The early 80's

[SOB/RFH]

Not all was raspberry red 1776 kadron motored slammed cars unable to move without a bikini girls leaning on them. I meen ther must have been some great stories from those days too....not in KS bible but anyway part of our heritage...scooters, nabicso and race for the gold series and bergs empire running on high octane. Spread som light on history and lighten up the dark scandinavien winter with some of them!!   

[alex d]

I miss the bikini girls (but NOT chrome louvered firewalls!!!) 

[The Ideaman]

Back in 1980, Mesa, Arizona was a cruising hotspot and a nightmare for the city fathers.  Main Street was a happening place.  People from all over the valley, and sometimes the entire southwest came to cruise, streetrace and meet girls.  Magazines gave it coverage.  Car Craft magazine used to devote a bunch of ink to the place. Upwards of 1000 cars would show up, with all sorts of styles from streetracers and musclecars to hydraulic equipped lowriders.  One weekend, we were sitting in our usual place, when an early big windowed sunroof car pulled up with black California plates.  A couple older guys (mid to late 20's is reallly old when you are 17) got out and started talking to us.  I don't remember their club name, there was a sticker in the quarter window, but one of them said "the little tanks" was what it translated to.  DKPII ?  Said they drove from Southern California.  I had a 1835 with kadrons in my 66 at the time, but they dusted me twice on a sidestreet, around the corner from the police station.  It wasn't even really a race.  By the top of second they were 5 cars out.  My feelings were a little hurt.  When we returned to the parking lot by Jack in the Box, they showed us the car in detail.  We spent a bunch of time talking about wedgemating, a Berg 5, and all sorts of stuff pertaining to hot street cars.  Put my high school hotrod to shame.  Car had ida's and Berg linkage, and the inside smelled new.  The doors closed with a touch.  I was impressed.  They hung around with us for a while and then cruised back and forth a few times.  Then they were gone.  27 years later, and I can still remember the smell, fresh paint and racing gas.  Later that week I ordered my first Berg shifter, thanks to them. 






Wow, I'm getting old.  Wheres my fiber tablets?

[javabug]

That's a killer story, Luke.   

[Rick Meredith]

Man... I wish I could remember better than I do. I know a lot of cool stuff happened. 

Well we did have a club meeting at the Denny's in Anaheim where Dyno grenaded a trans in the parking lot.

Cruising Whittier Blvd. used to be fun.

I've told you guys most of my good stories!

[Rick Meredith]

Back in 1980, Mesa, Arizona was a cruising hotspot and a nightmare for the city fathers.  Main Street was a happening place.  People from all over the valley, and sometimes the entire southwest came to cruise, streetrace and meet girls.  Magazines gave it coverage.  Car Craft magazine used to devote a bunch of ink to the place. Upwards of 1000 cars would show up, with all sorts of styles from streetracers and musclecars to hydraulic equipped lowriders.  One weekend, we were sitting in our usual place, when an early big windowed sunroof car pulled up with black California plates.  A couple older guys (mid to late 20's is reallly old when you are 17) got out and started talking to us.  I don't remember their club name, there was a sticker in the quarter window, but one of them said "the little tanks" was what it translated to.  DKPII ?  Said they drove from Southern California.  I had a 1835 with kadrons in my 66 at the time, but they dusted me twice on a sidestreet, around the corner from the police station.  It wasn't even really a race.  By the top of second they were 5 cars out.  My feelings were a little hurt.  When we returned to the parking lot by Jack in the Box, they showed us the car in detail.  We spent a bunch of time talking about wedgemating, a Berg 5, and all sorts of stuff pertaining to hot street cars.  Put my high school hotrod to shame.  Car had ida's and Berg linkage, and the inside smelled new.  The doors closed with a touch.  I was impressed.  They hung around with us for a while and then cruised back and forth a few times.  Then they were gone.  27 years later, and I can still remember the smell, fresh paint and racing gas.  Later that week I ordered my first Berg shifter, thanks to them. 






Wow, I'm getting old.  Wheres my fiber tablets?

If the stickers were blue, it was DKP if they were beige or clear w/black then it was a DKK car.

[The Ideaman]

I remember lots of blue and gold on the sticker.  The car was Porsche India Red, and I believe it had Fuchs.  Anybody remember such a car?  Full trim and Euro bumpers.

