Internet Look or California Look?

[jick]

I totally agree, that there are quite a lot cars around, that were built to the highest standards and are show-winners but have no soul.

Very true.

i'm with you on that one......

[stealth67vw]

I totally agree, that there are quite a lot cars around, that were built to the highest standards and are show-winners but have no soul.

Very true.

That rings true with me too, just like the Hardley Davidsons all the rich yuppies are building these days. My dad calls them internet or ebay bikers.They spend $30,000-70,000+ for a "Custom" mail order bike. Then they buy the whole leather "costume" so they really fit in with the crowd. They blend into the back ground like a fish swimming with a school, afraid to look different and stand out. No soul and no character.

[Jordy/DVK]

 But I think we can expect a wave of such soulless cars, because Cal-look is getting a "fashion" over here. Soon all hoodriders and restolookers who see that cal-look is getting bigger and don't wanna miss out because they certainly don't want to be un-cool, build a car that's like the cars in the magazine just to be part of the hype...

 I think you should grow into Cal-look and your car should grow along with you...
 
 

[jick]

hmmm...i'm not so sure it'll become too much of a fashion thing.....it just costs too much money to build a proper cal-look car,
those other fads like the hoodride shit enable people to fit in with very little financial outlay.....

[ALIEN]

How did people manage to buy cars before internet?
You know, outside of their local newspaper offcourse...

me and my frends used days and weekends in our cars.... driving and looking for cars around everywere...

OH god i miss those old days...

Alien

[Jordy/DVK]

 But does it really take much money to build a car with a soul?

 
 And btw I don't think hoodride should disappear. I mean now some people will actually pay me for crap I'd have thrown away otherwise...

[jick]

no, i dont think you  need to spend money to build a car with soul, i think thats a different issue from my above post about cal-lookers becoming too commonplace.

 A lot of cars that i feel are lacking a certain something whether it's 'soul' or whatever, are the  pro built cars where the owner maybe hasn't put their own personality or mark into the car because the builder of the car isnt the owner/driver. i dont have any problem with people paying the professionals to build cars for them, but it bugs me when a read a feature about a car where the owner hasn't really known what to do with it and their chosen restorer/customiser has persuaded them to go for the cal-look.

then the car has no 'soul'

if you need someone else to tell you to build a cal look car then you shouldnt be doing it. 

[Jon]

Okay, if we agree on that a cal-looker is a bunch of parts, that makes up the "sole" of the car. What parts are the "solemaking" If you can say such a thing...??

[Jordy/DVK]

 It's the odd things in the otherwise perfect combination of parts/things that make a car a looker that is soul-giving...
 The personal touch, or just a well chosen/balanced combination of parts. And I personally think that 'wear'/patina is a nice touch, because it shows that a car is being used.
 
 That's also the reason why I bought real 37 year old rims, a used Berg shifter (hope it arrives soon ), NOS Red Hella taillights... no mailorder parts...
 Every idiot can select Cal-look items from a list in an Internet shop and screw them on their car... That's no fun...

 Also when deciding a colour for your rims. You can buy them off the shelf and spray them in whatever teint grey or athracite you have around in your garage or maybe leave them like mr. postman brought em, or you can spend days,weeks or even months deciding which exact colour to paint em.

And I think we perceive just that feeling or effort that went into a car when we judge a car...
 
 
 



 
 
 
 

[Zach Gomulka]

Jick, you took the words straight from my mouth. I couldnt have said it any better.

[Jon]

I think you are right Jordy, I feel that any "real car" has one ore two things that doesn't fit into the "mold"... something everyone today would NEVER fit to an otherwise perfect car. Also a car with ALL the usual suspects has a hard time getting a sole.
If you dare go with a few period parts that could have been used, you may end up with a car with a sole...

Just my 2 cents.

[The Ideaman]

  a used Berg shifter (hope it arrives soon )
 

It's on the way.

[Rick Meredith]

Jim (and others) I think you're right but there's also one more thing... and it is the hardest thing to quantify.

It's a balance that comes from the right combination of parts, attitude, stance, apperance and maybe aura.

