El_Dub_design


home
-- El Dub's Nostalgia VW corner --


History

Old_Racers

History
 Old Racers Page Page
Back to menu...     
GlassWag'n.jpg
1-Glass Wag'n page 1  |    2- Glass Wag'n page 2  |   

GLASS WAG'N UNDER RICH BAY OWNERSHIP...

To be honest, never would have I thought that Richard BAY from Flemmings Foreign Car service of Long Beach owned the Glass Wag'n at one time... After all, Rich was well known as owner & builder of the Little Giant Killer Fiat 600... Complete story is still unclear to me, but it seems that co-ownerGROOM & SAUL sold the Glass Wag'n to Rich BAY...

My friend Lonnie REED came to the rescue with precious facts and pictures of that era... I'm sure you will like them as these are, as usual on the Nostalgia corner, some 'never seen before'...

But before going any further, just for you Nostalgia VW pervert, a way cool picture of a period queen contestant in a period race car... What else?






























How is this for a cool picture to begin with... Yes, this lovely girl was one of the two queen contestants posing all smile in the Glass Wag'n the NBVA (Newport Beach Volkswagen Association) entered at one of the early Bug-in, maybe the third one held on October 26th, 1969!!! Ahhhhhh, those were the days... Love that bra...

 Now what about some period pictures of that 3rd Bug-in, the very same which seen Mark SCHLEY at the wheel of the Lightning Bug rolled up against the guard rail... and completely detroy it...





































Bug-in 3 when starting the Glass Wag’n. The car was in the Newport Beach Volkswagen Association area as a club project exhibition car... Lonnie bus is in the background. This is Lonnie kneeling (left side as you view the photo) with his back to the camera and Richard Bay is at the back right of the car...






































Again Bug-in 3. The car was running (Lonnie can’t recall if it was on alcohol or gas). Richard BAY is adjusting the fuel miwture by turning the barrel value on the injection system (If you look close you can see exhaust from #1 header pipe). Lonnie add : for the record this was fantastic looking and sounding exhaust system but completely the wrong type of system for that motor (not enough back pressure but again it looked good).



































Absolutely gorgeous picture of the inside... Lonnie recall it was a beautiful car... Molly painting skills sure helped...






































The car seems to have attracted a lot of onlookers... Note Richard walking on the left side of the picture... Also, you sharped eye may have seen the Molly painting logo on the decklid... I wonder what was that licence plate...






































Glass Wag'n 6 months later at Bug-in 4!!! Again, the car was exhibited by the NBVA... Lonnie towed the car behind his bus you see in the background... This picture was provided by Fabian Speedwell, thanx Bro!
Believe it or not, Casey COLLIER was kind enough to answer some of my questions via his brother Jack email account (Thanks Jack).

- Why did you choose to use the Colt Preston nickname?

The name “Colt Preston was an AKA (also known as) because it was an “in thing” at the time for people who wanted to be successful. It was for professional purposes only. I intended to be successful!

- What was the story behind the bug making it on the Rod&Custom cover?

 The article was inspired by a freelance writer, Tom Mc Mullen who wrote and sold the article to Rod & Custom. Tom went on to start his onw publication, “Street Rodder” magazine . Tom was inspired by my aspiration of what I had planned for the Glass Wag’n, ie: roller cam, 48 IDA’s, intake tubes, welded in a “V” shape to a 1500cc Single port heads that had been aggressively opened up.

Again, I was only 25 years old. I had ideas but did not know how to do certain things, such as putting in a roller cam & lifters in a VW case. Problem solved: I went to Long Beach, CA. to speak with a counter parts guy and before he could make comments, another guy stuck his head into the conversation and said “Put some brass bushings in that fit his (parts guy) roller lifters. That person was “Mickey Thompson”. He continued to explain “heating & freezing” procedure for better durability. He sent me to Williams Machine in Gardena, CA. to have two billet cam shafts made for a VW. Then off to Chula Vista to see Bruce Crower (Crower Cams) to have the ground.


















In this rare picture of the very first Super Bug, Casey is the one on the far left. Others guys unknown...

Tom Mc Mullen was fascinated with this idea as it was the first, in California at least. He took many photo’s at different times but, either became impatient or just found an opportunity to sell the story (I never knew for sure). I was totally unaware that the article was sold or to be published at the time.

- Casey, were you the first to go for a complete fiberglass VW body? Do you know if other glass bodies were sold and became another race bugs?

The Glass Wag’n was the first fiberglass bug body. There were several race cars built using the bug glass body as altered’s and extended front ends as “funny cars” but I have no idea how many were sold. Cal Automotive had a small ad in a magazine offering the body for $500.00 in 1966 & 1967.

























The COLLIER bros gasser built in the early 70s... Honest, have you already heard or seen that top chopped car before? Awesome or what... Casey is on the left with sunglasses and the other guy might be Casey brothers, Ernie....

 - How many passes did you made at the hands of the Glass Wag'n? You remember your best time?

Passes made? Never kept a log book but approximately 100 runs. I later added 4 48 inch exhaust pipes with 18 inch megaphones (tapered). Ran match races with Sam Cabigllio with his Porsche 912 powered 600 Fiat. I had to give Corvettes and Chevells a 3-4 car length head start. Talk about a rare VW gasser... The Collier bros... Casey stands on the left with sunglasses...


























That gasser was built in the early 1970’s in Houston, Texas.

- Can you tell me more about you solding the bug?

In late 1967 I decided to build an extended front end Camaro, sold the Glass Wag’n to Groom, (don’t know soul). Grom broke the trans and did not have anything to replace it except a bus trans with reduction gears. The spring plates were unchanged so, it was like adding “lift bars”. When changing to 3rd and 4th gears the car would leap with all 4 tires off the ground, creating the “Wow” factor. Lions drag strip also payed him $50.00 to make 3 passes on Saturday night.


























