SARGE: tell us about the Volkswagens Limited days..the very first DKP guys/cars

[johnl]

Very cool thread and pics, thanks for sharing! 

The paint on your green Bug looks very very nice John, even in 45 year old instamatic pictures!

Mike,

Thanks for the complement.  There was a lot of work regarding color sanding after the car was painted.  It looked like a mirror and in those days that was not common.  Also, I was a "wax freek" in those days and the car never saw water.  Countless memories with that car in that era.  I constatly smile when my mind takes me back to those times.

John L.

[johnl]

Was it at this time you guys did the cruise(s) up to Hollywood?

if you have any pics (even if they have been posted before) of the early cars like Renie's or Kugel's, or even yours 
you should scan 'em for us buddy.

 

Jim "where's my belt" Ratto

Ah, the first Anaheim to Hollywood cruise!!  I remember that Sally Magill, Dwight's mom worked for the Anaheim Union School District and we made flyers in her office.  Sarge may have done some graffic work on them as he is very talanted that way.  Each of us would take a bunch and drive to super market, college, high school, etc. parking lots.  If there was a VW in site it was taged with a flyer.

The event started at 3 or 4 pm on a Saturday from the shopping center across the street from where the Anaheim Drive-In was on Lemon St.  I remember getting all "duded up" and had the car spotless.  One thing that was the rage then was raising the front end for "weight transfer".  The method that this was accomplished by was dangerous and crude, but it worked.  We would go to the local gas station, Pep Boys or where ever and buy muffler clamps.  Then jack each side of the car up which extended the shock and clamp the dust cover (which was metal) around the shock body.  This of course held the car up and your suspension became your tires and worked well until you hit a bump to hard.

Eventually we improved this method by going to see Pat Stuttsman at Anchor Muffler on then Los Angeles St, now Anaheim Blvd.  Pat would cut or torch the sheild off and extend the shock and them spot weld the shaft.  These also failed after so many bumps, but man when they worked we were coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.

I remember Rich Kugel, John Krysack (sp) and myself kind of leading the thing.  We left the lot with close to 300 cars I think and down the 91 fwy to the 5 fwy and exited at Sunset or Hollywood Blvd.  Can't remember which one, but I do remember the looks we got.  There were kids like us and even some older folks who participated.

Somehow we ended up in the Ralph's Market parking lot on Sunset and when we exited the lot it was a left turn into traffic.  Some of the players actually went out and stopped traffic and I remember Kugel and myself "side by side" making the trun and getting both cars sideways!!! There is no way on God's earth today that you could pull all of this off without ending up in jail, but we did it.  Somewhere I  have a few photos of this which I'm still looking for.

Rich Kugel and I made a pac that we would be crusing Hollywood Blvd. in our cars when we turned 50!  He always refered tohis car as "The Volks" and it was one of the benchmarks of the time.  Don't know what every happened to the car and about meeting up on the Blvd. at 50, well it never played out, but I did and still do think about what if it had.......

John L.

PS:  James, can you add to any of this?

[Fritter]

John, thanks for the additional story. 

I don't know what it is about these old VW/DKP/Socal club stories that reels one in, is it the innocence of the time, the aura of the inception of the VW scene, a combination of all of the above or something else?  I am 38 and my parents are about all you guy's age, so maybe there is a little nostalgia about my own childhood and history mixed in there also.  My dad is 62 and had VW's when I was a kid.  I remember riding around in my Dad's '56 orange Bug with a mild motor and rusted out floor in about 1973.      He was a sheetmetal worker so he eventually fabricated a new floor for it.  I wish that car was still around!

I love the fact that the early DKP cars were DRIVEN all over the place, not trailered or garaged most of the time.  That's where it's at in my opinion.

I am now inspired to build my '64 metal sunroof Bug to the style of these early cal look cars, I need a build formula for one now.   I just need some chrome wheels, some kind of mid sixties Cadillac color, and some muffler clamps. 

