Old School Cal Looks The Way I Remember Them !!

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Here Are some Example's Of The Cal Looks Of My Time If you look at the Pictures no two car's are the same not like the Money Pit cars of today they were street Driven Daily Drivers From Roger Greco's  (DKP) Karrman Ghia to Mike Martinez's (DKP)Black ChopTop Notice the Difference's of the Cars Then and now Tee Bar Bumpers, Buggy Bumpers, Lucas Front Turn Siginals, Fully Dechromed Body, Wheels Of Choice BRM's,Big Wheels,Deano Super Lites, American Racing 5 Spokes (My Favorite) Empi 8 Spokes, Single or Dual Quiet Pack Muffer System, Formuling France Steering Wheels or Racemark, and Empi Steering Wheels were used, One Piece Dash's One Piece Windows Ect. Look at the Picture of Mike Martinez's Motor Clean But All Business no Porsche Fans here, It Seems Like All The Crap Out There Now Days its like Bolt on Heaven In the Old Days We Took all the Crap off the Car Now Days it Keeps getting added on. Roof Racks,stone Guards,Door Handle Guards,vent wing Visors, Sun Visors, and lets not forget those Rare old suitcase's and Coke Ice Chests for the roof racks Come On Guys Lets See A Cal Look that Resembles A Ture Old School Cal Look without all the Bells and Whistle's save tha Crap for a Resto Rod...  Even The New Hot VW's Magazine has Changed It Used to refer to the Cal Look as the CAL LOOK Issue now look at the Jan 2007 Issue it Refers to it as The Look?? What Look? As Far as I am Concerned There is Only One Way To Build A Cal Look And That Is The OLD SCHOOL WAY The way it Was Meant to BE!!!   To Me the Cars These Days Are more of a Resto Rod Restore Not A True Cal Look...

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

More OLD SCHOOL (DKP) Cars American 5 Spokes with 165x15  tires in the Rear Not 205 or 215 60's or the Old Rare Big Wheels and Buggy Bumpers

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Here is a Picture of Mike Martinez's Engine Compartment Very Nice The Way It Should Look No Porsche Fans Here.

[Zach Gomulka]

As Far as I am Concerned There is Only One Way To Build A Cal Look And That Is The OLD SCHOOL WAY They way it Was Meant to BE!!!   To Me the Cars These Days Are more of a Resto Rod Restore Not A True Cal Look...

I couldnt agree more!!! And I wasnt even born until the '80's...

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Here'a a Picture Of Ed Craigs  (DRA) 51 Split Window Parked Behind Auto Haus In Buena Park Calif. Notice the Rear Bumpers on this Car  I Worked with Ed At Auto Haus Back In The Day  Would Sure Like to see some OLD School Cal Look's Back In Calif Seems Like The Cal Look Has Changed To The LOOK??  WHAT LOOK are we LOOKING FOR??   its the OLD SCHOOL LOOK FOR ME

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

HERE a Club Picture of DRA Back In The Day Both Splits are Running BRM's this is a Picture From the Bug IN 12  at OCIR...

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

The Best Part About the Early Years is all the Cars Had there Individual Look But Kept The OLD SCHOOL LOOK Difference's Being Interior Style, Dash Layout with Gauges,Paint Color,Wheel Choice,Bumper Choice, Motor and Trans Combo, But Alway's  Stayed True to The Cal Look of the Early Years.  Here'a Picture of My  Oval (DSK) Back In the Day

[SOB/RFH]

Glad to see that I am not alone when it comes to the question "what is California Look?".............................I do not know what exactly make them fit in, but I know when they are wrong........maybe it is the period parts or the lack of the last part making it reachable, for us the public. The thing I think you have to have, is the thinking of the time, when buildig the car that is. I know it is obscure but look at how the V8's of the time was done, look at the street scene of the time....not just the cars that got ink in the mags...........The "giving ink to a trend part" is what I suspect made the development stop to a part (not underground anymore), but also the fact that the cars were outdated.....mini pick ups and pro street taking over....also, the demise of street racing due to comitments in life for the attenders!!!!!!!! Just rambling for what it is worth!

[Lids]

I agree cal-look cars were built to emulate the race cars, so they were lowered at the front, dechromed, fresh paint, aftermarket wheels, custom dash to accept gauges, new upholstery, and the most important feature a fast engine.  We had this discussion on a UK forum a while back, and interesting to see how many people disagree with this point of view.  Mainly because their cars didn't fit into this bracket. 