Casey did the wrench work and Ernie assisted with the mechanics and $$$$. Only raced a short time and eventually sold the car...

- Any others memories you'd like to share?

 In 1972, after Don Burns, I opened a small shop in Huntington Beach next door to Cliffords Research (known for 6 cylinders). Other work I made back in the days: I hung the fiberglass doors on the Lightening Bug, spent time on the Anderson Brothers Bug, Lowered the Stuttbee for Audley Campbell, made and installed the first set of “Wheelie Bars” on a VW (at least in California). However, after raising the trans and re-setting the spring plates, the wheelie bars were not needed. Just depended on how the car was setup. Some where along that time, (don’t remember who) I cut a Karman Ghia lengthwise and removed 4 inched in the front and two inches in the rear, chopped the top 3.5 inches. The guy was just trying to get an edge.

Then, Hugh Kelley of Las Vegas asked me to re-do his 67 Bug, “Baby Huey”. Dropped the tube chassis, used a tube axel, Pinto ring & pinion, Porsche 915 trans, with modified Datsun B210 axels mated to VW stubs with Fiat 124 Front disk brakes mounted on the rear, made a “one off” aluminum dash and chopped the top with a sunroof. The engine was 88x78 using Tom Biebs first “flanged” crank.




















Close up engine picture...

From there, Casey moved to Texas and worked in a VW dealership for a while and eventually retired to the Mountains of South east Oklahoma where he now resides.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME CASEY!!!
Copyright © 2013 El Dub - All rights reserved.

E-mail : eldub@cal-look.com


 El_Dub_design
A FRENCH TRIBUTE
TO THE PIONNEERS OF VW DRAG RACING
---


DUNE BUGGIES & HOT VWs - WINTER 1968

LEAPIN' LIZARDS...
Thanks Speedwell Fabian for that article...

Below is the complete article as written in Dune Buggies & Hot VWs in winter '68 issue...

I have decided to reproduce it there for the complete background of that car, but I really don't think GROOM & SAUL did on the car all what they pretend as Casey COLLIER has to be credited for most of the work enlighted below...

Have you even seen a VW jump like a frog?

There are people that will tell you that the ubiquitous People's car has more than a passing resemblance to Rana Catesbeiana, but all of them will agree that leaping off the ground with all four feet, excuse wheels, in the air is just plain impossible for the low-powered VW. That is, all those people that haven't seen the Groom & Saul 'Glass Wag'n' in action will tell you.

Those that have seen the Glass Wag'n at various southern California dargstrips will tell you that it is entirely possible, that all Bill SAUL has to do is pop the clutch at 8000 rpm and the little critter just leaps straight up in the air, dangling all four wheels off the ground.



















Bill SAUL at the wheel of the Glass Wag'n, making ready for another run... Notice the stark interior to save a maximum weight... Only bare essentials remains...

SAUL thought it was impossible, too, the first time it happened. It so surprised him that he shut off and didn't even complete the run. And if you think he was surprised, you should have seen the crew! Co-owner Ray Groom and Jim (Cowboy) Smith just stood there with their mouths open. The crowd at Lions dragstrip also had its mouth open, but a lot of happy cheering was coming out. SAUL had established a drag-racing first and didn't even know it.























Another inside view as Casey originally built it.

Disbelieving, GROOM took the Glass Wag'n out for the next run and had the same thing happen... whump! And she was 2 ft off the pavement. Again, the crowd made known its pleased approval. Then SAUL congratulated GROOM and a full-fledged exhibition team was born. Since that time, the bouncing bug has wowed crowd all over southerne California area.


















Here is that mildly modified Porsche 912 engine under GROOM & SAUL ownership...

It all started with a 1967 Porsche 912 series engine, and a project in a Lakewook garage. GROOM & SAUL had been racing Volkswagen for a year or so when set out upon a project to get the maximum power out of a 4 cylinders, opposed air cooled engine. The VW, they said, was too weak to begin ith, so why not start with something good and strong like a Porsche?

The first thing they replaced was the camshaft. The stock cam was good only for 7000 rpm and they wanted more. So, an Iskenderian cam and special valve spings were installed. Next, 0.050 inch were milled off the cylinders, which is the way you raise the compression ratio in a Porsche. With that raised to 10.0:1, they added a set of headers worked up by Fourtuned Exhaust Systems of Riverside. These modifications gave them 130 horsepower at 8200 rpm which wasn't too bad for a 96.5 cubic inch engine!


















Now the very same engine that Casey built... Note that factory cooling system and the magneto...

About the same time they began optimizing a VW for frag racing. This meant throwing away virtually everything VW and substituting lighter and/or stronger parts. A super light drag frame was fabricated with a straight-tube front axle to replace the heavy stock suspension. Ford 32 spindles were used. Front shocks are friction pad types and the front wheels American Mags. A roll cage was fabricated by H&L Metals. All up, it weighted 950 lbs.





















Launching at Lions dragstrip...

Test runs of the new car showed up an immediate defect, even though it turned the 1/4 mile in 12.41 and 108 mph. Every time they tried to get more speed out of it, the heavy duty VW transmission would give up the ghost. What to do?

GROOM & SAUL contacted Richard BAY of Flemming's Foreign Car Service in Long Beach because he'd been of great help on developing engine performance. BAY suggested a unit with lower and heavier gears, and after getting it in and making some more minor adjustments, they went back to Lions for another test.

That was when SAUL, and then GROOM, found the Glass Wag'n could kick up her wheels, all 4 at the same time, 2 feet in the air. She's been a frisky as new colt ever since, and willingly repeats the act whenever called upon, through GROOM and SAUL have to be careful, because that transmission is still just a bit tender and too much jumping causes too many replacements.