[Rick Meredith]

DKP then.

[speedwell]

I remember lots of blue and gold on the sticker.  The car was Porsche India Red, and I believe it had Fuchs.  Anybody remember such a car?  Full trim and Euro bumpers.

that car  but there isn't no chrome and no euro bumper 

[speedwell]

or may be is  shubee's car you have seen at that time   
shubee have you some memories about this 

[The Ideaman]

It was a 58-63 car.

[Dave Galassi]

Let's turn back the clock.........

In the early eighties, what I remember most were the shows, shops, rallies and swaps.  I had just purchased my early Notchback and I didn't have a finished car to drive, so my focus was on the parts.  It was a great time (read as easier and more fun) to build a car.  Berg was the bastion of quality high performance.  I remember going there and dreaming of a total Berg engine, right down to the killer crank.  When I finally earned enough money working at Russ' VW Recycling, I went down and bought a set of Berg prepped 42 DCNF's.  I was in the poor house, but ecstatic.
For a type 3 freak like myself at the time, it was amazing.  Bill and Steve's had just opened at the start of '83 and you could walk in the door and buy NOS stuff that would blow your mind.  They would get parts from everywhere, Germany, Guatemala (the Hot VW treasure hunts), A guy named Herbie out of New York..........the sources were amazing.  Bob at Vintage, Bob Costas and other parts places were equally as interesting for Type 1 and 2 parts.  Tony hadn't opened WW yet! 
I used to work the Intershows with Bill and Steve's, helping them haul their parts in various Type 2's  down to the Orange County Fairgrounds.  My only stipulation was that I needed time to check out the vendors when I got there.  I distinctly remember purchasing an original Bug In banner from Rich Kimball for $50.00 and I wondered whether I paid too much.  It was common to see sets of eight spokes for sale and just as often to find something else EMPI or VW, NOS, in a pile of parts with the vendor not sure of what they had.  An NOS Type 3 Rev counter for $120.00 at Pomona.  I thought I died and went to heaven, the first one I had ever seen.   
In a recent post, there was talk about the cheesy graphic, flourescent colors and Brazilian (it wasn't China at the time) chrome cars that pervaded the scene, but I remember the really clean cars that were coming out at the time, especially guys like Jim Moore and his Notch, which had a 48'ed 2180 Type 3 engine in it with original Fuchs. I wish you all could have seen what Shubee was building at the time, nice stuff.  He also built the first real sleeper VW I had ever seen, down to the fake pea shooters.  Beautiful cars.  Guys like Rich Kimball, Charlie and Stuart Hamill, Steve and Ken, Jeff Walters........they were the players who had great connections for parts.  The best of the bunch though?  Chris Morley.  He could find the lost arc of the covenant if the price was right!  When I was finishing my Notch, I desperately needed an NOS dash to top it off, so to speak.  I asked Chris and he had a friend find one and carry it with him on a commercial flight from Finland!  Cost?  My right arm, but he could find the goods.  When I went to Chris' house to pick it up, it was surreal, to say the least.  When I entered the front door, I could see the fireplace, but instead of having logs in and around it, it was filled with NOS Bosch fog lamps that he was trying to organize!  In the middle of the room was a pile (read as huge) of semaphores that he was testing with a battery and cables.  The kitchen counter? Boxes (30 +) of early NOS Type 1 locking column ignitions.  Cars on the side.......cars in the back yard.........and a mountain of trannys in the garage.  Burned in my memory.

EMPI?  Shubee was a deity.  He had more stuff than you guys could only dream of, and he knew (knows) the history better than anyone I've ever met.  I still have dreams about the NOS Empi engine at his house in Baldwin Park.  Larry Rick and Steve Walker were (and are) some of the most knowledgable parts finders too, and at the time, they were scrounging dealerships, buying up heart tail lights, semaphores and anything else they saw, that the dealers really didn't care about.  I personally remember going through a 40 foot trailer at Harry Hill VW, filled with NLA NOS VW parts.  Found some amazing stuff, took it to Intershows and sold it to finance the Notch!
Through Bill and Steve's, I got to know John Sandoval, who was a DKP II member and on top of that, a really nice guy.  He shared stories of their club days and gave (yes) me his membership cards and all of his BugIn dash plaques.  They weren't a big deal at the time.  He had already sold his car and was moving on to being a family man, like many of us do.  I wish I could get ahold of him.