[Jim Ratto]

John, thanks for the additional story. 

I don't know what it is about these old VW/DKP/Socal club stories that reels one in, is it the innocence of the time, the aura of the inception of the VW scene, a combination of all of the above or something else?  I am 38 and my parents are about all you guy's age, so maybe there is a little nostalgia about my own childhood and history mixed in there also.  My dad is 62 and had VW's when I was a kid.  I remember riding around in my Dad's '56 orange Bug with a mild motor and rusted out floor in about 1973.      He was a sheetmetal worker so he eventually fabricated a new floor for it.  I wish that car was still around!

I love the fact that the early DKP cars were DRIVEN all over the place, not trailered or garaged most of the time.  That's where it's at in my opinion.

I am now inspired to build my '64 metal sunroof Bug to the style of these early cal look cars, I need a build formula for one now.   I just need some chrome wheels, some kind of mid sixties Cadillac color, and some muffler clamps. 

my thoughts precisely. THUMBS UP

[Fritter]

 

[Sarge]

Nice job on the paint chips, Mike... I remember seeing the R-M sign years ago while cruising around Anaheim.  John, that Hollywood / Ralph's Market deal I'd forgotten all about... it's like you mentioned a while back though, once you hear the story again, the memories start coming back.  Remember visiting the Custom House on Whittier Blvd and drooling over all the goodies in the show case.  The guy that ran the place... come on, you know his name.. had a black bug he used to park out front with every geegaw you could screw on a car.  We'd load up on Harley Tire Nu, Blue Christmas Tree air fresheners and semi chrome but not before having the dude drag everything out of the show case for us to fondle before moving on .  Here's the old '63 with dash knobs that came from "The Case" along with a giant SW mechanical oil pressure gauge that required constant fiddling to keep air bubbles out of the capillary tube... WTF was I thinking???  This pic was taken in 1969... hence all the dash plaques and the DDS sticker in the window.  The key fob is a Graham's Chevron piece that finally blew up a while back .  I'm fairly certain the Covico steering wheel was a Custom House piece as well.  Looks like the old Dixco tach got yanked off the dash, too... musta been 6-12v conversion time.

[low oval]

Sarge,
where was the custom house, don't remember that place.  also was the chevron station you used to work at, at whittier and euclid?  My buddy used to work at that one in the mid to late 70's.  I was always taking my 4by in there after hours to work on it.
jim

[Sarge]

Sarge,
where was the custom house, don't remember that place.  also was the chevron station you used to work at, at whittier and euclid?  My buddy used to work at that one in the mid to late 70's.  I was always taking my 4by in there after hours to work on it.
jim

The Custom House was at the La Habra / Whittier border (Valley View St??) on the north side of Whittier Blvd.  Graham's was indeed at Euclid & Whittier Blvd across from Sander's Union 76 (owned by "Skinny" Sanders father of Paint by Molly Rollin Sanders).  There was always something going on at Graham's whether it was guys coming by to BS, or somebody "putting on a display" when the light turned green out front on Whittier Blvd.  Those were really the days....

[johnl]

Nice job on the paint chips, Mike... I remember seeing the R-M sign years ago while cruising around Anaheim.  John, that Hollywood / Ralph's Market deal I'd forgotten all about... it's like you mentioned a while back though, once you hear the story again, the memories start coming back.  Remember visiting the Custom House on Whittier Blvd and drooling over all the goodies in the show case.  The guy that ran the place... come on, you know his name.. had a black bug he used to park out front with every geegaw you could screw on a car.  We'd load up on Harley Tire Nu, Blue Christmas Tree air fresheners and semi chrome but not before having the dude drag everything out of the show case for us to fondle before moving on .  Here's the old '63 with dash knobs that came from "The Case" along with a giant SW mechanical oil pressure gauge that required constant fiddling to keep air bubbles out of the capillary tube... WTF was I thinking???  This pic was taken in 1969... hence all the dash plaques and the DDS sticker in the window.  The key fob is a Graham's Chevron piece that finally blew up a while back .  I'm fairly certain the Covico steering wheel was a Custom House piece as well.  Looks like the old Dixco tach got yanked off the dash, too... musta been 6-12v conversion time.

