Life with a hot rodded O.C. VW in the 1970's?

[Jim Ratto]

So for you guys that ran BRM'd hot-rodded cars with open 48IDA stacks and so on as your only form of transportion in the 1970's, what was life like? How practical or high-strung were your cars to live with as your only ride? What'd you guys do about rain? Parking the car places? Dust?

Just curious as to what the "experience" was like....  thanks for the stories! 

Jim

[Rick Meredith]

I didn't have bermies so I guess I wasn't cool! 

[Jim Ratto]

I didn't have bermies so I guess I wasn't cool! 

 

wassup Rick? 

[Lemonade]

So for you guys that ran BRM'd hot-rodded cars with open 48IDA stacks and so on as your only form of transportion in the 1970's, what was life like? How practical or high-strung were your cars to live with as your only ride? What'd you guys do about rain? Parking the car places? Dust?

I didn't have BRMs either . Car to drive every day was no problem, Whittier to Monterey Park 5 days a week. 18-20 MPG if I kept my foot out of it! Rain sucked; no heater boxes=no defroster/defogger. Cleaning all of the polished parts, Fuchs, etc., chrome splash guards, sway bars usually took an entire day after the rain stopped. Changed the oil frequently . Parking it anywhere was usually tense; figures it got stolen from my driveway.

Kevan

[Rick Meredith]

Drove my '67 daily up until it's demise. It and my Notch were my only transportation and it was rare that they were both running  at the same time. Usually one was apart getting the latest round of mods. Drove from Tustin to Anaheim 6 days a week plus all the club stuff.

Drove it rain or shine, no heaters defroster or wipers... Rain-X was my friend. I remember one time I was driving home to my parents house. My Parents lived on a the side of a hill. when it would rain water would go rushing down the culvert from higher up the hilll... as a kid we used to go Gutter Surfing down this culvert. I would have to cross this culvert to turn on my parent's street. I'd hit with some momentum so I wouldn't stall in the culvert... at least I'd make it across. During a particularly bad storm I hit that culvert and the apron and hood scooped water up to the windshield. 

The '67 was always in the garage unless the notch was up on jackstands for some reason. Other than that I just was always careful where I parked it. Good parking story; I was going to Saddleback College. I came out of class one day and these two girls were talking. One was sitting in her car and the other was leaning against the passenger side door of my car;

Me: "Is this your car?"
Bimbo: "No."
Me: "I really like it. Do you know who it belongs to?"
Bimbo: "No, I don't."
<By this time I had worked my way over to the drivers side door>
Me: " Wow, he must spend hours washing it, waxing it, polishing it and keeping it nice and I bet he'd appreciate it if you didn't wipe your fat butt against the door."
Then I unlocked the door and climbed in. 

I always kept stock gearing because I didn't want to be limited to 55mph on the freeway. I ran a Trans-Am on the freeway... I don't know how fast I was going but the speedo needle was wrapped almost to the turn signal light. 

As far as the open stacks, I ran some screens on the top of the stacks that would keep large stuff out... I think they were from a HP 4cyl motorcycle application and I would change the oil ever 1500 miles.

It was a lot of fun nailing V-8s. They were a lot more naive then... it was like shooting fish in a barrel 
 

[lawrence]

So for you guys that ran BRM'd hot-rodded cars with open 48IDA stacks and so on as your only form of transportion in the 1970's, what was life like? How practical or high-strung were your cars to live with as your only ride? What'd you guys do about rain? Parking the car places? Dust?

I didn't have BRMs either . Car to drive every day was no problem, Whittier to Monterey Park 5 days a week. 18-20 MPG if I kept my foot out of it! Rain sucked; no heater boxes=no defroster/defogger. Cleaning all of the polished parts, Fuchs, etc., chrome splash guards, sway bars usually took an entire day after the rain stopped. Changed the oil frequently . Parking it anywhere was usually tense; figures it got stolen from my driveway.

Kevan

I was not around in the seventies. Heck most of you guys probably have socks and underwear older than I.   Sorry, anyways. The no defroster deal is my dislike of lookers. On occasion, cold winter mornings and nights make it impossible to drive my car. Bad visibllity. Did anyone run gas heaters?

[Rick Meredith]

So for you guys that ran BRM'd hot-rodded cars with open 48IDA stacks and so on as your only form of transportion in the 1970's, what was life like? How practical or high-strung were your cars to live with as your only ride? What'd you guys do about rain? Parking the car places? Dust?

I didn't have BRMs either . Car to drive every day was no problem, Whittier to Monterey Park 5 days a week. 18-20 MPG if I kept my foot out of it! Rain sucked; no heater boxes=no defroster/defogger. Cleaning all of the polished parts, Fuchs, etc., chrome splash guards, sway bars usually took an entire day after the rain stopped. Changed the oil frequently . Parking it anywhere was usually tense; figures it got stolen from my driveway.

Kevan

I was not around in the seventies. Heck most of you guys probably have socks and underwear older than I.  Sorry, anyways. The no defroster deal is my dislike of lookers. On occasion, cold winter mornings and nights make it impossible to drive my car. Bad visibllity. Did anyone run gas heaters?

I used to use some stuff that was designed to go inside the face shield of motorcycle helmets to keep them from fogging from a riders breath. That and keep some good dry towels around.