I can often spot it it others cars way before I see it in my own car... maybe because I can be too close to the subject. Like when I look at the picture of my '67 that I've posted here. At the time, I always wondered if I got it right... I though I may have it but I wasn't sure... now I can look at it and say... yeah I got it

One thing else I'll say is that this "soul" as we called it is certainly not limited to Cal-Look cars. I just spent 4 hours today looking at a couple of thousand hot rods at the Grand National Roadster Show this afternoon and maybe 15% of them had it.

[jick]

It's the odd things in the otherwise perfect combination of parts/things that make a car a looker that is soul-giving...
 The personal touch, or just a well chosen/balanced combination of parts. And I personally think that 'wear'/patina is a nice touch, because it shows that a car is being used.
 
 That's also the reason why I bought real 37 year old rims, a used Berg shifter (hope it arrives soon ), NOS Red Hella taillights... no mailorder parts...
 Every idiot can select Cal-look items from a list in an Internet shop and screw them on their car... That's no fun...

 Also when deciding a colour for your rims. You can buy them off the shelf and spray them in whatever teint grey or athracite you have around in your garage or maybe leave them like mr. postman brought em, or you can spend days,weeks or even months deciding which exact colour to paint em.



And I think we perceive just that feeling or effort that went into a car when we judge a car...
 
 

yeah, well put Jordy......i'm picking up 2 new front wheels for my '59 tomorrow, and i cant wait, i'll post a picture when i get 'em!

[Lids]

I think soul comes from the quirky ideas that don't make the car conform.

Its funny, as teenagers we all want to fit into a type of gang, as we get older, we become less concerned about how we are perceived by others and we find our own fashion.  Surly this should apply to our cars as well.  I would hate anybody to say my car is similar to so and so's, I like to think it is different (No sarcastic comment Jick), but also has certain features that people recognise.  I also hope its got a blend of function and looks.  For example it has stoneguards on the headlights does this mean it is not cal-look?

[jick]

get your fucking done lids.

see Mike.....no sarcsam.

i'll give you a call later dude.

[Eddie DVK]

The internet is an addition for me because we can exchange experiences with peolpe we otherwise would never met...

But on the other hand, I think the reason why callook cars look alike also got to do with the internet...
If for instance I say I want to built a type 4 engine in my (callook) car .....80% of the people on the callook forums are the first to say
oooh thats not callook...So what do you get another car with the same typ 1 engine....I used a mexico body  (Because it didn t had any rot, and try to find a body with no rot in the netherlands) for most people a No No for callook....

So aren t we all creating the same cars by telling them....that curten things aren t callook..

But hey thats my oppion

Kind Regards Edgar

[Lids]

get your fucking done lids.

see Mike.....no sarcsam.

i'll give you a call later dude.

I'm hoping the weather improves over half term, should be done then

[SOB/RFH]

I think having "IT" is the thing that makes a car stand-out......"It" could be the owner with a great personality or the right stuff composed together or just the timeless, good taste mixed with some upgrades never seen before. One thing that never fails is the rake and position of the wheels......lot's of horsepower (not written) that is used goes a long way too. And above all the sedate and timeless composistion of parts. I think in the end that the major thing that differs is the non search for expo in mags compared to conventional customized cars begging for "come and see me"........This is a very interseting subject. I like it!! Internet....probably raised the interest in people, the man behind, or just opened a market for parts worldwide!!

[larry mck]

There is a formula to build a Cal-Look bug and anyone can do it, but to do it right takes some talent. For the car to have soul it has to earn it. It can do that by getting out there and racing, showing or just plain time on the road with a loving owner. All this builds history. If you got it right you'll know, and feel it. People will come up and say cool car or just stand and look. There are always jerks who will pick apart any car(they mostly don't have a done car). The most important thing is how you feel about it, do you enjoy driving it? Dose it make you happy?  I learned this the hard way tring to please the judges.