The Custom House was like going to church for me.  As James states we use to hang out there and gaze into those display cases.  The effect came close to viewing a copy of Playboy when you knew you shouldn't be going there!!    The owner of the 1960 black sedan was "Willie".  He was in his early 70's then and look much younger.  He had purchased the car new and it was "showroom" perfect even when it was four or five years old.  After Willie passed on his son tried to carry on the business and as I remember moved it, but alas The Custom House closed its door forever.  Trivia; before it was at the Whittier & Valley location is was located in Whittier on the south side of the Blvd.  It was very close to Richard Nixon's parents home which the last time I drove by it was an antuque shop.  For those of you cruzing Whittier Blvd. I think it is close to Coloma and sits way back off the street.  The roof is a very pronounced "A" fame style.  It is almost directly across the street from the Church the Nixon family attended.

Willie had a Judson Supercharger on his 36hp 1960 sedan along with every other accessory known to man at that time.  After drooling all over it for a long time I finally mustered up the funds and had him order one for me.  It took about a week to get and I remember driving up there every day waiting for the UPS truck to arrive.  Seems that it was $200 + which was a fortune then.  I was a bag boy at Crawford's Market making $1.57 per hour, so do the math.

The "knobs" James shows us are exactly the same ones that I had and may still have them some where in the garage.  Wonder if they are valuable today???  My car also had the chrome glove box door and ash tray door which came from the Custom House.

The gove box door reminded me of yet another tale !!!!  Back in the day I along with probably others carried either a bottle of Jade East, Canoe or English Leather (which I still use to this day)  in the glove box.  This was applied LIBERLY just prior to arriving at your dates home.  Anyway, Pete Dayton got the idea that you could put liquid other than water or windsheild cleaner in the tank behind the spare tire that was pressurized via the spare tire.  Peter came up with a Vodka mix and then disconnected the hose from the windsheild squirter (Kugel always refered to this item as the "Nardly") and drilled a small hole under the dash for the hose to exit.  With all of this in place once could have a "beverage" by simply holding a cup under the dash and pushing the dash button while in route!!   One other thing I remember regarding Peter and the Jade East was when he broke up with Dana Seal (a fellow Anaheim Hi) student he was so depressed that I watched him drink about half of the bottle while driving down Harbor Blvd. in Santa Ana.  This was aproximately where the Times building is located today, but back then it was nothing but bean fields.  Wonder what ever happend to Dana?  As I remember she was a "babe".

Well, there you have another event in the life of us old timmers..........

John L

[johnl]

Nice job on the paint chips, Mike... I remember seeing the R-M sign years ago while cruising around Anaheim.  John, that Hollywood / Ralph's Market deal I'd forgotten all about... it's like you mentioned a while back though, once you hear the story again, the memories start coming back.  Remember visiting the Custom House on Whittier Blvd and drooling over all the goodies in the show case.  The guy that ran the place... come on, you know his name.. had a black bug he used to park out front with every geegaw you could screw on a car.  We'd load up on Harley Tire Nu, Blue Christmas Tree air fresheners and semi chrome but not before having the dude drag everything out of the show case for us to fondle before moving on .  Here's the old '63 with dash knobs that came from "The Case" along with a giant SW mechanical oil pressure gauge that required constant fiddling to keep air bubbles out of the capillary tube... WTF was I thinking???  This pic was taken in 1969... hence all the dash plaques and the DDS sticker in the window.  The key fob is a Graham's Chevron piece that finally blew up a while back .  I'm fairly certain the Covico steering wheel was a Custom House piece as well.  Looks like the old Dixco tach got yanked off the dash, too... musta been 6-12v conversion time.