I remember the last Bug In, but only the swap area!  I was hell bent on finishing my car and had to have all the right parts!  I wish I had spent more time at the drags and shows.  Talk about the shows, Intershows to be exact.  There were nice cars to be found, you just had to shade your eyes from the cheese.  Ray Walker's maroon oval rag, Don Metz's Riviera's '68 and his convertible, Steve Makepeace's '66, just to mention a few.  Wow, Steve's car is now in Japan, Ray's is gone and Metz still has both of them! 

Rally time.  They were a big deal and I remember getting psyched up to run them.  One in particular that I remember, was put on by an OC club, but I can't remember the affiliation.  Anyway, Steve Makepeace and I had hatched up a plan to win the burnout contest, which was held at the end of the rally.  We rigged up a bottle and pump under the back seat of his big Berg engined '66 and ran lines in front of both rear tires.  Filled it with Antifreeze (we laugh about it still) and went to run the rally.  We finish, turn our paperwork over and head over to the burnout area (in a commercial grocery store parking lot, in the afternoon of a busy Saturday).  I get out, Steve hits the button, rolls into the antifreeze with the rears and proceeds to boil the hides for 60 some odd feet as I recall.  Yes, a ZF.  We are pretty much stoked and feeling like we've got this one wrapped up.  Then one of the last vehicles to finish the rally pulls in and stages....................a new (early eighties) To#¤ta automatic short bed truck that peg legs a 100 + foot stripe down the parking lot.  We laughed so damn hard......I am laughing as I type!   At another rally, this time a Berg Rally, I was a rear seat passenger in Turbo Bob Hemphill's red bug (before it had a Turbo!  That long ago.) and we had just had a blast running through OC and seeing so many high quality cars.  At the Shakey's Pizza Parlour, where everyone met at the end, there was a raffle and I won a Berg Part (can't remember what is was) and I was stoked.  I went over to thank Gene, who I had never met, but desperately wanted to.  Not only was he gracious, we spent the rest of the evening talking VW and Berg history.  I won't soon forget his telling of how he was trained to service (VW Dealer) VW's and his wealth of knowledge.  I still have the raffle ticket today.

Wow, I hope I didn't get too off topic or make too long a post.  It was a great time to be into VW's.

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Dave I Remember those Days Too  And I Do Remember all That EMPI Stuff I Had At Least I Did Keep A Few Things dont know why I hung on to them But It Will sure Help with the Build up On My  67 Old School Cal Look I am Doing  I also Remember the Ralley That Was Put on by are Club DSK it was called DSK's Wacky Ralley II as far as I can Remember We were the Only Club that ever had a Burn Out Contest We had it at the Last Check Point before the end of the Ralley because if everyone would have know where the burn out contest was going to be heald no one would have ran the ralley and it would have got busted  by the Police Dept. It was A lot of fun back in those Days The part I like the Best about the Ralleys was they use to start at Montgomery Wards on Harbor and Orangethrope the clubs would caravan and as they entered the parking lot of Wards it had a nice Long Straight a Way Which All The Cars did a Burn out Coming in to the Lot I sure Loved the Sound of all those WEBER Motors I Remember one Ralley  Roger Crawford Put his Drag Motor out of Bad Company in his street car for the Races after the Ralley I Wish Someone that was in to the Cal Look's Back Then would open up a Store and Repop The Quality Original Stuff not all the cheap Crap I think theres a Market for it and People that want the real Thing  would buy it...

[speedwell]

It was a 58-63 car.

may be those the first one is an dkp car but no fuschs   , and the second isn't an dkp car  

[Dave Galassi]

