What is a Cal-looker, and how is it supposed to be used?

[Jon]

It's an interesting question, and one we always comes back to...

What is a cal looker, and how fast is it supposed to be? Or does ET's don't even enter the equation?

Is the "look" the entire look..? ...is it ok that the performance stops you from driving coast to coast?

Is it a local cruiser... or a "state hopper" ?

Feel free to draw historical links if you want to....

[Andi/DFL]

no historic link, just my opinion :-)

I don't care about the horsepower in a cal looker. the car needs to have the right "intention" (as long as a car can have that). if you take a look at ron flemings early black oval, with the stock engine (just a velocity stack on the carb and an aftermarket exhaust) - a perfect cal looker for me. fast times is nice, but it's the last thing I care about when I see a nice cal looker.

so maybe it's a definition of cal-look itself, that needs to be more precise. a "late-60ies-not-fast-but-cool-maybe-not-even-lowered-at-the-front-cal-looker" is surely something different than a "modern-msd-nos-alloy-fittings-superfast-and-stylish-cal-looker". i prefer the first type :)

and one thing that is also for me very important: the joy of driving a cal-looker on the autobahn for longer distances, not just short distances. it's so much fun looking into the faces of other car passenger that point their finger at your car, or children waving at you. this is maybe the biggest part that makes the fun in my hobby for me. and HELL, YES - I'M A POSER! :))

then the trip to spa 2002 always comes to my mind: perfect weather, sunset, driving in a convoy of cal-lookers to a show, trunk full with beer and beeing asked to become a DFL member on that evening - this day was close to perfect. and it would not have been half as nice, if i pulled my car on a trailer towards that sunset :)))

cheers,
andi

ps: is www.roadgoing-idas.com still available? :))

[jose del orto]

First of all,
for me is a cal-looker a car to use, and not to spend many hours polishing the wheels. A car like many sportcars back in the fifties, when gentlemen drivers drove on sunday with their Porsches, Alfas, ... to the track, raced and drove back home in the evening. Of course, cal-look is something else, but the spirit is for me the same.
Further on, I think that every cal-look-driver is a little bit a poser, as this is primarily an esthetical "science" (right stance? right wheels? right colour? accessories?).
To be the fastest doesn't seem to have the same importance to everybody, and I'm happy with that. We all like to see a yellow boosted convertible wheeling and opening the top at the same time, even if we maybe don't want to do the same to our car!

[SilverPig]

When it comes to engine power...isn't it so that the first lookers didn't have the choice of components as we do today...like stroker crankshafts, crazy flowing heads with dinner plate sized valves, fancy ignition systems and wild cams? With that in mind, todays cal-lookers aren't less lookers because of these advantages, it's simply a question of evolution. BUT...should a real die hard looker have a small displacement engine with period hi-po parts?

[SOB/RFH]

SOLID COLOR (even primer is a solid colour)   
 
THE PERFECT STANCE AND RAKE
 
BIG'N LITLES ON TIMELESS RARE OG WHEEL

LOT´S AND LOT´S OF HORSEPOWER


How it is used!! Irresponsible is a good try to describe it! "Exebition of speed tickets" fills the glovebox side by side with unsorted with time slips, most in the 12's!!! Hardcore......You bet!!! It can be seen at the local hamburger bar with the owner leaning against the car waking up when sound oh HP cars can be heard!!! No clean cloths as T-shirts is used for celaning and trousers works double as a cheap wise!! with age cloths gets cleaner and solid paint leaves the suede state!! It´s a lifestyle!!

 

[Berger]

Cal-look is Hot-Rodding....simple as that...
Define Hot-Rodding and you`ll have the answer....

It`s all about the Man and his Car 

[Rune]

Lots of cool replys here. Got to agree with Andi, they need to be street driven. If its not for the street, then its not for me. But the cal look thing started of by mimicing what happened on the strips, so the engine is a big part of a cal look car. It needs to have a little get up and go by my book. But remember, trailers are for boats ;-)

[Georg/DFL]

I also agree with Andi. And I also remember that trip to Spa in 2002. I was sitting on the passanger seat of Gregors 65 (because my car wasn't finished) and had two Lookers in front of me and two behind me. Still getting goose bumbs... it was just a gorgeous sight accentuated by the roar of mufflers and open carbs.

Another story: I was waiting for Andi to arrive in his Looker after a 350 km drive in the rain. Minutes before he arrived I gave him a call just to know where he is. I was standing at the fence by my house looking up the street and in that very moment his car came in sight nose on the ground, high ass, lights and whipers on, a bit like on the picture I included. The street was wet and the trees were moving in the wind and you could hear the IDAs and the Glass pack muffler. That was like the lonesome cowboy with his trusty horse...just f*§#ing cool!

