Current Pics of Marc Buehler's Split Window

[edcraig]

Good having another DRA member here Marc!

[Sarge]

    Hey, you boosted my pic ... why I oughta....!!!!

Never mind that "Old Guy" crap, Marc... at least we're still alive, right?   I'm really glad to see you've come full circle.

[Joe H.]

Not much to see with my car Marc, besides you're the headliner here.

[Cornpanzer]

Marc,
Which AA team did you crew on? 

[Joe H.]

http://www.bradfordsfiat.com/

[marc1951]

Joe,
Why did I think your car was a Ghia??  must be that old age thing again......sorry.

Marc

[marc1951]

Marc,
Which AA team did you crew on? 

As Joe said, it's the Bradford car which is a remake of the original one from the 60s and used to compete against those other unstable, short wheel based altereds like "The Wing", "Rat Trap","Nannook", etc............and funny thing.....still does today!
The Bradford Fuel Altered Hot Wheels car will be released this month. I told Randy, owner and driver, his time has come and it's time to quit now that his car is a toy (no offense to Hot Wheel collectors).

Marc
DRA

[Zach Gomulka]

BRMs, yes I currently own the bare minimum quantity of BRMs; 4 for the road, 1 for a spare, and 2 for slicks.

Good answer!

[marc1951]

Ok....as promised.........here is this week's progress on the redo of the redo of the split. I was a little short on time this week as I became a grandfather, but managed to put some hours in today.

Took off all the fenders, removed all glass, removed the front wire harness and air pump controls, removed rear deck.
I used air shocks on the front so I could pump them up when I got pulled over for too low front end. At first I used a modifed fire extinguisher with a little valve which held enough air for 2 pump ups but on the last redo of the car, I installed a 12v air pump. I'll be doing something different this time.

[marc1951]

and a few more:

Almost ready to remove body.

[edcraig]

Great pics Marc!.....and congrats on the new grandbaby!!!

Ed

[WCB Hitler's Hot Rod]

Great pics!  Please keep us posted along the way. Your car was ahead of its time back then. Good to see you are finally restoring it! Yes, and congrats on your new grandbaby.

[Lee.C]

COOL - Thanks for the pic's Marc, also congrats on becomin a grandad - I just became an Uncle 

Could we have alittle more info on that "Air-pump" system 

I would LOVE to have a cool old skool detail like that to my 66   

[vwcab]

Congrats grandad,I also like a little more info of that AIRRIDE    system.
Have fun with the rebuilt.

Peter 

[Rennsurfer]

Congrats on becoming a Grandfather, Marc. And thank you for the progress pictures and report on the Split. Keep 'em flowing.

[speedwell]

cool pictures marc , thx for sharing with us , and i see that you never forget the vw scene ,  picture of vw gasser on the wall just aside the front fender

congrats for the grandad title 

fabs

[marc1951]

Could we have alittle more info on that "Air-pump" system 

I would LOVE to have a cool old skool detail like that to my 66   

I don't know what the law is now, but back then in California, the measurement from the street to the center of the headlight had to be at least 29" or you got a ticket (especially if you cruised the area around the Buena Park Auto Haus). I once got 3 tickets in one day!
I found that I could be 27" and escape the wrath of the local law enforcement but as soon as I ventured even 1/2" less, I became a target. It was an equipment violation which meant no fine but you had to go to a police station and get it signed off.
I learned that the Anaheim police department was the best place to get a ticket signed off because you parked you car behind the building and usually no one wanted to come out and look so they just signed it off. Of course if you keep coming in for the same thing, even the laziest cop (or overworked, busy officer  <grin>) is going to come out and see what is going on.
I used to use muffler clamps clamped on the shocks, holding them up but that wasn't reliable and in fact once, while I went in to get an officer to look at the car, one of the clamps let go and there was the car with one side up and the other down. He didn't sign off the ticket.

