Fred's 1963 Ragtop Beetle

Friday, 11 January 2008
Jon Gilbert
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Fred Placido's Cal-Look Beetle

Simple, no frills, no-nonsense attitude, backed up by enough power to blow the doors off yer dad's Ferrari. That's the essence of Cal Look - and Fred di Placido's '63 Ragtop says it all without words...

Since 1975, when Dune Buggies and hot VWs magazine brought the California Look to a wider audience by showcasing on its cover the now-famous white '63 sunroof Beetle of Greg Aronson, along with an illustration of what made a California Look car, 'the Look' has gripped the VW world. And as it was the February issue of Dune Buggies and hot VWs that started it all, when things really took off in Europe in the mid-Nineties, it made sense to us here at VolksWorld to follow that tradition.
We didn't officially have a California Look Special until 1996, but as far back as February '93, we were recognising the link, running a piece on the recently re-formed Der Kleiner Panzers (DKP) VW club in California. In that piece, DKP was described as the 'numero uno VW club of all time', and the quality of the cars that assembled that day in El Dorado Park certainly backed up this statement. These cars, oozing nose-down attitude, and with their big-capacity motors, rare original wheels and 48IDAs, were inspiring stuff to us over here at a time when the advertisers in VolksWorld had separate sections for 'Cal Look equipment', listing chrome alternator stands, quickshift kits and twin Kadrons.
As we said, it took a little longer for things to really take off in Europe, but towards the mid-Nineties, a handful of clubs that were dedicated to keeping the traditional California Look alive started to spring up. In our '97 Special, we brought you a feature on Fred and Mike di Placido's Turkis '62 Beetle, which was one of the most hardcore Cal Look cars in the Belgian Der Autobahn Scrapers (DAS) club at the time. It was a knockout, sitting low in the front over a set of period Rocket Racing mags, and powered by a twin-Weber'd 1600 that looked every bit the classic Cal Look engine from the Seventies. Built completely at home by the twins, it showed a real understanding of the ethos of the original California Look.

For the full story check out the February 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 28th December and then available through VolksWorld back issues.

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