Minimum requirements for a cal-look engine

[quickkafer]

Guess I am out of the leuge then....I have a type 4 motor....It runs well....It has been alive since 1991 in upgraded forms........It has been  fetured in the mags as a cal-look car a few times..........It runs low 12's and no fockin trailer around it.........It has been street raced regularly...............It look like a type one and has all the concidered richt stuff like Berg linkage, MSD coil and dist..............Hey it can even run on idle for an hour and not overheat...............So if all else is "by the book" I fall out on the fact that I have a type 4 motor, and most of the parts are bought from FAT/Greg Aronson and I even helped them develop a few things....................guess I was wrong!!!!!

On a positive note. I love to drive my VW with no problems and think that Happiness is a Hot VW!! So the minimum requirement of a Cal-look motor in my book is that it run flawlessly without hesitation, whitout popping, without oil leaking!!! And it does not make a lot of noise...till the butterflies goes WOT!!!

Well you've got me beat!  My car leaks oil, and just recently started hesitating.  (I've got some crap in my carbs.  My wife accidentally ran the tank dry and it sucked up all the crap at the bottom of the tank.  To her defense, the guage read 1/2 a tank!)  I got to iron out my issues this weekend!      Both of my cars are NOT dechromed and my other car has fully polished fuchs.  According to some, they need to be detail painted - NOT fully polished.  That might look good too.  I don't know, I haven't seen it.  I also like a full stock interior for my comfort.  My cars don't fit the Cal-Look bill 100%.  I'm not to worried about it.

I love a HOT VW!  Your car sounds AWESOME!  I'm less concerned with having a text book Cal-Looker than I am with having a car with great all around performance.  I didn't mean to ruffle feathers, I just stated my opinion.  I view the Cal-Look as a "period" look dating back to the late 60's and early 70's.  With that look carries "period only" parts and accessories.  That's my opinion.  But opinions are like buttholes... Everyone's got one... 

I also view the California Look as a "spirit" or state of mind.  Many say that turbos are not Cal-look.  By my definition of Cal-Look above, I'd have to agree.  However, if the original Cal-Look was created from street cars mimicking the drag cars of the time, if we fast forward the "spirit" of the cal-look by 30-40 years, we WOULD see turbos on our street cars.  If the parts we have today were made available back to the original cal-look guys (FAT, etc) don't you think they would have used them?  They wanted the most power they could create to go the fastest they could have gone!  They'd sell their grandmother off for an extra second in the 1/4 mile!

What do you think?

Scott Faivre

[quickkafer]

I'm not much for rules, I would never build something because I was trying to meet somebody else's expectations. So really, to me there are no rules, but above all it should just be functional and tidy. Detailing the appearance, and having an efficient combo makes the difference.

Jim, with all due respect, aren't you a new member of one of the best VW clubs around?  DKP's success is a result of their non-wavering rules.  Every one of the cars in that club are awesome due to "Quality over quantity."  I'm pretty sure from knowing you informally over the years from the cal-look.com forum that your car already met the rules and regs of DKP before you even thought of joining.  So I know you didn't build it just to "fit in."  You built it the way that you liked it!  That style just happens to be the same as DKP's.  (By the way... Congradulations!!! )  I'm friends with a few of the guys myself and I'm sure you'll be a welcomed addition to the club!

I don't think that there are any hard and fast rules of a Cal-look motor either such as you must have "this size engine" or "this brand and model of camshaft" or "this type of carburetors."  But you can't take a fully detailed and EXTREMELY, gaudy, flashy, neon, chrome, engine from the 80's and call that cal-look.

So I guess I'm saying that there are some general "guidelines", maybe not rules, but they're not hard & fast or set in stone.  Otherwise any one with some cheap Tiawanese accessories in their engine compartment would have a Cal-Look engine.

See what I'm getting at?  Am I wrong?

Scott Faivre