Just remembered another story after looking at Jim's interior shot again.  My Covico wheel came from the "101 Speed Shop" at the corner of Harbor Blvd. and Commonwealth Ave. in Fullerton.  That is also where my first set of chome wheels were purchased.  Some of us use to go to the local painter that lettered our fenders with "Jardine Headers, Fourtuned Headers, Anchor Headers", etc.  Don't know if I was the first but I had them paint the girl friend's name on the horn button.  I can vividly remember taking heat from some of the guys for this, but all these years later Gary Hugglins and others bring it up and we have a good laugh.   

John L.

[johnl]

John, thanks for the additional story. 

I don't know what it is about these old VW/DKP/Socal club stories that reels one in, is it the innocence of the time, the aura of the inception of the VW scene, a combination of all of the above or something else?  I am 38 and my parents are about all you guy's age, so maybe there is a little nostalgia about my own childhood and history mixed in there also.  My dad is 62 and had VW's when I was a kid.  I remember riding around in my Dad's '56 orange Bug with a mild motor and rusted out floor in about 1973.      He was a sheetmetal worker so he eventually fabricated a new floor for it.  I wish that car was still around!

I love the fact that the early DKP cars were DRIVEN all over the place, not trailered or garaged most of the time.  That's where it's at in my opinion.

I am now inspired to build my '64 metal sunroof Bug to the style of these early cal look cars, I need a build formula for one now.   I just need some chrome wheels, some kind of mid sixties Cadillac color, and some muffler clamps. 

Be very careful with those "MUFFLER CLAMPS".............

[Sarge]

Great stuff, John!!

[johnl]

Great stuff, John!!

Remember, I need you with your "walker" beside me with mine to get through all of these memories.  Seriously, I can't remember when I've had this much fun reliving our younger days.  Wish we could go back and do it all over again.  Life was great and I couldn't have had a better pal in you and all of the other guys.

John

PS:  Did you remember that Ron Reeves VW was painted in the Firemist Red, which was almost a brown??

[Dave Rosique]

John, Jim,

Your stories are priceless! Please keep 'em up!

A much simpler time indeed...

I never used the "muffler clamps". I went the other way and installed short chains in place of the front shocks to lower my '64 back around '72 or so Good times! I'm sure you can imagine how the car rode with all that pre-load

~DR.

[johnl]

Great stuff, John!!

Okay, here is another one.  I may have posted this before, but I don't remember, so here we go.  In 1964 one of the "Hot Spots" to cruize was Bob's Big Boy on Whitter Blvd.  Don't ask me how many of their burgers I ate in five minutes, but I'm sure I still hold that record!!

One weekend I was there in the afternoon, and met a very full of himself guy who had these really strange wheels on his red sedan.  The wheels turned out to be "Walkers" which Artie Alveraz has a set that I told him to buy 30+ years ago.  The guy who claimed he had designed them was the nephew of Richard Nixon.

Fast forward some 40+ years.  Christie is the office manager in a Dental office in Tustin.  One day she comes home to tell me about this strange coulple who come to the office and their name is "Nixon".  They own a memebership at Club 33 in Disneyland and want to know if the Doctor will "barter" his services for enterance to Club 33.  For those of you who are not famalier with Club 33 is was an exclusive place to eat that Walt Disney built and membership was very limited and could cost up to 25K per year. 

When she told me this I asked her to inquire if he was ever involved with VW's.  She did and he was and yes we did go to Club 33.

John L.

[Jim Ratto]

John,

I know the hot rodding stage at this point was NOT the focus...  yet. Sarge has told me a lot about his stages of engine upgrades... the single port with Zenith and Engle 110, the 1700 with Engle 125 and 40PII's and his rip roaring 1835 IDA motor.

I've read that most of the early DKP cars were mildly warmed over, i.e. maybe a header and an 010 distributor and different air cleaner.

