California Look dead, my ass. Why is it different than other car hobby segments?

[Bill Schwimmer]

Is Cal Look really different than other car hobby segments though? That question in the original post made me think of a retro car kitsch burger joint that opened last year. It has all the usual trappings of a burger joint trying to re capture the days of yore when cars were cars. And what really caught my eye is the one reproduction (?) metal sign in the quaint collection of fake crap on the wall that said, 'Volkswagen' and then 'Cal Look' and pictured a blue Beetle in Cal Look dress (look along the wall and you can see it in this pic). Is this what Cal Look has come to? Burger kitsch??

That's pretty funny,  sort of like walking into a Dept. store & buying a Ramones shirt.. Somebody has taken something that was once edgy & subversive, slapped on a barcode & you pay for it with a credit card. For me ,it doesn't matter if you have side molding or real or fake wheels. But a true Cal Looker or Hot Rod for that matter has to have an element of danger to it. Sort of like a pet rattlesnake. I don't care if it stops on a dime or goes around corners like a Porsche. If I wanted that I would buy a Porsche. I want a severely overpowered little car that is finished nice enuff that there is no excuses, but not so much that you cannot wail on it now & again. I want to be just a little afraid when I plug it into 3rd @ 7500rpm & I want my passengers to be more scared than me.   That is Cal Look. And that will always be in style.

[Nico86]

That's true, and I guess none of us are really reasonable when it comes to what we do to our VWs. But it also depends on how you use car, and of the place where you are living.

If I were to live in a huge city and use my car as a weekend driver only, I guess I would be okay with a huge engine and stock brakes, running 135s tires. But I'm living in a remote place in the mountains of southern France and currently my Beetles are my only cars, whether it's raining or snowing and whether the state of roads (and those who have been visiting over here and took a ride outside of towns in remote places during winter can tell the roads can be really awful here). So yes I have disc brakes, 155s front tires, sway bars, I'm not that much lowered... but that's what makes and keeps my cars fun and fast to drive regarding of where I am driving them and the use I have of them. Without this I wouldn't even drive my cars anymore, they wouldn't even survive through one winter to be honest.

[Nico86]

If I were to live in a huge city and use my car as a weekend driver only, I guess I would be okay with a huge engine and stock brakes, running 135s tires.

Nah, I really wouldn't be fine about that 

[Chip]

Is Cal Look really different than other car hobby segments though? That question in the original post made me think of a retro car kitsch burger joint that opened last year. It has all the usual trappings of a burger joint trying to re capture the days of yore when cars were cars. And what really caught my eye is the one reproduction (?) metal sign in the quaint collection of fake crap on the wall that said, 'Volkswagen' and then 'Cal Look' and pictured a blue Beetle in Cal Look dress (look along the wall and you can see it in this pic). Is this what Cal Look has come to? Burger kitsch??

That's pretty funny,  sort of like walking into a Dept. store & buying a Ramones shirt.. Somebody has taken something that was once edgy & subversive, slapped on a barcode & you pay for it with a credit card. For me ,it doesn't matter if you have side molding or real or fake wheels. But a true Cal Looker or Hot Rod for that matter has to have an element of danger to it. Sort of like a pet rattlesnake. I don't care if it stops on a dime or goes around corners like a Porsche. If I wanted that I would buy a Porsche. I want a severely overpowered little car that is finished nice enuff that there is no excuses, but not so much that you cannot wail on it now & again. I want to be just a little afraid when I plug it into 3rd @ 7500rpm & I want my passengers to be more scared than me.   That is Cal Look. And that will always be in style.

I love this! Well said!

[fish]

Don't you guys know, the new scene is bagged and scrapped......oh wait i just threw up in my mouth.

It sux major balls not having a large, active Cal Look scene in Sydney

[nicolas]

Don't you guys know, the new scene is bagged and scrapped......oh wait i just threw up in my mouth.

It sux major balls not having a large, active Cal Look scene in Sydney

most of us don't
THAT is why there is the Lounge!!!

not the throwing up, keep that in Sydney 

[modnrod]

But a true Cal Looker or Hot Rod for that matter has to have an element of danger to it. Sort of like a pet rattlesnake.

Hehehehe! Pet rattlesnake, I like that!

I looked at buying a '70 Fastback today. On the test drive the current owner (who is into old cars for weekend slow cruising) was explaining how the car got a bit "wobbly and drifts a bit" when going over 60MPH, he thought it might be the tyres (165s with sidewall cracks they were that hard, you think maybe, perhaps?). I said they all do that, Fastbacks were the nicest to drive, Beetles get a bit hairy with a bit of HP and 100MPH.

