El Dub's Nostalgia corner. Meetings, cars... Treasures from the past. Memories, people, meets. H/Gas, I/Gas... EMPI, Auto-Haus, R/S...

Back to menu...      - AIN'T NO BIG THING SLALOM BUG -              "FORTUNATELY FOR THE OPPOSITION THIS BEAUTIFUL CAR HAS RETIRED..." Those are the words from the late VW TRENDS number 4... Below is the complete article from that cool old issue. "Ain't no big thing has a unique history behind it. The car was first built for road racing, and was actually a class winner at Santa Barbara in 1965. The car was driven by Alan JOHNSON. After its retirement , No big thing was left in a wrecking yard when Bill YATES found it in 1970 and bought it to completely rebuild, this time for slalom. Porsche drums replace the stock VW ones & the wiiide wheels are 8X13... The car is a 1958 sedan, running a Porsche 1800cc engine. Bill YATES has over $7500 in rebuilding the car, making it a class winner. The car was a winner in most events entered including four overalls at Bug-in 1. This was followed by three moe slaloms wins at subsequent Bug-ins. Note Porsche grille used on decklid... A very neat touch on such a car... The car was a consistent class winner in slaloms and time trials entered. We happenened to come accross the car while photographing Mike MARTINEZ's chop top. The Martinez shop had originally painted the car its wild yellow and orange, and it was in one more time for touch up. Very cool photography from Bug-in courtesy of Bob HOFFELD. Bill has retired the car." Although they are a rare sight today, slalom purpose only VWs were quite popular back in the days... Slalom is basically a race against the clock, whre the lowest time determines the winner. Some cars are still well known today : Ain't no big thing of course, the Race Shop sedan, the Zig-Zaggin' wagen, the K&M tire sponsored bug, the Blodgett's bug barn ghia... In fact, slalom racing was a favourite at Bug-ins. But, competition was open to all kinds of Volkswagons, fom bug sedans to Ghia, and buggy of course. Another never seen before picture from Glenn MILLER showing the Race-Shop sponsored bug at Roberta street... The great looking CANYON VW in action as it appears in Hot VWs magazine cover back in 1975... This is the same car that was later sponsored by K&M TIRE from Corona. Note the bright colors that were used on this car... If you ask me, such a car would be quite easy to duplicate today, and would easily stands out from the crowd... Any volunteers??? Slalom course was open to everyday VWs as shown on this picture by Ron JOHNSON. Buggys were en force there... Copyright © 2008 El Dub - Tous droits réservés. E-mail : eldub@cal-look.com

A FRENCH TRIBUTE TO THE PIONNEERS OF VW DRAG RACING --- THE BUG TODAY... I knew that the slalom bug was still alive and I have seen some pictures of the car sitting in Karmann Konnection facilities in U.K. some years ago... But seeing it in real life at European Bug-in was of course different... The car still looks superb and sooooo 70s... I was impressed to see that the car still looks exactly the same way it looked 3 decades ago. Can you spot differences beetwen the above picture and period pictures? Very impressive... I love this picture because of the general atmosphere... Two very different cars, only one feeling... Interior look spartan and usual, but sweet at the same time considering it's a race car... Close up view of the rollcage and the inside of the car. 356 engines look right at home in any bug engine compartment. It's no exception in this case. Picture courtesy of Kobus.