which callook trends didn't stand the test of time

[nicolas]

as the title says, what was done in yesteryear to callook cars and is seldom seen today ( dechroming come to mind  ), but also the fitment of 165 tyres and i think a lot changed.
so what are some of the things you noticed, experienced, used to have and are not common or seen today. it can go from add-ons, rims, accessories, engines,...

[Lids]

custom dash

[beetletom]

RX exhausts
velour interiors
'cal look' scripts
louvered decklids
pastel paint
peep mirrors
 

[Wünderwolff]

My car is dechromed and has a custom dash! No louvered decklid, but a scooped one is pretty close (I see it as one big louver). Does this mean I'm out of fashion 

[bugnut68]

Center mount fan shrouds
Angle-cut fan shrouds
Rapid-Cool oil coolers bolted to the back of any fan shroud
louvered running boards
Giese style roof scoops (more of a baja or road race look I suppose)
anything painted in day-glo colors
one-piece door glass
Monza mufflers (many hate 'em, I'm not so opposed, myself)
lettering down the sides of the cars (also was a big Hawaiian trend in the mid to late '80s)

[54Kab]

...one-piece door glass...

 - Really ?   -'not stand the test of time' . . .  

...OK, they may not be done as often, but that's probably because they're a bitch to get right...  Looks-wise, they're still bang-on  


 


 . . for example, a new Club car being debuted at this weekends Volksworld show...


 


(

[Black Sheep]

Pastle colour's
White window rubber's  
colour coded wheels
frenched in rear lights , and license plate's
suicide doors
colour coded running boards
smoothed out hood handle's
lost in space narrowed beam's  

I'm a bit stuck with one piece window's , as my car came with them fitted as standard   

[PIMPPRIDE]

some of the above need to be kicked off the list...   

think of the " Herrod Helper  " gone... except for the one car making a statement

Anthony / ISP WEST 

[bugnut68]

...one-piece door glass...

 - Really ?   -'not stand the test of time' . . .  

...OK, they may not be done as often, but that's probably because they're a bitch to get right...  Looks-wise, they're still bang-on  


 


 . . for example, a new Club car being debuted at this weekends Volksworld show...


 


(

There may be cars that still have them, but from what I've seen more people are shying away from them since they're such a PITA to install.  For me, some things aren't worth that much effort for a certain look, but that's just me.  I prefer having the stock vent window in place, myself, both in terms of visual and in terms of purpose.  My first car had one piece door glass and I hated them... never could get them right.  Of course, that car also had shaved door handles... that's something else that should be added to the list I guess!

[Jim Ratto]

Big ass nuclear sound systems. One thing I hated about VW events for the longest time.

[bugnut68]

Big ass nuclear sound systems. One thing I hated about VW events for the longest time.

x2... super weak, IMO.  I couldn't help but laugh at the dorks that were blasting out Color Me Badd in their hi-po stereo set up in their modded Jettas and Golfs.. then there were guys playing NWA and other (c)rap and hip-hop in their Bugs and what not.   

[TexasTom]

Then again, where's the INNOVATION?
Next thing I'm going to see listed is 'dual quiet-pack mufflers'!!!
Does every car have to be a cookie-cutter replication with only different wheels and color?
I never thought or think of the 'Cal-Look' to be represented by a restored car with a 48IDA motor, lowered in front with custom wheels ... it's got to go much farther than that!

One piece windows and dechroming were and in my mind still ARE hard core & TRUE "Cal-Look" trends that I look for to find the 'keepers of the flame' cars.
Think about the best of the original cars ... Dave Rhoads comes to mind right away. Are you saying his car ISN'T "Cal-Look" (anymore )
I'd tend to disagree. Take another look.

I welcome the trends and innovation ... a lot of it just didn't work, from an engineering stand point, i.e. aluminum fan shrouds, etc. ... then again, everyone was itching to find an NOS center-mount fan shroud & stand after Shawn Geers dared to put one on his entry ... surrounded by Terminators, how can you lose?
Life is boring without change/difference.
Trends will always come and go, and that's predicted by those that dare to go back in time and reinstitute a past fad and make it cool again ... or DARE to go OUTSIDE the box and actually come up with a new idea that everyone HAS TO HAVE!

There'll probably be a car at the Classic in a few years with a scoop mounted oil-cooler and everyone will be going crazy over it ... Hell it'll probably have a velour interior, roller pedal, and a wink mirror ... UGH!