When your car was the Cadillac green, did it have the 1200 stock engine? What stages of upgrades took place in your car, up to the Warbonnet car? That was 88 x 78 IDA engine if I remember reading in Keith's book.

Being you guys were young males, and obviously into your rides, I'm sure the HP virus was looming, waiting to infect you guys. How long did you guys run around with the stock motors out back? This was before Berg moved down from WA right? Deano was working for Empi out in Riverside. Nobody was really ruling the streets with big hp.... yet. When you visited Custom House, was it all just show stuff, and not go yet? Were you guys crawling over the counter @ Porsche dealers trying to get carbs and clutches and so on? Things must have been so different back then.....  a real learning curve I'm sure.
I'm guessing it was Doug's Underdog car or Crane's '67 that really got the hp wheels turning? Fleming's influence under the leadership of Gene Berg? Or were you guys watching Darrel V and Deano running the Inch Pincher and mimicing what was going on there?
Sorry for the rapid fire questions, but I live to read this stuff.

[johnl]

John,

I know the hot rodding stage at this point was NOT the focus...  yet. Sarge has told me a lot about his stages of engine upgrades... the single port with Zenith and Engle 110, the 1700 with Engle 125 and 40PII's and his rip roaring 1835 IDA motor.

I've read that most of the early DKP cars were mildly warmed over, i.e. maybe a header and an 010 distributor and different air cleaner.

When your car was the Cadillac green, did it have the 1200 stock engine? What stages of upgrades took place in your car, up to the Warbonnet car? That was 88 x 78 IDA engine if I remember reading in Keith's book.

Being you guys were young males, and obviously into your rides, I'm sure the HP virus was looming, waiting to infect you guys. How long did you guys run around with the stock motors out back? This was before Berg moved down from WA right? Deano was working for Empi out in Riverside. Nobody was really ruling the streets with big hp.... yet. When you visited Custom House, was it all just show stuff, and not go yet? Were you guys crawling over the counter @ Porsche dealers trying to get carbs and clutches and so on? Things must have been so different back then.....  a real learning curve I'm sure.
I'm guessing it was Doug's Underdog car or Crane's '67 that really got the hp wheels turning? Fleming's influence under the leadership of Gene Berg? Or were you guys watching Darrel V and Deano running the Inch Pincher and mimicing what was going on there?
Sorry for the rapid fire questions, but I live to read this stuff.

Sorry for the rapid fire questions, but I live to read this stuff  Mr. Ratto, It has become my mission to keep you reading and living!!!

By 1964 I was doing different things.  After the Judson blew a hole in #3 we installed the 83mm kit along with a Potvin Cam.  Somewhere along there the frist set ever of "fresh air" Fourtuned Headers were installed.  Yes, we did the normal 010 Dist, Blue Coil, etc.  I remember going through Porsched Dipharam clutches like underwear.  If the car wouldn't get second gear rubber it was time to change it out.   This was all prior to the Gene Berg / Deano days.  I've told the story before that when I picked my car up at Econo Motors there was a guy working on an Orange race car.  That was Dean Lowery, but then I hadn't a clue.

When the car was Firemist I had graduated to a 69x88 engine built by Fleming when he worked at Bergs.  Also this engine had a 110 Engle, S&S headers an a Bug Spray.  The heads were fly cut, but nothing else done.  Remember, you could still buy high octain gas then.  Ron always refered to that motor as the "Tit's two barrell".  At times he would refer to anything that didn't have 48's as "azmatics".  The car in that format ran mid 15's as I recall.

That was in the days right after Berg had left Deano's and gone on his own.  There were wars going on!!!  Aronson was working at the machine shop at AJS Foreign Car in Anaheim along with Doug Haydon.  I was working the counter in the front of the store (my first parts job).  Shortly after that Aronson left and Fleming left Bergs and they started F & A Performance which was prior to FAT.  Not long after Doug Haydon and his brother Whit (both DKP) started Haydon Brothers.

