DKK

[SOB/RFH]

Hey Rick DKK got me going on this one. I know DKK were big in the day and the last surviver of the cal-look clubs.....but for all of us not being part of it (I know memory fades with time guys) let us know some of how it worked. Like, who was part of it, were there only NA cars or were turbo part of it, the cruises, street racing and the rallies!!!

I am biting my nails waitng for some time of fun and frustration not being part of it!!!

[Rick Meredith]

LOL, Well we were a very tightly knit group of friends. We were all young at the time. 18-25 or so. We met weekly. When I joined we were meeting at Larry's Pizza on Euclid & Orangethorpe in Fullerton. Then we met for a while at the Denny's on St. College in Anahiem, just north of the 91. After that we met at Scooter's Resturant which later became DQ then Nicks.

Ok guys in the club... Well let's see, Myself, Bill Schwimmer, Dave Mason, Dan Sikich, Danny Gabbard, Kevin Brennan, Jose Medrano, Jimmy Yowell, Lisa Maxwell, Jimmy Moore, Steve Wilkerson, Mark Ramirez, Alex Gonzales, Glen Gaske, Henry Mayeda, Vince Ito (did all the art work for our flyers) Paul Chee, Tod Fuller, Jeff Hicken and Dave McNew. I know that Greg Brinton and Tiger from A-1 use to be around but I can't remember if they were actual members or not. That's just off the top of my head. I know I missed a lot. We had at least 2 Bug-in Best of show winning cars.  Oh, Dyno Don was around so much and did so much to help us that we made him an Honorary Member... I believe he was the only one.

Turbos were not a big thing back then. I can think of one club car that had a Turbo. We did allow multi-color cars in the club but there was a faction that only wanted single opaque colored cars in the club.

Ok Events... well Bug-In was our thing. We'd plan for months on making it happen, getting every ones car together and getting our display together.

I remember one Bug-In, the company I worked for did inventory the Friday before. I got home at midnight and the cases were apart on my '67. I worked on it until 3am. Got up at 7am and worked on it without a break until 7am on Sunday morning then fired it up and drove it to OCIR. I can't tell you how many club members came over that day/night to help but there would have been no way that I would have been there without their help.

We used to hang around a lot at Whittier Blvd. You could almost always count on finding a small group of us there. We particpated in a lot of rallies and car shows. Occasionally street racing at Nabisco, La Palma, Orange Olive or Bolsa.

We also hosted Rallies and Car shows. One rally we did started at Whittier Blvd. We called it "If You Cruise, You Lose." People had been complaining that other rallies were too short so we had this one wind down into Tustin.. A pretty long distance.

We had a Show and Shine (informal car show) where we served pancake and egg breakfast to all the participants. We called it "Stuff It and Buff It."

Ok you can stop biting your nails now! 

[SOB/RFH]

Thanks for the input Rick!! Saved my nails!!

So when did it all fade away and went in to DKP (half of DKP must have been DKK?). What happend to the rallies and what made them go away?? Will DKK rise agian!!!

 

[Rick Meredith]

It faded away in the mid 80s. Maybe Bill can chime in and give you a little more detail. I had crashed my car and then I quit working and went back to college full time so I stopped participating around '84. I know the club continued after that but I'm not sure how long.

Frankly, I think the end of Bug-ins caused the VW scene around here to crash. There just wasn't this twice a year major event to keep it going. Our club was ran around the Bug-ins to the point where our elections for officers were held every 6 months right after the Bug-In.

As for DKK rising again, I doubt it will happen... at least to being an active club. We've talked about reunions at different times and one of our members has recently purchased the domain name www.derkleinerkampfwagens.com.

I don't think that DKP & DKK can co-exist as active clubs. I don't mean that in a bad way. DKK came out of a desire to have an elite club... "best of the best" after the former "best of the best" club DKP folded... Look at the similarity of the names. "The Little Tanks" and The Little War Wagens."  Then not too long after DKK folded, former DKK members got together with former DKP members to form the current "best of the best" DKPIII.

[jhicken]

Hey Rick, Jeffrey Hicken here. I was just wanderin around the net and came across this old post. I thought I’d chime in.

I got into DKK around '77 and as the story went, the name was a bit of a slight to the Panzers.  They were the top dogs at the time, a bit older, more experience and had bit more money. We were predominantly younger [late teens to early twenties]. Although, like the Panzers, we developed some strict guidelines for club cars, we were still the new guys. As I remember, I never thought anyone really took us seriously. We started as a Whittier Blvd club, meeting at Bob’s Big Boy. As we got bigger the club, along with it’s membership started to migrate into OC.

I started to move away from the club in ’81-82 when I bought my bus. Paul Chee, his neighbor [his name escapes me] and I started rebuilding all three of our buses together. We started to refer to ourselves as DBO  [Der Burnouts] because we were burned out on the club scene. Around that same time Vince Ito got married with a VW caravan including a stretch Beetle limo [there’s some great wedding photos floating around there somewhere]. After finishing our three buses, we all were featured in the ’83 VW Vanagon TV commercial [I still got the tape]. It was pretty cool. Not long after that, in Oct of ’83 I bought a mint ’79 vert [16000 miles]. I had gone back to college [after living/partying for a couple years with Alex Gonzales and a few other VW nuts in La Mirada] and thought the vert would be more practical. In January of ’84 I sold the bus and pretty much walked away from the scene for the better part of 10 years. I still have the ’79, and now I live in New Jersey and am president of the Central Jersey Volkswagen Society [http://www.cjvws.com/].