Anyway, Gabriel shocks made an air shock for the VW rear and some people found that if you turn them over, they fit the front end.....much better than clamps. They made a kit that used the vacuum from the engine to pump them up but if you had a 48IDA motor with a healthy cam, there was little vacuum and it took a while to get those headlights up. The trick here was to tell the officer that you couldn't turn off the motor because it had a bad starter and then stall him as long as you could in hopes of reaching that 29" in time.
I started using the air shocks on my '67 bug with a 48IDA 1835 motor and modifed a fire extinguisher to hold air which I stored under the back seat. If I was about to be pulled over, I just reached behind the seat and opened a valve and the car front end would leap to lawfull specifications. I had to be carefull not to do this when the officer was looking as it was pretty obvious. The tank held enough air for 2 lifts.
When I bought the split window, I decided to use the air compressor that Gabriel sold. That way the lift time was quick but subtle and I didn't have to keep recharging the tank. In one of the pictures, you can see the air compressor sitting next to the fuel pump under the gas tank.
In the car you can barely see the control with air guage bolted to side by driver.
The third picture shows the shock. The split's front shock is shorter than later models and is same size as a 356 Porsche, so I had to find something shorter with the proper stroke and made an adapter as shown. I don't remember what the original application was.

....and that's my story.........what do people do these days?

Marc Buehler
DRA

[Jason Foster]

First of all this is a GREAT thread it's like we all are "meeting" a long lost friend. Very much looking forward to seeing the continuation of this revamp of an awesome survivor!

  As far as ride height these days the law doesn't seem to pay much attention to us VW guys. At least that's my experience. I think for the most part all of us just run the adjusters set to the height we want with or without the addition of lowered spindles and the occasional 2" narrowed beam  and don't much worry about any trouble. As for myself it's a stock beam with puma adjusters and stock spindles lowered to where it "looks right" and that's it.

 Again I must say this thread kicks butt and I look forward to meeting you.

[edcraig]

I forgot all about the old air shock idea we were using.  I had them on my split too.  Similar design to what Marc had.  I remember having some flame cut mounts to extend the upper mount location.  Marc's system was a little fancier than mine.  I just had a valve mount in the truck to raise the car when necessary.  (Had to use it only once for a "lowered" ticket coming back from one of the Bug In's.)  I beleive John Lazenby had something about the same, but he had his hooked up to his manifold so he could raise the car while driving.  John can give better details than I can.

...Ed.

[marc1951]

Well progress wasn't much this week as I had to get my '57 Chevy ready for a car show next weekend.
I did manage to "break" apart the body from the pan and it now has 2x4s between the body and pan as shown in photo.
The only reason I didn't completely pull it is that I don't have any place to put it yet.  I'm building a "cart" to put the body on now and it will be off in another week and then the real work can start.

By the way, my good buddy, Bob, and I will flying down for the "Classic" next month to help catch up on what's going on with the VW scene in So Cal.

[Sarge]

By the way, my good buddy, Bob, and I will flying down for the "Classic" next month to help catch up on what's going on with the VW scene in So Cal.

GOOD NEWS!!!   Hope to see you guys at Nick's Friday night (June 12th) as well... your going to get an eye-opener for sure!

[johnl]

I forgot all about the old air shock idea we were using.  I had them on my split too.  Similar design to what Marc had.  I remember having some flame cut mounts to extend the upper mount location.  Marc's system was a little fancier than mine.  I just had a valve mount in the truck to raise the car when necessary.  (Had to use it only once for a "lowered" ticket coming back from one of the Bug In's.)  I beleive John Lazenby had something about the same, but he had his hooked up to his manifold so he could raise the car while driving.  John can give better details than I can.

...Ed.

As I recall they were Delco air shocks and there was some mods made to make them fit the application.  In the kit was a panel with a gauage and  knob.  In the center of that knob was a button to release the air.  This unit was installed in the glove box along with my radio.  I did have it plumbed to my EMPI tall manfolds below the 48 IDA's.  There were plugs in each manifold that were already tapped for a fitting.

Once installed I would drive the car around and back off the gas and then just like in East LA up she would come.  This worked well when the Law spotted you and made the U-Turn.  By the time they pulled me over I was up to the top of the shock travel.  Guess the cops never figured it out for the few times I was stopped.