Makes me think ... maybe I'll just leave my car the way it is rather than change and blend in ... ?

[Worm]

Chrome fan shrouds and tin
Vittaloni mirrors
Wink mirrors  short or full width.....ha
Select a drops
smoke lens headlight glass
chrome glove box doors
cutting holes in the front trunk for your 6x9 speakers above your feet
putting vodka in the pressurized washer bottle (and running the hose into the glove box)
Billet
Louvered firewalls Louvered anything
Painted writing or cartoon something on the deck lid
Stinger exhaust (with or with out super trap insert)
Chrome valve covers
Shitty external coolers (with hose clamps everywhere)  We all ran em at one time or another
Holly Bug Spray
Full Bras color matched.....uh
Did I say Billit?  ha Its worth mentioning again
Those stupid 76 foam balls on your antennea

Oh.... theres more

[TexasTom]

OMG ... I still have a small box of highly prized "76" antenna balls.
You don't like it? You can WALK!

LMAO!

[Jim Ratto]

putting vodka in the pressurized washer bottle (and running the hose into the glove box)

why not Meyer's rum?

[Jim Ratto]

Curly Q engine wiring.

[.]

Whilst rummaging through a number of 1980's and 90's VW magazines recently for a friend, I kept seeing articles about Cal-Look cars with roof racks and swamp coolers !
My God I hope that never comes back !

[Rick Meredith]

Louvered firewalls Louvered anything

Those stupid 76 foam balls on your antennea

My louvered firewall is so staying as well as my 76 ball!    

I was the one that started the 76 balls in DKK... I showed up with a box of them @ Bug-In and went down the club display and put one on everyones car!  

[danny gabbard]

Zig-Zag papers !! And brass pipes!!

[Fiatdude]

Zig-Zag papers !! And brass pipes!!

SSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Just because you had a problem doen't mean the rest of us .. ..had. .. . a . ... ... . .prob    . .. . --- opps -- yep, ur right they gotta go -----   LMAO

[Kaferdog]

"BILLIT" ( Dizzy covers,Knobs,door handles,dash,mirrors,bumpers,running boards....etc)...gets my vote !...I never cared for it

[Sam K]

Honda Prelude front seats
Flourescent pink engine sheetmetal
Clear distributor caps
Fake knockoffs on fake EMPI 5 and 8 spokes

[low oval]

turquoise paint jobs
one piece tinted windows
dechrome
vitalone mirrors
76 balls
oh no.....................................

[TexasTom]

GEEZ ...

[Fiatdude]

found a deal on these

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[Speed-Randy]

Big ass nuclear sound systems. One thing I hated about VW events for the longest time.

Could not agree more, with a big system you cant hear they only stereo that sounds bitchen, a set of 48 IDA's. MUSIC TO MY EARS

[kingsburgphil]

Woody goodies
Coco mats
Plexiglas dash's
nipple hubcaps
no back seat
glasspac muffler
Air shocks
tinted windows
Racimex guages

[JeePee/DVK]

Fake DKP stickers?

[Wünderwolff]

My car is dechromed and has a custom dash! No louvered decklid, but a scooped one is pretty close (I see it as one big louver). Does this mean I'm out of fashion  

And I can add more from your lists ... Some of it is not on the car yet, but is definitely planned. Even more so now. Does this now mean I'm even more than old fashioned and just plain wrong?  

So, already on:
- dechromed
- custom dash
- scooped decklid
- no backseat
- one-piece windows
- roller pedal

Still to add:
- tinted glass (lexan by the way)
- smoked (FLAT) headlight glass
- painted writing (at least somewhere on the inside, possibly on the rear fender as well)

I tend to agree with Texas Tom, a lot of the above means hardcore Cal Look (to me). To some now it may look juvenile and provoking, but we are not car collecting purists, we like to do things different and basically make our cars our own (and worthless to others). And I look for that in cars, there should be more people building  their own car, instead of building cookie cutter Resto Cals with a stance  

For one, my all time favourite car is Mike Maizes orange car, he's even sporting that hideous front hood with the canyons glassed in. Still can't get more cal look than that!

[Jon]

From reading this list, one thing is for certain, CAL-LOOK didn't stand the test of time.
Thank god one doesn't need to conform