With cornflakes he has “Cal-Look” Nothing to do. The origin of the name does not derive from cereals, separate from California. From there came the Cal look – speak Källuck – its triumphal march around the world. While the original Cal look may no longer be so trendy with us (Rest-Cal gilt to cooler!), people still swear by it, especially in France or England. Whatever, VW Scene dedicates a little special to the Cal look. We show, what was going on in the early nineties, like a cal look 2000 can look like, that Karmann and Cal-Look go well together – and start with a car, which was created around a quarter of a century ago in the early days of the Cal look and still exists today. It's a 67 from a famous company. Let's call the story…
One reason for the long-lasting success of the Cal look was and is its more subtle, yes almost subtle appearance. At least that was the case in the beginning. Later, cheerful colors like neon green dominated, peach, Pink or yellow the scene. The fathers of the Cal look, on the other hand, attached great importance to understatement, the cars looked almost standard apart from the rims. But power was a must back then, because with an inconspicuous “little beetle” or “bug” to scare off the large-volume V8 cars, that gave the real kick. Unfortunately, the performance aspect in Europe is somehow
got buried. And sometimes you have the feeling, here the self-appointed scholars prefer to argue about it, whether with a Cal-Looker now one
big four-cylinder new, he let his believers all over the world through series production
Look neither the sheriffs,
Standard- or export bumper or just the plain black window seals are allowed. Even if Cal-Looker with 34 PS were not really suitable for reaching on the asphalt, they were easy on the wallet and motivated countless Beetle fans.
People like Gary Berg did the usual “how can, how may, What does a Cal-Looker have to look like11 no thought at all. They wanted a beetle to accelerate, whose optics neither the sheriffs, warned the colleague in the Chevrolet at the traffic light. Gary was able to rely on the experience of the entire mountain clan with his 67, at the head of which was the now unfortunately deceased Gene Berg. Just in case, that a reader may not know: Gene Berg is something of a pope for the air-cooled faith community. The Carroll Shelby the Beetle Treadles. The Albert Einstein of the boxer faction. He not only defined the limits of the factory-set rather weak-chested four- cylinder new, he let his believers all over the world share his wisdom through serial production. Gene Berg also visited 1995 also the VW Forum in Castrop-Rauxel, and that in orange, CA based company Gene Berg Enterprises has something like a place of pilgrimage for hardliners.
Gary, the eldest son of Gene Berg and his wife Dee, already thundered in the seventies with the beetle shown here at monkey speed over the quarter mile: Low 12's times are
When talking about Cal-Look, Terms like Old School and Resto-Cal are not far. And if you then throw the German style into a battle of words, the confusion is complete for some.
Here is a brief explanation – Subject to variations:
Old schools look like the Cal lookers of the sixties / seventies (see Berg-Werk). Not that trendy, rather inconspicuous, but very athletic. Chrome and chrome strips allowed. Sporty interior preferred. Power is a must!
Resto-Cals are so closely related to old schools, that yourself
Old school drivers believe, they have a resto-cal. Most popular extra for the Resto-Cal type 1 is the roof rack with a cola cooler. More chrome than real old schools and not necessarily as much bang as the old school. Okay?
German style has nothing to do with Cal look. This is about thoroughly structured, air-cooled racing cars with semi-trailing arms, Type 4 grenades or WBX crackers. Hi-Tech brakes. Bucket seats. Visually discreet, but noble. Dark colours, sometimes almost humorless metallic.
for a roadworthy car with a sheet metal body, Chrome bumpers and a complete interior are still a more than decent achievement, or? When the car was later involved in an accident, Gary didn't make up his mind to, to scrap the veterans, but rebuilt it again. The Beetle was also redesigned in a Manurva blue that is untypical for Cal-Lookers from today's perspective- Metallic dipped. And Gary put his beloved companion back on those super rare BRM Magnesium Speedwell rims, For which some would give their last shirt and of which even the Berg family only had five sets in the camp at the time of the reconstruction. (Today these rims are among others. again via custom & Speed parts available in Bargteheide!)
Gary put the boxer together from scratch, the one with tight 2110 ccm may no longer be counted among the flyweights. The basis is a Gene Berg crankshaft, combined with Carillo connecting rod and piston, which run in 90.5 mm cylinders. The sprint-happy Engle FK87 camshaft controls the timing of the 42- or. 37,5-mm valves, their one- and titanium tappet outlet clearances, Mountain rocker arms (1,45:1) and Chevy springs are coordinated. The two-port cylinder heads went through the hands of Brother Clyde prior to installation, who specializes in optimizing these components. The mixture is prepared by two 48-IDA carburetors, enthroned on Scat-Trak intake manifolds.
A Gene Berg linkage takes over the synchronization. A Stinger ignition from Berg ensures a controlled explosion. This propellant makes the metallic blue a sprinter king, especially since a limited slip differential and a closely spaced five-speed gearbox are available as a traction aid. This gear train is sorted by a Gene Berg shifter.
From today's point of view, the chassis is almost primitive: In the front an adjustable axle with modified steering knuckles, turned down a bit at the back. Porsche 356B drums keep the Beetle in check, Series shock absorbers the wheels on the road. Neither the relatively narrow i85 / 70s Pirellis in the back and certainly not the 145 Michelins in the front attract the special attention of uninitiated contemporaries. Insiders see it differently! You count the Gary Berg Beetle among the pioneers of the Cal Look cult, and so it is hardly surprising, that an American collector for this “Berg-Werk” recently paid a considerable sum, to put the car in his garage.