time painting a car that had it's 40 year old paint that had been cared for but was less than perfect.
I fully plan on driving my new project Oval in a nice black or grey suede primer until I'm sure I'm done with it mechanically. This also gives me time to buy all the little bits and pieces I'm sure to need when it's re-assembled after paint.
Make no mistake, it'll be no slouch in primer as I assure you it'll have the proper attitude... and attitude is a large part of the Cal-Look scene anyway right?

~DR. 

i think we are now seeing a new part of the scene ....

i will call it RETRO CAL .

i had a big long post typed out about this , but my laptop crashed just as i was rounding off :(

you dont know what you got til its gone .

This comment totally sum's it up for me, Im 19 and work as a apprentice, I dnt get mega money and save as much as i can to make my 66 bug as cal-look as i can. Thats my aim anyway, the only thing that silghtly puts me off posting my pics of my car on here is probs slight embarressment of not be accepted, or told that "thats not cal-look" as so many have been told, but we all have to start somewhere as you guys all did back when you were my age, I guess that most of you guys have spent alot of time building up these cars, but im young and want what you've got now lol, its true, But all i think thats need is a little more acceptance of those not in the same position as some of the more fortunate ones out there, Trust me the group of people on this forum and your cars DKP/JG54/DKK/etc are a bit like hero syblems, something to aspire to for me
I jst think that the standard that you set are so high and fantastic that it scares some ppl my age group off, (Not me thou im here to stay  ;D) thats all.

Im not saying you are a forum thats full of snobby rich guys with to much money,far from it, im saying that its hard for a struggling youngster to compete and be accepted as proper cal-look with such a high standard being set.

Jst my thoughts as one of those 19 year olds trying to contiune Cal-look 

And yes it will suvive  ;D
 ;)

this was not ment to offend anyone and i hope it dosn't

I have been a Cal-Look fan since 1984 when my Dad and I built my first Cal-Look.  My 58 Bug is Cal-Look 2275 Pro-Street tranny machine.  I am 39 Now driving my 1958 Cal-Look. 


I am still on the fence about the 56 Oval I just picked up.

Dokke you infested your son with your beetle mania? ;D

My daughter is in it too,we are building an engien as a father and daughter project ;D

The Cal Look will definitely survive! Heck, I know a percentage of us positing these comments are in our 50's.  The role of the older guys is to continue to create cars that represent the old look and how clean, simple and functional the cars are.  I take my chop top to cruise nights just so younger VW fans can see a driveable dual carb motor and nice car (not perfect car) that gives them ideas on what they can do.

I got into the scene in late 69 and have loved it for almost 40 years. I still get a rush when I see a well done Cal Looker (even if it is brand new).  I also appreciate the drivers like the GREEN 67 that keeps getting posted, as I have owned several of these type drivers and they are just as fun as the full tilt Cal Lookers.

DKP III has done a great job of keeping the so cal tradition alive too! Nothing sounds as cool as a dual weber VW motor...in a lowered 67 with BRMs or Alloys on it (in any state of completion). 

Like Don Bulitta, I love to get in mine and drive it. The looks, conversations and friendships that start from people checking your car out are priceless. Some of my longest running friends I gained through my interactions discussing our cars. In 1996, at the KELLY PARK show, I met Art Thraen.  I was parking my teal green 67 in the show and Art pulled in and parked by me in his IDA topped 66 he had driven to California from Salt Lake City, Utah.  Another great VW friendship began from our association with our cars.

The Cal Look will always remain and forums like these should keep a broad perspective so they can attract a broder base of people.  When you start limiting things to single looks, you limit the growth and participation.  Heck, I started out with bugs that had flared fenders and a lot of fiberglass on them in 1970 but by 72 evolved to the CAL LOOK myself.  Here is a shot of me with my first chop top attempt. It was a 57 Oval.  Soon after I finished the chop, someone bought it and converted it into a drag bug.

Rick M

Hey Rick, you've actually contributed to the GREEN 67.  A few years ago I got my 90.5 B Mahle's from you for the 2110 that's going together this winter.  Thanks!

Hey,

I like your 67.  In fact, if you ever sell it...call me.  Yeah... I wish I'd hung on to my 90.5s. Oh well, they are going to a good home.

Rick M

Thanks Rick.  I'm going to do my best to put them to good use!