Poor bloke looked at me like I was a lunatic! Genuinely shocked! What we he be like in a big old Impala sedan with 6.00-14 crossplies through the hills in the wet I wonder?
 

Nice Fastback too, a real original car, apart from that awful poo brown colour, I might get the '68 Beetle 1500 just coz it's bright yellow instead!

[Jim Ratto]

Is Cal Look really different than other car hobby segments though? That question in the original post made me think of a retro car kitsch burger joint that opened last year. It has all the usual trappings of a burger joint trying to re capture the days of yore when cars were cars. And what really caught my eye is the one reproduction (?) metal sign in the quaint collection of fake crap on the wall that said, 'Volkswagen' and then 'Cal Look' and pictured a blue Beetle in Cal Look dress (look along the wall and you can see it in this pic). Is this what Cal Look has come to? Burger kitsch??

I wonder how long until we see the $4.95 pull back die cast replicas of the Aronson '63 Bug at checkout at CVS stores. Available in your choice of 12 different colors.

Man I hope this isn't what it has turned into. Some of us won't let it. Like many of you have said, fad or not, it doesn't matter. Some of us wouldn't know what to do without these social terrors obstructing a good part of our lives. I'm thrilled most normal car guys don't understand the phenomenon of what we do. I have had a list of neighbors that walk by the garage, I'm going back 20+ years now, and just look blankly at me while I'm scrabbling around and under my car or asphyxiating in exhaust fumes while trying to sort carbs out. Or they scowl in disgust as I pull away. To me that means it's still just right.
The actual car guys that do get it, will listen to you rumble on about rocker geometry or flycutting or gear lash. They know that's where all the speed accumulates, as you add up all the nerd stuff that most can't be bothered with. My kids probably know more now, than most of the guys that walk by and ask what I am doing. Scary huh?

I'll always secretly pretend it's 1990 still. Don't mind me....

Jim

[nicolas]

But a true Cal Looker or Hot Rod for that matter has to have an element of danger to it. Sort of like a pet rattlesnake.

Hehehehe! Pet rattlesnake, I like that!

I looked at buying a '70 Fastback today. On the test drive the current owner (who is into old cars for weekend slow cruising) was explaining how the car got a bit "wobbly and drifts a bit" when going over 60MPH, he thought it might be the tyres (165s with sidewall cracks they were that hard, you think maybe, perhaps?). I said they all do that, Fastbacks were the nicest to drive, Beetles get a bit hairy with a bit of HP and 100MPH.

Poor bloke looked at me like I was a lunatic! Genuinely shocked! What we he be like in a big old Impala sedan with 6.00-14 crossplies through the hills in the wet I wonder?
 

Nice Fastback too, a real original car, apart from that awful poo brown colour, I might get the '68 Beetle 1500 just coz it's bright yellow instead!

i can't help it but i feel obliged to comment one way or another. 

poo-brown fastbacks are great cars and handle more then OK. they also are OK at a 100MPH, but i would greatly suggest a bigger engine then stock. i have to admit beetles and fastbacks alike have torsion front ends, and yes struts would be a more up to date approach to handling, but there are more then one way to make the front suspension work all right 

[Bryan67]

Is Cal Look really different than other car hobby segments though? That question in the original post made me think of a retro car kitsch burger joint that opened last year. It has all the usual trappings of a burger joint trying to re capture the days of yore when cars were cars. And what really caught my eye is the one reproduction (?) metal sign in the quaint collection of fake crap on the wall that said, 'Volkswagen' and then 'Cal Look' and pictured a blue Beetle in Cal Look dress (look along the wall and you can see it in this pic). Is this what Cal Look has come to? Burger kitsch??

I wonder how long until we see the $4.95 pull back die cast replicas of the Aronson '63 Bug at checkout at CVS stores. Available in your choice of 12 different colors.

Man I hope this isn't what it has turned into. Some of us won't let it. Like many of you have said, fad or not, it doesn't matter. Some of us wouldn't know what to do without these social terrors obstructing a good part of our lives. I'm thrilled most normal car guys don't understand the phenomenon of what we do. I have had a list of neighbors that walk by the garage, I'm going back 20+ years now, and just look blankly at me while I'm scrabbling around and under my car or asphyxiating in exhaust fumes while trying to sort carbs out. Or they scowl in disgust as I pull away. To me that means it's still just right.
The actual car guys that do get it, will listen to you rumble on about rocker geometry or flycutting or gear lash. They know that's where all the speed accumulates, as you add up all the nerd stuff that most can't be bothered with. My kids probably know more now, than most of the guys that walk by and ask what I am doing. Scary huh?