Dave I Remember those Days Too  And I Do Remember all That EMPI Stuff I Had At Least I Did Keep A Few Things dont know why I hung on to them But It Will sure Help with the Build up On My  67 Old School Cal Look I am Doing  I also Remember the Ralley That Was Put on by are Club DSK it was called DSK's Wacky Ralley II as far as I can Remember We were the Only Club that ever had a Burn Out Contest We had it at the Last Check Point before the end of the Ralley because if everyone would have know where the burn out contest was going to be heald no one would have ran the ralley and it would have got busted  by the Police Dept. It was A lot of fun back in those Days The part I like the Best about the Ralleys was they use to start at Montgomery Wards on Harbor and Orangethrope the clubs would caravan and as they entered the parking lot of Wards it had a nice Long Straight a Way Which All The Cars did a Burn out Coming in to the Lot I sure Loved the Sound of all those WEBER Motors I Remember one Ralley  Roger Crawford Put his Drag Motor out of Bad Company in his street car for the Races after the Ralley I Wish Someone that was in to the Cal Look's Back Then would open up a Store and Repop The Quality Original Stuff not all the cheap Crap I think theres a Market for it and People that want the real Thing  would buy it...

I'm sure my rear view vision is tinted by nostalgia, but it was a great time.  Orange County was less developed and had some wide open spaces where the Webers could cackle.......I sure remember that as well.  It was so much fun.  Treasure hunting Intershows and Pomona, analyzing the cars at the shows (we still do that don't we!) and seeing friends, which have become old friends.  I wish you were still out here Shubee!  Sunday sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.  Danny Gabbard stopped by my work a few weeks ago and I thought he said he would make it as well.  With the regular crowd, Sheep and Larry, it will be a bit like old times. 

Shubee, as you know, I was always impressed with your cars.  Done right.  As a type 3 guy at the time, your Squareback was killer.

Uncle Jim, thank you, as always, for your kind words, but it seems far fetched to be on the same wall as Sabbath and Zeppelin! 

I can remember getting the call to go and see the latesttreasure booty hauled in from foreign lands.....it was a rush.

I still haven't pulled out the '62, but I hope to later today to put the new gennie in it. I'm really looking forward to Sunday, my last hurrah before Russia!

Whatever happened to Al Martinez?  Dave Barnes?

[javabug]

and the second isn't an dkp car  

Ah, Wally's sunroof!  That's the car that I first saw with Fuchs.  Cal-look issue from the mid-90s with a few pics; still have it, missing the cover.


Also:  Thanks much to Dave, Shubee, and everyone with great stories.  This is excellent reading.

[Rick Meredith]

Wow Dave, Jimmy Moore... that's a name I haven't heard for a while. I ran into him at a Fabulous Ford's Forever show oh must have been 5 years ago or so. He had quit working for Saleen and was on his own making some parts or restoring Mustangs... I can't remember which.

His Notcher was very nice!

[Cornpanzer]

Yup Galassi's Notch was a very special car.  How special?  Well.......

  I met Dave just a couple years ago at Alan Weiss's house.  he introduced himself and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to place where I knew that name from.  I know Dave thought I was nuts, because I was really beating myself up trying to place the name as I knew we had never met.  Finally he mentioned that he had a Notch that was in HVW's back in the day and as soon as he said that, I started rattling off the details. (blue, 924 turbo wheels, bumper overriders, etc etc...)

Yup, 20+ years before I had been a teenager in Ohio (and for you Scandanavians or Europeans who feel that you are isolated, Ohio from a cultural standpoint was just as foriegn as Norway when it came to Cal-Look!) reading that story on Galassi's Notch and dreaming of California!  That car impacted me so much that his name stck with me for more than 20 years!   What a geek eh? 

Hey Dave, what up?!?!  Whats this about Russia?  Wife shopping?   

[Dave Galassi]

Wow Dave, Jimmy Moore... that's a name I haven't heard for a while. I ran into him at a Fabulous Ford's Forever show oh must have been 5 years ago or so. He had quit working for Saleen and was on his own making some parts or restoring Mustangs... I can't remember which.

His Notcher was very nice!

It sure was Rick.  I used it as a bar to shoot for while I built mine.  It had the look, to me, and was a performer.  I knew he was a person that would stay in the car business.  He had an eye for quality.

Yup Galassi's Notch was a very special car. How special? Well.......

 I met Dave just a couple years ago at Alan Weiss's house. he introduced himself and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to place where I knew that name from. I know Dave thought I was nuts, because I was really beating myself up trying to place the name as I knew we had never met. Finally he mentioned that he had a Notch that was in HVW's back in the day and as soon as he said that, I started rattling off the details. (blue, 924 turbo wheels, bumper overriders, etc etc...)