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

The late 70's I had my '52 split w/ 2110 cc 48's street racing behind Nabisco.Not proud of today. I used to go with my buddies from High School. Taco's V8 small block in A Chevy LUV mini truck. Chad's Datsun 510 with side draft Mikuni's and David's '58 cal-looker with 48's (Beautiful car by the way). We all came from families that spoiled us and we as kids didn't appreciate it. I still remember all of us driving through Bellflower under a bridge and we all got on it. BBBRRRRRRPPPP.It eckoed soo loud! There were a couple of kids walking along the sidewalk that just stopped and stared covering their ears with a ear to ear grin. Bellflower cops were dicks, but that's another story. Fun times!

[Donny B.]

It was a lot of fun nailing V-8s. They were a lot more naive then... it was like shooting fish in a barrel

The Surgeon General never said anything about smoking a V8!

[Jim Ratto]

Drove my '67 daily up until it's demise. It and my Notch were my only transportation and it was rare that they were both running  at the same time. Usually one was apart getting the latest round of mods. Drove from Tustin to Anaheim 6 days a week plus all the club stuff.

Drove it rain or shine, no heaters defroster or wipers... Rain-X was my friend. I remember one time I was driving home to my parents house. My Parents lived on a the side of a hill. when it would rain water would go rushing down the culvert from higher up the hilll... as a kid we used to go Gutter Surfing down this culvert. I would have to cross this culvert to turn on my parent's street. I'd hit with some momentum so I wouldn't stall in the culvert... at least I'd make it across. During a particularly bad storm I hit that culvert and the apron and hood scooped water up to the windshield. 

The '67 was always in the garage unless the notch was up on jackstands for some reason. Other than that I just was always careful where I parked it. Good parking story; I was going to Saddleback College. I came out of class one day and these two girls were talking. One was sitting in her car and the other was leaning against the passenger side door of my car;

Me: "Is this your car?"
Bimbo: "No."
Me: "I really like it. Do you know who it belongs to?"
Bimbo: "No, I don't."
<By this time I had worked my way over to the drivers side door>
Me: " Wow, he must spend hours washing it, waxing it, polishing it and keeping it nice and I bet he'd appreciate it if you didn't wipe your fat butt against the door."
Then I unlocked the door and climbed in. 

I always kept stock gearing because I didn't want to be limited to 55mph on the freeway. I ran a Trans-Am on the freeway... I don't know how fast I was going but the speedo needle was wrapped almost to the turn signal light. 

As far as the open stacks, I ran some screens on the top of the stacks that would keep large stuff out... I think they were from a HP 4cyl motorcycle application and I would change the oil ever 1500 miles.

It was a lot of fun nailing V-8s. They were a lot more naive then... it was like shooting fish in a barrel 
 

sorry to get off topic, but you might appreciate this one, Rick.
1988 I was in high school still, had an after school job delivering flowers to mortuaries and so on...
Anyway, in the afternoons, I'd park my '67 behind the flower shop, then get my route list, load the Caravan and get on the road. In the same complex as the flower shop was a vetrinarian office. One day it was warm out, so I left windows down in the Bug when parking it, went on the usual route, jumped some RR tracks in the van, did some neutral drops in it, burned the brakes off of it.... got back to shop around 4:30, parked van, punched out and went out to my Bug to go home. As I approached my car I noticed a shilouette of a huge wolf or something in my car. There was a massive German Shepherd sitting in the passenger's seat, panting and drooling everywhere. I walked slowly to the car, in case the dog was a maniac. Luckily, it was friendly and started wagging its tail and whimpering and took well to petting, and so on. I got the dog out of the car and led him into the vets and asked them "why was this dog in my VW?"

"oh we thought he'd look cute in there"

Even at 17 I was shocked.

[louisb]

ROFL!

I once had my Doberman, my mom's schnauzer, and my tabi cat (who hated riding in cars) crammed in my 71 bug to take them to the vet. The Dobe sat in the pass seat and the Schnauzer, who was supposed to ride in the back, ended up in my lap. He was terrified of cars and kept trying to burrow his way between me and seat back. The cat I kept in a cage and it hissed and yeowled the whole way to the vet. So I get out at the vest with my mom's mutt under one arm and the Dobe on a leash then dig the cat out of the back seat. Everyone is staring at me like WTH but I just pretended everything was normal. 

--louis

[Rick Meredith]

sorry to get off topic, but you might appreciate this one, Rick.
1988 I was in high school still, had an after school job delivering flowers to mortuaries and so on...
Anyway, in the afternoons, I'd park my '67 behind the flower shop, then get my route list, load the Caravan and get on the road. In the same complex as the flower shop was a vetrinarian office. One day it was warm out, so I left windows down in the Bug when parking it, went on the usual route, jumped some RR tracks in the van, did some neutral drops in it, burned the brakes off of it.... got back to shop around 4:30, parked van, punched out and went out to my Bug to go home. As I approached my car I noticed a shilouette of a huge wolf or something in my car. There was a massive German Shepherd sitting in the passenger's seat, panting and drooling everywhere. I walked slowly to the car, in case the dog was a maniac. Luckily, it was friendly and started wagging its tail and whimpering and took well to petting, and so on. I got the dog out of the car and led him into the vets and asked them "why was this dog in my VW?"

"oh we thought he'd look cute in there"

Even at 17 I was shocked.

LOL that's a good one! Now where was your camera?