An interesting note about Alex. He had a ’61 vert that was made into a Hebmuller like car. It was originally yellow and we painted it red in his dad’s garage. From 10’ it looked pretty good.  Last year I found it listed for sale on the Samba. It was being parted out. I sent a note offering $50 for the rear window that had a club sticker in it just for grins and the seller responded that he felt that it was worth $300 because of the sticker [yikes].

Not long after that I read a few articles in VW Trends and a UK VW mag [VolksWorld?] about DKK. I was really blown away. Folks were talking about the club as having a “significant” impact on the club scene. We had great time together, the rallies and Bug In’s, all were fun,  but significant impact? I don’t know. There were other clubs out there that were pretty active. Maybe we just were so into having a good time and didn’t really take into account what was happening.

Still, it’s nice to know that in some way we all made our mark. I haven’t had the time yet, but eventually I want to build up http://www.derkleinerkampfwagens.com with pictures and stories about it’s members in hopes of someday bringing a bunch of us back together.

[Diederick/DVK]

pretty cool jeff! seriously nice read!!

welcome to the lounge.

good to have peeps that have been there, done that - now gotten back into it 
please do build that website, it's always good reading about those memorable days!

cheers,
Diederick

[Fastbrit]

Not long after that I read a few articles in VW Trends and a UK VW mag [VolksWorld?] about DKK.

Nope! That was us – Ultra VW! Number one for cool stuff! 

[jhicken]

Sorry about that, I even got a sub to your mag. Really nice job, keep it up!

Also, thanks for the welcome. I've got an original DDS shifter in my garage that I've been thinkin about building a new car around. So I'm sure I'll be hanging around a bit.

-jeffrey

[jhicken]

One other thing, if anyone ever comes across an original DKK sticker [the Beetle with the gun turret on top] let me know. I'd like to reproduce them.

-jeffrey

[Rick Meredith]

Jeffrey!

Welcome to the Lounge!

I've been trying to put some of the DKK people in touch with you via the website.

I did have one of the "turret" stickers at one time but I don't know if I still have it. I've been through all my "Obvious" places and no luck.

One Idea... Vince did the artwork for it maybe he still has it.

Rick

[Rick Meredith]

BTW... I completely forgot about DBO until you mentioned it!

[jhicken]

I don't think Vince did the original; he did the later one [in you avatar]. If you find it, scan it and send it to me. I'll convert it to vector art so it'll be perfect for all eternity.

I had a few folks contact me, Scott (Worm) Blaydes, Steve Dale, and Glenn Gaskey [not sure who the last guy is]. Keep sending them. I'm making a list so I can send out a ntice when I start to pull things together.

One other thing, Henry Mayeda. Have you been in touch with him? I ran into R K Smith at a show earlier in the year and he said something about him living in Texas I think. I'd love to get in touch with him, Mark Rameriez and Billy McKinley.

-j.

[Rick Meredith]

I ran into Worm at a car show in Dana Point a couple of years ago.

Steve and I go to the same church and I run into him now and again.

Glenn was a member after you left the club.

Last time I was in touch with Henry was a few years back. He was living in one of the Carolinas I think. Still married to Nancy and still into VWs. I found them through a personal web site they had but the link doesn't work anymore.

Mark and Bill I haven't seen since "in the day."

Other people I've had recent contact with.

Bill Schwimmer and Greg Brinton I see regularly.

Jose Medrano was in DKP for a while but sold his car.

Danny Gabbard is still around but planning on moving to Carson Sity NV after the 1st.

Schwimmer ran into Dave McNew and Kevin Brennan within the past year or so.

Dan Sikich was living in Santa Ana and still had his ghia. I went by his house about a year ago but I'm pretty sure he moved.

Jim Moore I saw at a Ford show about 3 years ago.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[Rick Meredith]

Oh and of course we still see Dyno all over too.

I also know that Vince Ito is still in the area and I could get a hold of him with a little work.

[jhicken]

McNew was another roomate of mine after I went back into college. We lived in Long Beach for a couple of years. He had a BMW635 at the time. Last time I talked to him he was living in Vegas.

-jeffrey

[javabug]

Regarding the VWTrends article, that is officially my favorite issue of the magazine, with Paul DeBillings 59 feature and the DKK article.  SO many clean, good looking cars in that collection.  I actually bought another copy at a swap a year or two ago because I was weaing my original out.

Its really great to have Rick, Bill S., Jeffrey, and others here from those days.  Names people like me usually only read about and admire what they were involved in.  Thanks, guys.

[Rick Meredith]

Like Jeffrey said... we were just kids having fun!

Who would have thought that what we were doing would even be remembered this far out. And we'd be talking with people 1/2 a world away about it. 


Rick