here's my daily driver....this was when I lived in Daytona and it you were able to drive on the beach
ohh and almost forgot to include some art I did of a woody wagon for a Thai Guys surfboard....when I went on a surf trip to Thailand
Awesome rides guys! I like the VW a lot to tell you the truth. I know it's kind of a sin here to say VW bug but I am beginning to like them and really been thinking about buying one for a daily driver to save on gas around town. NateGreco, can you give me some more info on yours and any common problems to watch for on them if I decide to get one? You can PM me if you'd like to keep this thread on topic and not start a VW flame war, it's up to you. Thanks!
If you get a bug with an Irs suspension and a stock 1600 and keep the valves tuned up ....your pretty much good to go. I had mine slammed and it was a peach to drive. I got around 23-25 mpg and never really had any headaches. The biggest headaches I find with the beetles is the electrical and replacing belts here and there. I was fortunate to buy my bug off a guy who replaced all the wiring in mine. If you take care of it and make sure you keep up with your tune ups and keep good oil in it... it will last forever. I put way over 100,000 miles on my beetle and even drove it from sarasota to NYC in July. No airconditioning sucks, and girls love it until they find that out on a long drive.
I really love looking at the pictures in this post whether they are "Real" surf curisers or "Stylized" ones. I just can't get over the whining of "That isn't the real deal" that is posted here. Come on guys, Have some fun. Remember that custom cars are a form of art. It is an expression of what the owner is trying to convey. How many people here have Betty Boop, James Dean, or Marilyn Monroe some where on or around their cars? It's the same Sh*t. Heck and Betty Boop was from the 30's and not the 50's. Life in the 50's was not all that golden and every coner didn't have a malt shop on it either. Same is true with the Surf Wagon croud. True surf wagons were 2nd or 3rd hand cars that we didn't mind stuffing all of our carp into. No one here would think of taking one of those to a car show. So, just enjoy the trend / style for the fun of it.
I hadn't seen this thread before, but I could look at this stuff all day. My 10' Hansen is getting all lonely out in the garage because she hasn't seen the ocean since the early 90's. She hit me on top of the head for trying to relive some memories, so I thought the prescient thing to do would be to quit while I was ahead. That 'burban "Tiki-mobile" that got this thread going is awesome, as is the green Nova. I've talked about my Mom's '59 Rambler Ambassador wagon in another thread, that I was embarrassed to be seen driving, but in retrospect it was pretty practical and cool, getting me and some of my friends to the beach for the weekend from Central Cali, loaded with camping gear and such, on many occasions. My '46 saw service too with my Dad's oak and suction cup racks. I thought it looked pretty cool too, even though it wasn't the requisite '46 Woody. I got the thumbs up from Corky Carroll and Mickey Munoz one weekend with it, that acknowledgement will last me a lifetime. Next was the '65 Dodge Sportsman van that I got a good deal on. It had carb problems (worn check ball tract, figured it out, fixed it, and a burned valve, fixed that too.) Ran great after that. Like the one in this thread except it was that sickly minty Froggy green Dodge color w/slant 6. My mom made me some kinda hippy look'in curtains for it and away we went. Those things were great for camping. I've always had a soft spot for the old wagons though when I see 'em.
I thought "traditional" had something to do with "how it was". Some weird ideas here on that topic. And, tiki's don't have #$%^ to do with hot rods....I grew up in Pacific Beach, CA in the 60's, so I have some context here..... That '33 / '34 4-dr is kool, and Mazooma's is kool, but outside og magazine covers and album covers, "kool" surf vehicles were prolly 1% of the vehicles used...
Von Dago, so that's what your woody looks like. That's one good lookin original! I gotta check it out in person some time.
Been on this site several years, and I just found this cool-ass thread.......call me a 'poser' if you like, but I dig the vintage surf culture...always have. I'm blond, live in Florida, used to surf in the 80's (more of a hodad greaser now ), have a huge surf music collection, and drive this: I've been toying with making it a surf wagon for years, but it looks like this thread is pushing me in the direction of actually doing it...the rat look is fun, but the SW has a different style altogether; I think I can merge the two if I do it right.... I'll be watchin'.... Rob
Now I have the wagon, and the surf board but no place to surf here in Nebraska. Earlier this Summer I could have used the Platte or Elkhorn River. Scary amounts of water flowing very, very fast. I think the surf board is longer than the Jeep. Late 50's /early 60's O'neil Long Board.
These photos were taken by an excellent surf photographer, Leroy Grannis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_grannis I have his book "Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s", some fantastic shots in there.
Indiana? Ever hear of Lake Michigan? Tonight they are calling for 18' waves! Granted most of the time you can't surf on our lake, but there are some nuts that do it in late fall when the waves get crazy! Biggest problem with our lake is if the waves are big, the "undertow" is horrible and very deadly!
Here's my ex-version of a surf-mobile! I want to do my 31' Tudor in a surf style and have some crazy ideas in my head but the damn wooden longboards are outragous in price!
I live in surf city and I own a wagon, but no surfboard. WTF? So I had to make do with this outstanding hood ornament.
I couldn't really tell the color from that picture. I had a 63 Nova SS convertible that was a dark green metallic. Somewhat like the polo green on the 90's Corvette,but not as much metallic. This is going back many years,so of course I've forgotten the code. But I can say that to this day,that Nova was the only one that I've ever seen painted that color. Yes it was a stock color,but for some reason it wasn't on very many models. Now that I think about it, I don't recall ever seeing it on any other 63 Chevy.
love the falcon longroofs - got a 4 door Australian version of this at home right now! Plan is to make it kind of surf styled, but not in a cheesey way. I actually do surf and love the 50's and 60's surf culture. Theres a rad magazine you guys should all check out - http://www.mensfile.com/ Check the article on brian bent, artist, surfer, hotrodder and all round cool cat.
My surf wagon. Here in central Arkansas, we don't get much surf so the two holes in the board are not a problem. It's where I store beverage, one for each hand!