[Ivan]

Personally, I own a pre-internet car - I had to work very hard to get the components I wanted to have on and in the car having written numerous letters and spent a fortune in trans-atlantic phone calls to track stuff down.
Before the interent it was left to us, the staff of magazines to spread the Cal Look word, well us an people who shared the  photos they had taken. VolksWorld did more to spread the word and than anyone outside of Orange County - check back through back issues from 1991 onwards and you'll confirm this for yourself. Inside of Orange County, it was Bill, Dave, Hector and the other club members of DKP III.
When I built the '67 I still have to this day - no one else in the UK had built an Old School styled Cal Look Bug, new Flat 4 BRMs weren't out and the fever hadn't started to hit Europe - in fact only a few people were tuned in, one of them being Pal Rui in Oslo, Norway.   
Things changed within a very short time - the UK saw a lot of cars built, and Belgium seemed to become the No1 place for Cal look cars on mainland Europe with the DAS club really going for it.
The internet has changed things - no doubt about it, but personally, I don't think that's a bad thing - far from it. Sure you could say there are numerous very similar cars built - but at the same time each and every one has certain differences which have been added by the owners and make the car 'belong' to the owner - for example Jim Ratto's Bug is Jim Ratto's Bug - Bill Schwimmer's is known as his the world over and remember - all we're talking about here is 2 cars in 22 million... I think it says a lot when a car owner is 'known' by name and a car known as belonging to a certain person - who made be on the other side of the world.
Sure the internet has spread the word and opened the world up, but the fact this means the California Look has become even more popular is great news in my opinion. It's a tried and tested style that is popular for good reasons. Anyway, Beetles all look similar until you start looking closer.
   

[Pekka]

Not everyone can be a leader and without followers there will never be a "style". But who cares if a lot of cars were xeroxed? It's the stand out cars that attract attention and those we love to see. I think if you want you can easily build an individual ride but some people just don't have the creativity and they are happier to go along with the crowd.

.I used a mexico body  (Because it didn t had any rot, and try to find a body with no rot in the netherlands) for most people a No No for callook....

I believe there is a very cool porsche sepia brown US '67 replica based on a mex bug in DAS? I think that car is quite respected nevertheless.

And I always disliked people who think they know better and insist on imposing their view on you... it's like society in general, an religions in particular.

[sheep]

Jim I remember that car, it didnt have it at all.
Do you remember a red 67 in Livermore that had a 48 ida motor and widened stock wheels painted bright white.
That car didnt really have the cal look, but it had a look all the chicks couldnt resist.

[Jon]

The car you mention Jim seems to have passed the point of Cal-look, but I still have to ask, are only the cars with "it", cal-lookers?

[Andi/DFL]

but I still have to ask, are only the cars with "it", cal-lookers?

I think, there are a lot of cal-lookers without having "it" (I want a shirt with "I have IT" on the front :-)
Surely they're cal-lookers, but they don't mean much to me, or they don't impress me, or whatever... There's just missing something - a cool owner. some little scratches, that tell stories. Just "it". :-))

[alex d]

my car has scratches, does it have "it"? 

[Andi/DFL]

my car has scratches, does it have "it"?

yes, if you have the shirt :-))

[Tobi/DFL]

I love this topic! It´s something I´ve discussed quite often a while ago with some friends. A friend of us has built up a very nice car with all the "top parts" you can buy lately and the car really looks good - but it´s missing the spirit which some other cars have. About 2 years ago a user in our DFL forum created the word "catalogue car" for it...
In my opinion every car reflects its owner´s personality. Sometimes I look at a car and think to myself "oh, this is a guy who just bought all those crazy parts to be hip" and then I see other cars which - in my opinion - have "it" because I think their owners "live" this cal look thing. Cars like Andi´s '64, Paul Rui´s Split or the Alien Bug come to mind.

[alex d]

my car has scratches, does it have "it"?

yes, if you have the shirt :-))

I'll have to make one

[Jon]

I think "it" can come from choosing parts with some actual thoughts... regarding the functionality of the parts and not just how rare it is. Some seem to  just aim for what everyone else has/ or the hype of the month. Thoughts ads personality, and own ideas.
That being said, I guess there are some guys with "Catalogue personalities" too