My 1969 Beetle is the first Volkswagen I owned. Photos 1 & 2 were taken at a park in South Gate after winning a 1st Place trophy at
Bug-In 11. You can see the trophy sitting beside the car. Yes, I was very proud of that trophy. Shaky Jake had come up to me and
complimented the car. He told me that if I continued putting this much detail into my cars that I would have many show winners. This
meant a lot to me because I considered Shaky to be "The Man" and I really looked up to him. In photo 3 you can see it on display at
Don Ross VW dealership. They liked how the car looked and asked if they could put it on display. If you look out the window across
the way you can see all the new Volkswagens for sale. Photos 4 & 5 were taken at the Anaheim Convention Center at an auto show.
The club I was in at the time, DRA, had our cars there as part of a club display. Look at all the pinstriping on this car. It was really
popular back in the '70's.




This 1961 Beetle is the second Volkswagen I owned. I bought it in March 1974 for the grand total of $50. It had a 36 HP engine and
came with Empi chrome taillights. Of course, I had to give it my own version of a makeover. I removed the front end and then I
reinstalled it. I primed it with spray paint. Despite that, I think it came out pretty good. It was my daily driver so the '69 could be kept
clean. I sold the '61 to buy my next VW, a '56 Oval.
This is my '56 sunroof Oval. It was painted in an alley in South Gate with a 1 HP air compressor and I think it came out pretty good.
Photo 2 was taken in June 1974 while I was preparing it for the trip to the October Bug-In. Soon after, I put Porsche chrome wheels
on it. I took it to the Northwest Bug-In and photo 3 was taken at the SIR Raceway. Photo 4 was taken just after returning from the
Northwest Bug-In. At this time, in September 1975, the Cal Look was just beginning.
I purchased a 1964 Bahama blue sunroof bug from DVB club member Mike Hines for $2000. Photos 1 & 2 left were taken at a DVB
club outing in Tustin and photos 3 & 4 were taken in front of my house in South Gate. I hit a sofa head-on on the freeway one night
on the way home from a club meeting. There was quite extensive damage to the front end. I took it to Bob Lilligard and he made the
necessary repairs. Photos 5-8 show the damage and the repairs that were done.







In 1978 I found this '74 Beetle Standard through Mike Bergin in Danville, California. He called me and said he was selling the car. It
had a 1641 engine and original Empi 8 spokes. I flew to Oakland, where Dan picked me up and drove me to his home in Danville. I
bought it for $3000 and drove it home to Yorba Linda. Shortly after that, I decided it was time for a longer road trip and I decided to go
visit my sister in Tennessee. While there, the rear fender was damaged. After returning home I took it to Al Martinez. Photos 4-6
shows it after Al repaired it. You can see the disc brakes I installed in photo 7.

I bought this 1968 Beetle on December 3, 1995. I wrote the date in the dust on the windshield. I got five motors along with the car.
The car had an automatic transmission and the first thing I did was to remove it and replace it with a standard transmission. I sold it to a
guy who was moving to San Francisco. He drove it all the way to San Francisco, in fact he drove it back and forth four times. He sold
it to a friend of mine, Jim Reissen. Jim made it into a Cal Looker. He won Best Engine at a local car show with an engine I built for
the car. There is a photo of the car in the May '06 issue of Hot VWs on page 83.














This is my 1964 Beetle that I bought from my friend Sil Modesti. Sil bought it from a lady who lived in Pasadena, California and she
was the original owner. I put new tires on it and also new upholstery. I did put a new engine in it, but the original is on the side of
the house. I want to rebuild it and put it back into the car. The paint on it is original. It has been my daily driver since 2001.
(Click on the photos to see a larger view.)
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