Building A Cal Look VW Beetle Part 1

There are few cars quite as cool as a souped-up VW Beetle that can easily kick the asses of more expensive car during a street race or on a drag strip.

- Gerhard van Vuuren

The epitome of these Bugs must be the “Cal Look” VW bugs.

Introduction

The style originated in Orange County, California from the street race scene. The ‘Cal-look’ or ‘H.P’ contingent shared the low rider look but used styling cues from motorsport instead, hence the involvement of companies such as EMPI and racing legends like Gene Berg. Form followed function on these cars. In this case, the function was speed. No extras, no accessories except those that had a performance function like shifters, tach’s etc. were added. Lowering in front was to cut wind resistance, removing bumpers and adding alloy wheels lightened things a bit. Same thing with the removing of trim. If it did not add to performance, it was not needed.

Paint was simple solid colours, no metallic, no two tones and no wild graphics. The cars often ran on BRM Speedwell or EMPI 8-spoke rims and featured competition style mirrors and a stand-off engine cover to aid cooling which was another nod towards the vintage race scene. A side exit tuned exhaust was de rigueur, too, as was a trick engine to enable owners to out-gun unsuspecting challengers during grudge matches and traffic light drag contests.