[Gregor/DFL]

I agree-those cars represent "the look" the way it should be.
A reason for more "chrome" trim on todays´cars is maybe that the beetle itself changed from a simple "car to be used" to a vintage car. So if restored, before adding the specs, people maybe don´t "dare" to eliminate the trim and so on. This is not the first discussion on this topic here on the lounge...
Maybe it can be compared to tranfering a VW Golf Mk4 into something "custom" today. I wouldn´t mind to change everything on it because it´s possible to find a good car as basis very easy and cheap (same as with a beetle 30 years ago).
But you´re right in stating that all this Porsche and high tech stuff is something else than the basic intention of "cal look" (a street car: simple and fast).

[LuftsickTero]

Here Are some Example's Of The Cal Looks Of My Time If you look at the Pictures no two car's are the same not like the Money Pit cars of today they were street Driven Daily Drivers From Roger Greco's  (DKP) Karrman Ghia to Mike Martinez's (DKP)Black ChopTop Notice the Difference's of the Cars Then and now Tee Bar Bumpers, Buggy Bumpers, Lucas Front Turn Siginals, Fully Dechromed Body, Wheels Of Choice BRM's,Big Wheels,Deano Super Lites, American Racing 5 Spokes (My Favorite) Empi 8 Spokes, Single or Dual Quiet Pack Muffer System, Formuling France Steering Wheels or Racemark, and Empi Steering Wheels were used, One Piece Dash's One Piece Windows Ect. Look at the Picture of Mike Martinez's Motor Clean But All Business no Porsche Fans here, It Seems Like All The Crap Out There Now Days its like Bolt on Heaven In the Old Days We Took all the Crap off the Car Now Days it Keeps getting added on. Roof Racks,stone Guards,Door Handle Guards,vent wing Visors, Sun Visors, and lets not forget those Rare old suitcase's and Coke Ice Chests for the roof racks Come On Guys Lets See A Cal Look that Resembles A Ture Old School Cal Look without all the Bells and Whistle's save tha Crap for a Resto Rod...  Even The New Hot VW's Magazine has Changed It Used to refer to the Cal Look as the CAL LOOK Issue now look at the Jan 2007 Issue it Refers to it as The Look?? What Look? As Far as I am Concerned There is Only One Way To Build A Cal Look And That Is The OLD SCHOOL WAY The way it Was Meant to BE!!!   To Me the Cars These Days Are more of a Resto Rod Restore Not A True Cal Look...

Whole hobby is a lot bigger now than back in 70's. What was at some point bunch of gearheads working on their cars in Southern California is now world wide. California Look has changed a lot over the years. Different eras can and should be identified, and given credit. All of those eras are equally good since they kept Cal Look alive. If I browse my 50's Hot Rod magazines Street Rods look very different than those built in 70's like California Kid or 80's Ferrari red billet monsters.

After DKP III published their rules it really got people start to built their cars to that spec (me included). Today Internet change things quite rapidly, you can see so many cars online and the really good looking cars and good ideas gets duplicated now faster than ever.

Hot VWs isn't doing very good job in separating the Looks, like Cal Look vs Resto Cal. The past two magazines I have received have both had a Coral Red car with BRMs, I loved Bill Schwimmer's car when I first saw pictures of it and still do since it was The Car that defined the Cal Look for me, but who would like to make a one more replica of it 15 years later when dozens of them are already existing. This is getting off-topic, but along with some of the features I am not too keen on the style/language it is written with these "Joe-Bob's mighty fine Super Sano Streeter" titles. I once started writing a Java Script that would generate those titles when you type in your name, location and model of your car 

[richie]

Whole hobby is a lot bigger now than back in 70's. What was at some point bunch of gearheads working on their cars in Southern California is now world wide. California Look has changed a lot over the years.