I'll always secretly pretend it's 1990 still. Don't mind me....

Jim

I`m surprised that no one seems to know, but those signs have been around for a long time.

[mg]

Why is it different than other car hobby segments?
All segments are in danger...

EPA SEEKS TO PROHIBIT CONVERSION OF VEHICLES INTO RACECARS
https://www.sema.org/news/2016/02/08/epa-seeks-to-prohibit-conversion-of-vehicles-into-racecars

A motor vehicle qualifies for a competition exclusion based on the physical characteristics of the vehicle, not on its use. Also, if a
motor vehicle is covered by a certificate of conformity at any point, there is no exemption from the tampering and defeat-device prohibitions that would allow for converting the engine or vehicle for competition use. There is no prohibition against actual use of certified motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines for competition purposes; however, it is not permissible to remove a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine from its certified configuration regardless of the purpose for doing so.

Namely, under the new proposed regs, you can't do any mods that would affect the emissions-related performance of a car once that car has gotten a certificate of conformity. Ever. Even for racing-only. This covers both the engine and the car. So you can't do swaps unless it is stock for stock. So either you run bone-stock engine production racecars, or you run purpose built racecars with purpose built engines. No in between.

[modnrod]

i can't help it but i feel obliged to comment one way or another. 

poo-brown fastbacks are great cars and handle more then OK.

Gday Nicolas! How you going?

I thought of your car when I saw this Fastback too! I like your car, that's partly why the ad and pic got my attention. This one is less chocolate-poo brown like yours, and more baby-poo brown, hahahaha!
I also thought of Jon's light gold wheels on his red Beetle, and then I thought of combining the whole lot, influences from back-in-the-day but now being done again.
Brown, gold wheels, bright pee-yellow Gasser window tint with a few old racecar stickers, slam it, then just drive until the wheels fall off the thing (or until I can throw in a 76 x 92 to help it get out of it's own way........).

I mentioned this to a friend and he asked if I was going to call the car "Poos and wees". 
Some people are unkind aren't they?
 

[Pas]

It's true Cal-look is dead, so to help everybody stuck with their now unfashionable and frankly, naff BRM's, IDA's and NOS EMPI gauges, I am providing a free disposal service. Just give me a call and I will relieve you of all your worthless crap.

[Nico86]

Tonight I am talking a look at the lastest Airmighty magazine issue (#21) and cal-look is maybe dead, but most of its content is about cal-look/old-school cars and racing.

[Neil Davies]

It's true Cal-look is dead, so to help everybody stuck with their now unfashionable and frankly, naff BRM's, IDA's and NOS EMPI gauges, I am providing a free disposal service. Just give me a call and I will relieve you of all your worthless crap.

But they've got to deliver, right Mark?

[Pas]

It's true Cal-look is dead, so to help everybody stuck with their now unfashionable and frankly, naff BRM's, IDA's and NOS EMPI gauges, I am providing a free disposal service. Just give me a call and I will relieve you of all your worthless crap.

But they've got to deliver, right Mark?

Damn right.....Look, I'm doing you all a favour here, I'm not wasting my fuel collecting your old shit  

[Worm]

Bill Schwimmer............for President.  Nail on head right there Bill....

PERFECT

[Bill Schwimmer]

Bill Schwimmer............for President.  Nail on head right there Bill....

PERFECT
Thanks Scott,  you get it , you have lived it. California Look is the automotive version of Punk Rock. A poke in the eye of the rest of the car hobby.

[Nico86]

Interesting reading, and more reasons to love hot old VWs...

http://www.speedhunters.com/2016/03/performance-cars-going-far/

[hotstreetvw]

I'm sure we have all had similar encounters.  As if you just told them you liked some kinky shit.  I've driven 5L fox body mustangs, had a 2010 5th gen Camao SS 6.2L 6speed, they would never raise the hair on my neck like a VW has.  My car wouldn't be considered cal-look because it's not pretty or clean, maybe one day.

So many guys are going turbo and skipping the 2L IDA step that is a huge part of traditional cal-look.  No matter how cool a turbo is, one hanging out the back with a big Holley isn't "clean".

Just a few months ago I was talking to a pretty cool guy that was displaying his "driver" 1968 Lamborghini Espada and we were exchanging notes on how new gasoline in CA runs so badly in Webers and the fire dangers, etc... and then he asks me "what do you own?" And of course when I told him a VW that had been modified to make 180+ hp, with Webers, it was as if I had turned into a fish or something.