RECENTLY DISCOVERED DKP PHOTOS

[johnl]

My longtime friend and DKP member, Dave Patrick, phoned today and wanted to stop by.  When he arrived he had a photo album with him and honestly at first I didn't have much interest.  About the third page into this my eyes popped.

There was an unknown detailed dash photo of our Butternut car showing the Butler steering wheel, Auto Meter and Stewart Warner gauges and how the dash was laid out.  This was taken the same day that the club went to Featherly Park where so many of the club's famous shots came from and it is dated September 1972.  That photo may answer many questions for those who have asked me details about the car for years.

Well, after that what could be better?  Shortly and a couple of pages more there it was.  A photo of Reggie the Rag Top, out '70 vert on the way to Sea World or the San Diego Zoo, can't remember which at the moment.  This shot is taken on the 5 Freeway with the hills in the background where the VW Classic was held for many years.  Christie riding shotgun, myself at the wheel, (note the amount of hair and the length of it).  The very best part of this photo is our dear friend Doug (The Mass) Gordon owner of the Underdog in the back seat fending off anyone that came close with Christie's umbrella.  Doug has his glasses in his left hand I guess so they didn't blow off as we were probably going between 60 & 70 mph.

Over the years I've told stories about Doug and this and now we have the proof.  He was a great guy and a better friend to Christie and myself until his passing.  We miss him and think of those fun times often.

Last, the white sedan in the background of this shot is Greg Aronson and the original Cal-look car.....  Photos don't get much better than this one....................

[johnl]

Don't know why the dash photo didn't post but here it is again.

[Fastbrit]

Very cool! I can see another Cal Look book coming up... 

[j-f]

Very cool! I can see another Cal Look book coming up... 

We are waiting for it 

[vwhelmot]

 

[alex d]

nice!!

[speedwell]

thx a lot john , for sharing those news photos , and especially the one with the inside 

[Zach Gomulka]

Awesome dash! Can you share how you made it and with what materials?

[johnl]

Awesome dash! Can you share how you made it and with what materials?

Zach, thanks for the question.  I wanted something different than Aronson, Thurber and some others did with a (one piece) dash.  I did a mirror image of the glove box door to go in from of the steering column.  The center piece filled in the area with a small back area of the original dash metal painted in Warbonnet Yellow as the rest of the car was. 

The panels were covered with the same material used in the seat inserts which was actually a vinyl but looked like suede.  The borders of these panels were done with the other vinyl as the seats were.  If you've read my post before regarding the influence of this it all came from the VW Limo that VOA had at the time.  Everyone was doing "race" and usually in black but I wanted more of a luxury look and I think it was achieved, at least in my mind.

This photo shows the first configuration which was Auto Meter tac and electric spedo with Stewart Warner fuel, oil pressure and oil temp.  Between the tac and spedo were three lights.  Two being left and right turn signals in green towards the top of those gauges and a high beam in blue a bit lower.

On the center panel there were a couple of lights between the OP and OT gauge and I think these were oil pressure and generator.  There may have been a third light which showed the ignition on as the car had a Joe Hunt Vertex Mag.  Out of view in the center panel were a couple of Lucas toggle switches, one for wipers and the other for ignition.  If you look where the ash tray was that was filled in and a start button in the center as the car had no ignition key, cool then but I don't know about today.  There was also a "secret" kill switch under the dash.

The steering wheel was a Butler out of England that came from Auto Haus.  Lynn Rosevear purchased just a few of these and when I saw it I knew it would work well with my theme.  Today the Arnie Molhman car owned by Russell Ritche has a like wheel and I found out yesterday that Dave Patrick (source for this photo) sold his to Arnie.

Further details shown in this photo are the Ernie Hanline engine turned kick panels.  This car also had his threshold plates and headlight bucket inserts.  Ernie's stuff was expensive but the quality and attention to detail was like no other.  I'd found some contact material that matched Ernie's pattern very closely and used it to cover the steering column.

The second and final configuration of the dash was to replace all gauges with VDO Jet Cockpit gauges without the surround ring that had four phony screws.  My reasoning for these was the color of the gauge markings in yellow which once again related to the car's color.  Everything else remained the same and when I sold the car and it was rolled about six months later those gauges along with the five American wheels and probably other items were purchase by Roger Grago and some other DKP II people.

In looking back at this car now there was a lot of "high teck" stuff in it for the time.  I was the only one who thought to use air shocks with the compressor to raise the front end to keep the law away.  Aronson's original Cal-look car and Butternut may have been the only ones to have the bumper holes filled and I even had the exhaust ports filled, but don't remember if Aronson did that as well.  [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] Once again my thanks to Dave Patrick for saving this photo for 43 years and now it can be shared for the history of the car.

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

I can tell you really put a lot of thought into the design of the dash. Looks really nice! The window cranks look 67?.....to match the horn button?

[johnl]

I can tell you really put a lot of thought into the design of the dash. Looks really nice! The window cranks look 67?.....to match the horn button?

[/You are correct on the window handles.  After looking at this photo if I was going to do the dash today I prefer what is in this shot over the VDO gauges.color]

[Zach Gomulka]

The panels were covered with the same material used in the seat inserts which was actually a vinyl but looked like suede.  The borders of these panels were done with the other vinyl as the seats were

That explains a lot, thank you!! It's unlike any other dash I've seen from the time yet it still looks very period, and it would still look great today.