   Has it?
             or did it just suit the magazines and owners of these cars to jump on the trend of Cal look?Its only my opinion but Cal look these days isnt the pure form it was,
DKP111 look is a much more accurate description of the current trend,people claim that the trim is there as volkswagens are to valuable to molest by welding trim holes up,fair enough,this is a valid reason but then they have to accept there car isnt True Cal look, and not just claim it is too suit them,surely its much more satisfying to build a car to the way you want it to look than try to pretend its something it isnt? just my thoughts,cheers richie,uk

[ESH]

...It Seems Like All The Crap Out There Now Days its like Bolt on Heaven In the Old Days We Took all the Crap off the Car Now Days it Keeps getting added on. Roof Racks,stone Guards,Door Handle Guards,vent wing Visors, Sun Visors, and lets not forget those Rare old suitcase's and Coke Ice Chests for the roof racks...

 

You forgot to mention 'Dorked' beams. Not a bolt on as much as a guaranteed way to absolutely totally screw up a car! 

[Bryan67]

Hell yes! I could`nt agree more. Unfortunately most of the people out there don`t. I love the "True" Cal Look.... no chrome, T bars, Lucas signals etc. I even owned a car like that. Its in my avatar. It was built back in the late 70`s and fit the bill exactly. But when it came time to sell it (And I should`nt have) I could`nd get anything for it because of these things I mentioned earlier. In fact the guy that bought it put the bumpers and chrome molding back on it. Another example is the bright green car in the first post. The owner had it in the trader for months with no luck. And the price was right. I`m not sure if he finally sold it or decided to keep it. The last Bug I had I built to sell and it was nice but just did`nt do it for me. It was basically all stock with BRM`s and T bars. And most people said I should put bumpers on it too. I think cars are built to be on the safe side with all the trim in place just so they can be sold easier down the road. Thats fine and all but I really want to build a clone on my green 64. The way I want it.

[63 ripper]

Ex Bernie/Carol Newbury,Mark James bug......



does it qualify ? 

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

your Car Looks Great and has the Old School Look You Dont See that Many Cars Running Centerlines anymore The Other thing you Dont See Much anymore is the Flat Plexiglass Headlight Len Covers on 66 and older cars They Ran Them Both Clear And Smoked back in The Day here's a Picture of them also this Cal Look Has NO Bumpers Nice Clean Look.  Just Remember  ( RESTO ROD SHINE CAN NEVER REPLACE OLD SCHOOL CAL LOOK ATTITUDE)

[Jon]

Wow, what a great thread!! Got to love the lounge!!!

Soo many true words!  Some opinions are nostalgic and some are business minded, others are realistic... and Richie gives it right from the liver!

[Dave Galassi]

I agree with Shubee ( an old friend) on many points, and believe that many of today's cars are not true to the origins, but it is also important to recognize these new cars for what they are.  It takes a lot of $ and effort to build any car nowadays.    
For those who don't have that kind of money or time, many of the parts that make a Looker are getting very expensive and difficult to purchase, as evidenced by some of the other threads lately (steering wheels, BRM's, 48's, EMPI, etc).  It isn't easy.  

I think it's important to support any facet of the hobby, even if it's not my style.  Keeps it strong and positive for all of us.  Maybe those who don't know about Cal Look history will learn and appreciate what it was.  

Ironically, Grego's Ghia and Shubee's Oval have their side trim.  

Get those cars done Shubee, I can't wait to see them.  Good luck with the move.

[bullitt]

resto rod shine etc........THIS IS THE TRUE ORIGINAL TRUTH!!!!!!
i'm 30......too young......but i can understand .....believe me!!!!
one question for ALL THE GOOD OLD GUYS: wich was the level of shining under the body?
were thwy daily driver or not? were some mud or grease on suspensions and frame?  
i did idea that the level was as for an everyday new car.....sure, you wash it but only outside and interior, am i wrong?

another question : how many cars with tinted glass? were them very dark? what glasses? all or only rear ones?

do you remember many cal-lookers with no profile and sprintstars?

[lowfastbus]

Finally people are seeing that most of the cars built today don't represent Cal-look, they're all based on the cal-look spirit, but thats it.
I personally love the green car in the first post and would love to see many more of that style.
All the talk of keeping the side trims etc... is just playing safe, and I guess playing safe is just the opposite of what was Cal-look all about!

[bullitt]

no playing safe at my homeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

it is a respect question:

U HAVE AN HISTORIC BUG AND U KEEP TRIM NOT TO DO A NO TURNING BACK THING ON AN IMPORTANT COLLECTOR ITEM:
WRONG......U DID SOMETHING DIFFERENT


NEIN NEIN NEIN:

I HAVE AN OLD CAR AND I HAVE TO TUNE IT AS THEY DID IN ITS DAYS: THT IS RESPECT FOR SAN HISTORIC CAR!!!!!!!!