Prior to this set up I had a tank that was carried in the trunk that once acuated would lift the front end back up to about stock ride height.  The provlem with this is it was a one shot deal and then you had to fill the tank again.  Also it was an unsightly thing, but it did work.

The law was on a mission back then to get us off the street.  This was my answer to fight them, but once they started enforcing the "Bumper" law it became to much.  I had all of the bumper holes filled when the car was painted at Becker's.  On a "black day" the Anaheim cop pulled me over very close to the Anaheim Conventon Center and said "I really hate to do this, but your car is in violation".  He wrote the ticket, I opened up the main bumper slots installed bumper blades and rapidly lost interest in continuion to fight them. 

Very shortly after that the car was sold and I moved on.  Possibly a bad move on my part at the time as now I regret it, but now I'm back........

[Steve DKK]

Marc,
Try to stop by the DKK group.  We are planning a reunion and would love to get reintroduced.  I'm in Vancouver WA now and heading down for the events.
i knew you from the Auto Haus days...

Steve Wilkerson,

[marc1951]

John:  Exactly!

I remember there was one of Buena Park's "finest" who would park near the Auto Haus store and "pick off" the lowered bugs as they left the store......like shooting fish in a barrel.  I know the police were just doing their job and in their eyes we were driving unsafe vehicles (and that may be true!) but some officers of the law were obsessive.

When I first moved to Washington, I was driving a baja bug to and from work and there was one State Trooper who did not like baja bugs, in fact, he said they were illegal!........he pulled me over almost everyday......my horn was not loud enough.....my turn signals were not bright enough, etc., etc. I had one of those cages around my motor which attached to the shock towers and transmission horns and he wrote me up for not having bumpers. I argued and argued with him and he finally said that a bumper must be attached to the frame!......hello.......shock towers, frame horns?  The stock VW bumbers bolted to the body, not the frame! I ended up having to make these huge aluminum 8" wide "bumpers" that were 6' long and hung beyond the front and rear cages like large springs.........if I ever hit someone walking, they would catapult the victum into the on coming traffic! <grin>   Sheeeeeez.

Steve:
I will stop by.  Should I wear a pink carnation or will the fact that I'm a very big guy walking around with a one eyed friend (who wouldn't surprise me if he had a tee-shirt made that said something like "I'm a friend of Marc Buehler"   LOL)?

Marc
DRA

[johnl]

John:  Exactly!

I remember there was one of Buena Park's "finest" who would park near the Auto Haus store and "pick off" the lowered bugs as they left the store......like shooting fish in a barrel.  I know the police were just doing their job and in their eyes we were driving unsafe vehicles (and that may be true!) but some officers of the law were obsessive.

I've always tried to respect laws and the police who lay their lives on the line everyday.  Unfortunately like in so many things there are a few that give the bad name to many.

[Steve DKK]

I have always been respectful to the men in blue but I remember once at the LaHabra Police Station, I went down to get a headlight too low ticket signed off.  They refused as with the "Sepect-A-Drop cranked all the way up I was at 23-3/4.  A quarter inch short.  I tried to plead.  and he proceded to write me another ticket for.  Improper fastening of the license plate.  One of the lower bolts was missing???  and he wrote me up for "windshield wipers"  I asked what was wrong with the windshiels wipers, They worked perfectly...  He said " I don't like them"...

I the scope of things.  I really don't think a 21 inch headlight centerline ever killed anyone...

The low law that should be inforced was body parts lower than the borrom of the rim.   flat tire = dragging steel.  and improperly adjusted headlights.

Cops can be ass holes for no resaon at times...

[cal-look 56]

Cops can be ass holes for no resaon at times...

Amen to that

[deano]

I guess it's about time to post some of my Marc Buehler Auto Haus La Habra photos from 1976... I was really holding on to them for the Cal Look Book #3, but this maybe a better location and time...

[marc1951]

I guess it's about time to post some of my Marc Buehler Auto Haus La Habra photos from 1976... I was really holding on to them for the Cal Look Book #3, but this maybe a better location and time...

Sheeeeez, now what?  Can we talk about this, first?  <grin>

Marc

[Sarge]

WTF's the hold up.... I've been waiting here impatiently for 3 hours plus