Or the trip to Lege Cap Ferret in France to the Super VW Nationals. 1300 Kilometers one way. Just my buddy Sven, me and my Ghia. We started 7 pm and arrives 8 am the next morning. What an adventure! And you are so proud of your car and yourself when you are back home and you did it!

I can understand when you trailer a car to a race event, but I can't if you are not racing it. I would prefer to go to the SCC just with my car and racing it maybe only two or three times and not as hard as usual instead of trailering it to the show. The fun begins when I leave home...not when I enter the show! At least for me...

I consider it as VERY COOL if you drive your car to an event, race it there, doing mid 13s and then driving back home – like a mate I know. He is doing that in a streetlegal, all interieur, no slicks Type 3 notchback. Fast enough in my books.

[Andi/DFL]

That was like the lonesome cowboy with his trusty horse.

I am missing my big guns, think I lost them near your fence. Yeehaa :-)

[Georg/DFL]

I am missing my big guns, think I lost them near your fence. Yeehaa :-)

So you have your IDFs back on the engine?

[Jordy/DVK]

 For me my bug is and has always been my one and only way of motorized transport. After i got my drivers license 3 years ago (was 19 back then) I haven't really driven any cars. My parents allowed me to use theirs, but I rather went by bicycle than taking their car. A year passed by and I'd barely driven 5 times. I just didn't enjoy it...

 In the end of that year I went looking for bug to drive and I almost immediately fell in love with the red '67 bug. After waiting for 2 months before I got my license plates I drove it for the first time. And for the first time I actually enjoyed driving a car! It's weird but it felt so different... I always had to get used to modern cars, but it was just like the bug was made for me. I did not even need a second to get used to it. It felt like a piece of me...

 And that's what a car should be and look like... a continuation of "you"...
 That's why I'm slowly going to change my bug into a (daily driven!) Cal Looker...

 AND YES... I'M (gonna be) A POSER (too)!!!

[Rune]

Great storys boys, keep em coming Can't wait for summer to come around....

[Lee.C]

Cal-look is Hot-Rodding....simple as that...
Define Hot-Rodding and you`ll have the answer....

It`s all about the Man and his Car 

I couldn't agree more dude - we're all just a bunch of guys who take cars (be it vw's or 32 fords) that most people would consider as scrap and we turn them into things of beauty - just my 2 cents 

Like Berger says its all just about one man and his ride 

[Rick Meredith]

All good points. I have to agree that stance is where it's at.  Oh that and single opaque colors.

Other than that, it's what your pocket book and desires lead you.

I have a confession about my car... while I did drag race it (legal & illegal) I was more into the way the car hadles and could be thrown around like a go cart. Kept the stock gearing in it cause it was my daily drive and I didn't want to have to crawl on the freeway. I'd run that thing all day at around 70 and well over that on occassion. Did ya know that you can wrap the speedo needle down to the turn signal indicator? 

[Zach Gomulka]

Cal Look needs to have the stance, the wheels, single color paint job (I prefer earth tones), dechromed (traditionally speaking), and it MUST be able to hold its own on the street! This comes down to the owners personal opinion of fast. A stock motor isnt Cal Look. The fwweeeem of peashooters? No way! I believe it should also be compatible with pump gas, because to me, filling up on the street is what makes a car a street car.

[bullitt]

basically for me  every cal look has to be a STREET RACER.
that means it could go fast but drivable as everyday car and long distance ranges..
u drive your car to events...u take away filters, u put stinger on, slicks, and here u go.....(have u ever seen the film "two lane blacktop"?
with the same cars in the weekend evening u go to in town and meet ur friends, then u do some cruisin...and coming back home u find a "FAST AND FURIOUS SON" on a red traffic light.....and u teach him the culture of engines and cars in eight of a mile.....
there is somethin fashionable, something strong in night street racing.....
interesting part of a cal is that it can blow a delta integrale today as it blew a camaro ss in the seventies.
dont u love to be simply OUTLAW???
cal look have to catch some eyes too...it is not easy to do the right style.
for me cal needs to be different to the original.....u must see tht that car has "something" even if the engine is off.
thts why i always tell to DECHROME. chromed cars are too similar to original...not real hot rodding look.
but understand me...dont exagerate: a light thing on the exterior: clean, smart, sporty...thts all.

[TiDi]

For me a cal-looker is the sensation that you feel when you drive the first time the car with the good stance, and a good motor......

Do you remember you 6v 1200 with original stance??
Now think about your 1776 48 ida's engine on the same bug with dropped front....

that's it!!!!

Obviously the look.... I like decromed original color nice period 5 lug (vw or porsche pattern) wheels...

[Eddie DVK]

Cal Look should be, the stance, right wheels, powerfull engine, nice single color, (with or without chrome doesn t matter for me)
Drive it to a show, show it, race it hard, and drive it home.

regards eddie

[ESH]

Drive it to a show, show it, race it hard, and drive it home.

That'll do me.

[Trond Dahl]

hehe..nice!
same here :-)