IN ITS DAY COOLNESS WAS NO TRIMS!!!!!!

[Lee.C]

Here'a a Picture Of Ed Craigs  (DRA) 51 Split Window Parked Behind Auto Haus In Buena Park Calif. Notice the Rear Bumpers on this Car  I Worked with Ed At Auto Haus Back In The Day  Would Sure Like to see some OLD School Cal Look's Back In Calif Seems Like The Cal Look Has Changed To The LOOK??  WHAT LOOK are we LOOKING FOR??   its the OLD SCHOOL LOOK FOR ME

I have missed this thread so far but as I have discused before with a few of you guys - The cars today seem to be being built alittle too well if you get what I mean while I respect and admier these cars and builders I feel that they are getting away from what a so called "True Cal Looker" is. 

I think Lids put it quite well with "cal-look cars were built to emulate the race cars" but for the STREET, They were built to Go Fast, Look Good, And whip the Arse of any Detriot Muscle that pulled up next to them at the Lights 

Anyway back to the reason I used the quote above - I LOVE those T Bars - Proper home made ones, I have always thought the "modern" ones look a but weak, its little things like this that make a True Cal Looker - Just my two cents guys 

[Bryan67]

Heres the interior of the green car. And a couple of my old 64 after I put the chromies and Porsche caps back on. Ran chrome Sprints for awhile. But I don`t remember anybody actually running them back in the day.

[Lee.C]

I like that Green Bug and your 64 dude - they both have some really cool touches 

[Bryan67]

Thanks, but I can`t really take the credit. My 64 was built back in the late 70`s long before I got it. I did`nt really do much to it.

[javabug]

Thanks to guys like Shubee for being here with the old pics.  I, personally, cannot get enough.  I constantly dream about building a clone of Bryan's old 70s car, but in metallic brown.  I don't have much in the way of philosophy on why/what/how with the cars of today, so I just go with what I like, and what I have really liked for years.

Also, question on the bright green car--isn't that the one that was in Hot VWs a couple years ago with polished 5-spokes?  My favorite car in that issue.

[Bryan67]

Thats the one. It was for sale for a long time at around $6000. Don`t know if it sold. It was a little rough around the edges by then but still cool. If I remember right it was originally owned by Sam Shacklefords son.

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

I Just Want To Thank You Guys For Your Input I am Not Against Any of The Cars Being Built Today It is Just Not What They Think it is Weather its a Resto Rod,Resto Mod, Or A REAL OLD SCHOOL CAL LOOK They Are all nice cars in there Own Way and Style JUST NOT O.G. CAL LOOK's Like Jim Said you cant Drop the Front slap on some Flat 4's and a Mundo Muffler And Call it a Cal Look...

[Zach Gomulka]

Im tired of the Cal Look term being applied to ANY VW with a lowered suspension, or shaved chrome, or custom interior, some wild stupid paint job, or a QP bolted on the stock motor. Gimme a break.

Not cal look. Full trim, polished wheels, bumpers and a stock engine??? No way.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=385076

Not Cal Look (if you pulled the rack and the bumpers you may have a start)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=388386

I could go on, but everyone here already knows what Im talking about. I just wanted to bitch a little. There is only one true Cal Look to me, and it goes alot like this:

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

I Agree a 100% A Picture is worth a 1000 Words That was the Way it was Then And That should be the Way it is Now and to Answer Daves Question Roger Grecos Ghia And My Oval Both Had Chome Side Trim Ghias Dont Look Good Dechromed Some Cars Look Better With Trim But Without all the Other Crap Just like it Was Said Earlier in the Thread Old Street Rods like the 34 Ford Calif Kid Was A True Street Rod You Cant Even Compair them To A Street Rod Of Today thay also are Way Over Done None of those High Dollars Cars Ever Get Driven they are just Money Pits Custom Made Billet Parts and Chrome up the A** Dont Get Me Wrong They are Bitchen Cars Just Not Really A Street Rod How can A Car Be Called A Street Rod When It Has never Seen the Street they go from Trailer to Show And Back Same Goes For The LOOK as its now Called Just A Bunch of Money Spent On A Car That Dose Not Get Driven All Show Why Have If You Cant Drive It And Enjoy it..