I've mentioned before about Earl McMills.  He was also involved and I feel has never received the credit for his contributions during that era.  I think he was just a talented guy out there doing his thing and never wanted to go mainstream.  Possibly Sarge can shed some light on Earl and his offerings.

When the Underdog and Don Crane's cars were in the works I was in floating in the Gulf of Tonkin and Jim was getting shot at over there. So, I can't add much there, but I do suspect thats when things started to take off.

Back to my car and the Warbonnett years.  As the car was being painted by Becker's I was building the 78x88 Okrasa motor.  The original version of that had heads done by Fleming and then new special Engle cam (possibly FK-89) with Empi rockers, Empi tall manifolds, 48's, a dog house cooler, full flow system and S&S comp headers with a merge collector.  Also the gear box had close ratio's, but that may have carried over from the 69x88 motor.  It gets a little foggy in some areas as to when things occurred.

After a period I wanted heaters and more street usuable carbs.  So I went back to heater boxes with S & S street headers and 42 DCNF9 carbs from Berg along with his manifolds.  We removed the short gears and went back to standard ratios and at the same time got rid of the soldi mounts, but retained the "chrome" traction bar.  It didn't look as impressive, but I could drive it anywhere.  Once I adjusted to the gears and carbs I really like it much better.  You must remember this was my daily driver.  If I was to do one today it would be big and bad as opposed to a "cush ride".

Not to long after that Christie and I purchased our first home and we had sold our '50 Split Window to help with the downpayment.  Even with that and having the GI Bill it was a tough nut to crack.  I became more involved with the house (guess I was becoming domesticated) and put the car up for sale.  Shortly thereafter a guy named Perry something who worked for the phone company made me about the only offer and I took it. 

That car with all of what I've listed, not to mention the interior by Brads (it was really world class), the (5) American's went out of my life.  Just about a week ago I drove up Harbor Blvd. in Anaheim where the AAA use to be.  That is where I delivered the car to Perry and the last time I ever saw it in one piece.  I had emotions then, but certainly not like today.  That was over ten years of my life,  meeting people that would influence me for the rest of my life and meeting my future wife.  How does one put a price on those things???

See what you guys do to me.  I'll build another car if someone can find me a real set of American's for $100!!!!!   If things go the way I want I'll probably have another street VW before I leave this world.  Anyway, that is my plan and hope I've answered your questions.

John

[low oval]

John,
great stories, I was alwasy going to that bob's big boy.  my house was a couple of blocks away off the blvd. where the shell station and then gulf station was.  When I was young on friday and saturday nights the cars cruising the blvd. would turn around at my house.  Those were great times.
jim

[vwcab]

Great,just great.thx 

[johnl]

John,
great stories, I was alwasy going to that bob's big boy.  my house was a couple of blocks away off the blvd. where the shell station and then gulf station was.  When I was young on friday and saturday nights the cars cruising the blvd. would turn around at my house.  Those were great times.
jim

I was there nightly as it was my favorite Burger!!!  Probably you saw me drive by, but I wasn't shooting!!!!

John

[johnl]

Great,just great.thx 

No thanks necessary.  We should be thanking you guys for keep the thing going and expressing an interest to learn about those days.  I'm having a B L A S T,   oops sorry, That is a phrase from the past.