Yup, 20+ years before I had been a teenager in Ohio (and for you Scandanavians or Europeans who feel that you are isolated, Ohio from a cultural standpoint was just as foriegn as Norway when it came to Cal-Look!) reading that story on Galassi's Notch and dreaming of California! That car impacted me so much that his name stck with me for more than 20 years! What a geek eh?

Hey Dave, what up?!?! Whats this about Russia? Wife shopping?

Thank you Dave.  The check is in the mail.  That car was my life for four years, and I am dead serious when I say it.

You weren't nuts, just a car guy like the rest of us.  I can still remember every facet of building that car.  I learned a lot from it and cherish the friends I made, like you.

My wife and I just accepted the referrals of two Russian orphans and will be heading over there in the next several weeks to petition the court to adopt them.  Then, if all goes well, we will be heading there again within the month to bring them home.

Thanks again for the kind words. 

[nicolas]

well first off: good luck with the adoption! there are a lot of people in this world who need help, but taking a kid into your family like that is on a whole other level.

and thanks for all the stories, i love that era. some of the nicest cars where made in those days

and please post/ or mail me a picture of that notch (blue with the porsche rims) i am a type3 guy myself and restoring a fastback, but i'dd love to have a few more pictures for the finishing of my car.

thanks

[Cornpanzer]

Galassi, WOW! 
I will be facinated to hear how that goes as I know that it is a big project to adopt from Eastern Europe.  One of my former coworkers is married to an East German girl who was an orphan.  She is a filmaker and is finishing up a film about the orphanage that she lived in.
Shoot me your cell....I lost it
Cornpanzer @ sbcglobal.net

[Cornpanzer]

Where is this car now? 

[SOB/RFH]

Thnks jim......I have lotof memories from that era.....And like cornpazer said, being a car guy in sweden and at that time very lonley in the scene (probably the first looker here) so I got my ticks from rading Hot VW and VW Greats...........


I love the cars in the borderline between street and race.....remember the Car Craft US top ruising spots and pictures from Whitter and Van Nuys showed up from time to time even here..........but being at the spot, when the parking lot is filled and the barks from IDA:s pulses agaianst concrete walls and the haggling in setting up the street races or the V8 vs the VW war.....gives more of this era..............Dyno Don speedshifting Mike Martinez top shop or the east LA turbo racers....some one need to step in and let the word out!!! I am eager to absorb it all!!! How about the ever present non fully painted cars from the cover of the magazines....how about the primered nitrous cars of the day............yeah those were cool and Mile Mabes KG that made the cover, but not the tens!!

So far, you guys have made my day, thanks!      

[Rick Meredith]

Where is this car now? 

Is that Dumper???

[Cornpanzer]

yup

[Dave Galassi]

well first off: good luck with the adoption! there are a lot of people in this world who need help, but taking a kid into your family like that is on a whole other level.

and thanks for all the stories, i love that era. some of the nicest cars where made in those days

and please post/ or mail me a picture of that notch (blue with the porsche rims) i am a type3 guy myself and restoring a fastback, but i'dd love to have a few more pictures for the finishing of my car.

thanks

I'll try Nicolas, but if anyone has access and can post an old photo faster, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Rick Meredith]

yup

I wonder what happened to the Deans... there were 3 brothers; John, Mark & Gary. They all had very clean cars and they were all in DKK but none of them were in the club at the same time... they each took their turn.

John had Dumper... I only met him a couple of times.

Mark had one of the cleanest '67s you ever saw... yet it never got written up in a magazine. He was instrumental (along with Dave McNew) in getting me into DKK. He sold the car to some guy who lived in Anaheim Hills... Bill may remember the name. I remember Bill and I went up to this guys house one night and helped him work on this car... we wound up getting in a beer fight and soaking each other down. Ironically, I hadn't had anything to drink that night. I remember driving Bill home and then myself home, well past midnight, and thinking that it would just my luck to get pulled over being soaked in beer and having to try explaining my way out of a DUI!

Gary had a very clean RHD Notch.

[Rick Meredith]

Where is this car now? 

You know who might know would be Jon Chabot of Topline.

[Cornpanzer]

Ask and ye shall receive.
I shoudl start a side business scanning old magazine photos for you guys.  $3.00 a page to my Paypal  

[Cornpanzer]

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