Kind of inspired by Don B.'s story about SCS show from late 80's.
Back in fall of 1990, I had just finished getting my first stroker engine for my '67, and was working for Jerry at Buggy House. Frank (sheep) was working with my dad at the sourdough bakery, and we had spent all summer goofing off collecting parts for the stroker motor (originally thought it was 94 x 74, but now suspect it was 76 or 78mm) and combing swap meets for old magazines and stuff. We had been to a few out of town shows, Jamboree in Costa Mesa and Bakersfield show at Famoso (the "uzi" show). But we'd never taken my Bug anywhere yet with the new motor. Somehow we heard about the upcoming show at Firebird in Phoenheix and thought it might be fun. By that weekend, the motor had probably 1000 miles on it and aside from idle jet plugging, was issue free.
We left Pleasanton, CA about 4pm packed with extra Kendall oil, tools, etc. By 8pm or so we were down Interstate 5 and into the Bakersfield area, and stopped for fuel and Jack in the Box. About an hour later we were climbing the Grapevine grade, and we were cruising effortlessly past most cars at about 85mph. It was pretty different traveling with new motor compared to the 1641 that preceded it. Flashing slower cars up Grapevine to move over a lane in a VW was fun.
About 90 minutes later we found ourselves being held gunpoint in Norwalk, just north of Orange County. Our plan was to stay at a Motel 6 just off the 5 freeway and get up next day and see some shops in Orange before heading out to desert on the way to Arizona. We got mistaken for some burgulars (no not Berglars
) and were roughed up a little by the cops until they realized we were just some out of towner idiots. Next morning we drove around Orange and Anaheim, looking for Berg's and FAT and found neither but did find SCS and stopped in for a little while. Compared to BH it was like mecca. They had 48IDAs, huge heads, aircraft hose, nitrous kits, all kinds of good stuff. We stocked up on more Kendall for good measure and made our way back up I-5 to the 10 freeway out of town. (had we known S. California at all, or brought a map, we could have taken much shorter routes). By 2pm or so we rolled into Palm Springs and thought it might be fun to cruise around and stop for a soda. Turns out it was a dud. Not much to do for us, so we got back on 10 east. About an hour later we needed fuel, and stopped in Blythe. Very strange place. At the gas station there was some transient guy having a fit and screaming and yelling about being a worm. We gassed up and were getting ready to take off and some normal looking guy asked us about the Bug and so on... and said he needed a lift out to the border of California and Arizona where his car was stranded. Yeah sure, hop in. So he climbed in back seat and we gave him a thrill ride getting on the freeway. Turns out he wasn't that thrilled. He was from Orange County and knew Gary Berg and some guy named Mark Voegtly. Still he was a nice guy and appreciated the ride. We dropped him off and we were at state line. We celebrated making it this far without losing a rod or melting a cylinder by taking pics of each other standing my Bug parked next to "Welcome to Arizona" sign.
In about 2 hours it had grown dark and we were just beginning to get into Phoenix. Again, no map. We had no idea where we were going or where racetrack was. On the way into town, we passed PIR and assumed that was where the Bug A Rama was. Got a room at some hotel in downtown Phoenix and scraped up some junk food for dinner. Next morning we got up before the sun and stole hotel towels to clean the bugs and crap off the car. Then back west on I-10 to PIR. We get there and it's a ghost town. Cool we're early. We wait around for 45 minutes and nothing's going on. Just the wind and dust. A cop pulls up ans asks us what we're doing. So we find out we're at the wrong racetrack. Back on I-10 east, nearing 90mph at some points. Finally arrive at Firebird. Comments from Frank...."Thought I told you it was at Firebird?"
Anyway, we park my '67 in the show and start dusting it off. I noticed Bill Schwimmer's 59 coral ragtop is in the show too. Both sheep and I loved his car, and had drooled over it at Famoso a few months earlier. So went over and BS'd with him again as he was always cool to bother. His car was so cool and different from what we were used to in Nor California. For one it had BRMs (no fakes back then) and we'd only seen them on cars at the OC shows. It also sat nicely, lowered but not in the rear. The motor in the car was super detailed and ran Weber 42 DCNFs and a big turbo muffler. Everything we had known from Bay Area ran IDF Webers or Dellortos and quiet packs.
Eventually we meandered over to dragstrip and walked around staging lanes. We found two more very cool cars that were so different from everything else there. One was a very simple and clean looking early 60's sedan, green, no bumpers, BRMs and Firestone slicks on the rear. The owner was a friendly, wiry guy wearing glasses. Yep Dave Rhoads and his car. We are all familiar with the car now thanks to its publicity, but back then we had never heard of or seen this car. We were blown away. So we struck up a nice conversation with Dave, who the more we talked to, the more we realized what a nice guy he was. He must have wondered about us...we were salivating all over him and the car. Turns out he was running solidly in mid 12's and we were stunned. More so when we found out the motor was just under 2 liters with 40 x 35 heads and 1.1 rockers. Talk about scratching your head. The other car was a black ragtop, BRMs, with US bumpers, slicks on back, red interior, and huge muffler tucked up under RH valve cover and exiting under RH running board. It was Mason's nitrous car. Again we were floored. This had to be the meanest VW we'd ever seen. But a real sleeper (which brings up a new topic....are Sleepers really Sleepers anymore?
) . I think his car was running really low 13's off the bottle.
The show came to a close and we were buzzing. Both of us got in my car and hit the road. For the entire trip back to CA border, niether one of us would shut up. It was like we got almost brainwashed. Just seeing the BRMs alone on three cool cars wound us up. Then to see the two Daves' cars run as well as they did, and to see their cars in detail...seriously, it was a shock to our senses. Again, 99.9% of the cars we saw at VW events in Northern California were rolling stereos with chrome puny motors. These cars that we saw in Phoenix were the exact opposite.
Our trip home took us through Needles, and across desert on I-40 into Barstow and Edwards AFB and back to I-5 and north back home. We had spent 4 days on the road in a VW and got home and realized we had no trouble with the car at all. We averaged around 22mpg and at some points in the desert, opened it up and crept up around 105mph. Probably my all time favorite road trip.
The Cal-look Lounge
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