John

[Jim Ratto]

Nice job on the paint chips, Mike... I remember seeing the R-M sign years ago while cruising around Anaheim.  John, that Hollywood / Ralph's Market deal I'd forgotten all about... it's like you mentioned a while back though, once you hear the story again, the memories start coming back.  Remember visiting the Custom House on Whittier Blvd and drooling over all the goodies in the show case.  The guy that ran the place... come on, you know his name.. had a black bug he used to park out front with every geegaw you could screw on a car.  We'd load up on Harley Tire Nu, Blue Christmas Tree air fresheners and semi chrome but not before having the dude drag everything out of the show case for us to fondle before moving on .  Here's the old '63 with dash knobs that came from "The Case" along with a giant SW mechanical oil pressure gauge that required constant fiddling to keep air bubbles out of the capillary tube... WTF was I thinking???  This pic was taken in 1969... hence all the dash plaques and the DDS sticker in the window.  The key fob is a Graham's Chevron piece that finally blew up a while back .  I'm fairly certain the Covico steering wheel was a Custom House piece as well.  Looks like the old Dixco tach got yanked off the dash, too... musta been 6-12v conversion time.

That's a great shot of your car Sarge, somehow the pics of your white '63 always seem to capture the era perfectly (the Zenith motor pics, the aluminum interior panels, your 40PII motor, the pics of your car on somebody's lawn with other DKP cars)...

Like Mike Fritz was saying above.... what is it about this golden era? If I could go back in time, I would choose to set the dial to 1966 or so and land in parking lot of FJC. I grew up a VW kid and made a lot of my life revolve around VW stuff and our small club in North Calif in the 90's and everything we did was based on what we thought you guys musta done in the late '60's. We could only make "assumptions" back then, as I didn't know you, there was no internet, etc, etc... so all these chestnut stories were more rumors that were handed down from anybody that would tell them to us. But you know, growing up carefree, and in a stong-headed car club.... we did much of the same.... met once a week, Friday nights were street racing out at ranch or in rural territory (or out at Lawrence Livermore Lab   ), Saturday nights were cruising around or horsing around at somebody's house and Sunday was usually "fix what you broke Friday night" day (we met on Wed nights).
But to roll back time and be present for when it was all new and making ground... that'd be the best. Turning the radio on and hearing "Pinball Wizard" as a new song... getting around South Calif without the gridlocked traffic extending up into folks' driveways... picking off Mr. Boss 302 back when NOBODY had any idea a VW could lay waste to a lot of Detroit pig iron.... does (did?) it get any better?


I swear, i'm going to start looking for the ubiquitous "lil old lady" one owner '58-'67 Bug, leave it mostly alone, but add a set of period mags or 356 wheels, some Pirelli radials up front, Blue Streaks or Hurst slicks out back, and build the 88mm bore x 78 crank thing I keep day dreaming of. Galassi knows exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout.  

thanks again for all the fun

[Fritter]

Wow, very cool stories, love it!!!     The vodka/windshield washer switcheroo is genius.

I seriously am thinking about painting my '64 one of those '65 Caddy firemist colors above.....they look very cool!

I have a blue 019 distributor, were those part of the mid 60s parts bin also?  When did the Hurst shifters come along, mid or late 60's?

OK, someone needs to donate (or at least "long term loan") John Lazenby some Americans.....come on, this guy basically started the trend!  Let's get him some wheels!!   

[low oval]

John,
great stories, I was alwasy going to that bob's big boy.  my house was a couple of blocks away off the blvd. where the shell station and then gulf station was.  When I was young on friday and saturday nights the cars cruising the blvd. would turn around at my house.  Those were great times.
jim

I was there nightly as it was my favorite Burger!!!  Probably you saw me drive by, but I wasn't shooting!!!!

John

I'm sure you did turn around at my house, strub and christine one block up from the blvd.  those were the days, those v8's would rattle the windows on my bedroom.  occasionally my dad would let the local pd bike cop hide in our driveway and pop the young kids doing burnouts and unsafe u turns.  this was after many weekends of having beer bottles and other stuff thrown in our pool.  But man those were fun days/nights, where it would take about an hour to go from colima down past bob's.

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Great stories! Really enjoy them! What I would pay to get my hands on an old DDS sticker like that! Damn! Never knew they made them.

[Rennsurfer]

Too cool! I love this thread. Whittier Blvd. was the best. Cruised it from '79 till they shut us down. We tried to get it going, again, in 1984 or '85. Took my girlfriend out that night, out there. Cops everywhere and pissed off. So I went back down to the beach... they were ticketing anyone that remotely looked like they were cruising. At least some of us still have our great memories of being there. What a great time that was.

I know that we've all thanked you guys many times for these great stories, but like I posted earlier; this has gotta be the coolest thread on this site. As a teenager, I looked up to the Panzer cars and they're what inspired me to build a Cal Looker.

And for that, I'm grateful. Please... do carry on.

[Jim Ratto]

Sarge and John,
So when Aronson debuted the white '63 (what was it about '63 model year and your guys? ) that we all know now.... and I'm guessing Mahaffey's green split.... these cars were clearly different than the cars that made up the early years of the club (let's say pre Vietnam period of DKP)... when the early members like yourselves got a load of the dechromed body work, the heavy rake, the no-frills bit, and then the Empi mag wheels, was it like seeing a UFO or something? I'm sure there must have been some type of strong reaction one way or another to the look Aronson came up with. Nobody else had gone "that far" yet, am I right?
And Mahaffey's car.... man, that must have really rocked your worlds.... 2000cc + IDA motor on the street on top of the "new look"

?

Thanks guys,
Jim

[johnl]

Wow, very cool stories, love it!!!     The vodka/windshield washer switcheroo is genius.

I seriously am thinking about painting my '64 one of those '65 Caddy firemist colors above.....they look very cool!

I have a blue 019 distributor, were those part of the mid 60s parts bin also?  When did the Hurst shifters come along, mid or late 60's?

OK, someone needs to donate (or at least "long term loan") John Lazenby some Americans.....come on, this guy basically started the trend!  Let's get him some wheels!!   

OK, someone needs to donate (or at least "long term loan") John Lazenby some Americans.....come on, this guy basically started the trend!  Let's get him some wheels!!   
Spread the love, I neeeeeeeeeeeed those wheels

I received an e-mail from  long time friend Don Mackay today showing American Racing is gone and the building is for sale.

[johnl]

Sarge and John,
So when Aronson debuted the white '63 (what was it about '63 model year and your guys? ) that we all know now.... and I'm guessing Mahaffey's green split.... these cars were clearly different than the cars that made up the early years of the club (let's say pre Vietnam period of DKP)... when the early members like yourselves got a load of the dechromed body work, the heavy rake, the no-frills bit, and then the Empi mag wheels, was it like seeing a UFO or something? I'm sure there must have been some type of strong reaction one way or another to the look Aronson came up with. Nobody else had gone "that far" yet, am I right?
And Mahaffey's car.... man, that must have really rocked your worlds.... 2000cc + IDA motor on the street on top of the "new look"

?

Thanks guys,
Jim

I guess it was just something new and maybe we had become stale.  Besides, who doesn't like to go fast??   I guess if you wanted to put a "term" to it that would be "Evolution".

I can still remember all of the American Muscle stuff at Taco Villa that wouldn't run against Howdy Doody and the Brown Bomb!!!!!

John L.

[johnl]

Wow, very cool stories, love it!!!     The vodka/windshield washer switcheroo is genius.

I seriously am thinking about painting my '64 one of those '65 Caddy firemist colors above.....they look very cool!

I have a blue 019 distributor, were those part of the mid 60s parts bin also?  When did the Hurst shifters come along, mid or late 60's?

OK, someone needs to donate (or at least "long term loan") John Lazenby some Americans.....come on, this guy basically started the trend!  Let's get him some wheels!!   

Wow, very cool stories, love it!!!     The vodka/windshield washer switcheroo is genius  This is all "true" even though some would doubt it.  Guess we were living our own "American Grafatti".   
I seriously am thinking about painting my '64 one of those '65 Caddy firemist colors above.....they look very cool
The Green was always my favorite, but  then I've always like the color of money!!!!