WildcatOne's 1970 VW Beetle

[pro70z28]

[Iowa Al]

The black 57 is nice, but I like the red one.
Great photos John.
Thanks for taking us along.
IA Al

[bojangies46]

Very

[WildcatOne]

Both '57 Chevys, the red one and the black one, are stupendously detailed and would pass a white-glove inspection from stem to stern...the differences I noticed (I didn't see Jim's engine...the black BelAir...but it said 502 on the emblem with the Super Sport flags under it) are that Jim's car is basically a stock top-of-the-line BelAir coupe body with some gold plating of the emblems here and there. Butch's appears to be originally a Biscayne 2-door post with BelAir trim added...it's a custom car...Mike Casella would know the difference immediately. But Butch's car has a totally custom-built BBC show engine in it that knocked me smooth out. Not long after he installed the engine last year, he opened the hood to show it to me and it was like opening a treasure chest...it glowed...I was utterly breathless and (somewhat) speechless. Both cars are air-conditioned and have automatic transmissions. They're not race cars, but I would guess that they would both go pretty darn fast if the pedal got pushed down far enough. Butch talked to me for a minute Sunday. I was complimenting him on his car and I told him and Patsy that they're the upcoming Car of the Month on the Pee Wee Bowen Band's website in January. He said Thank you. This sure didn't happen quickly. It took a long, long time. Butch pretty much built that car himself. Cheers, WC1

[Mr. Jean]

A 57 Chevy, is/was a great looking car back then and even now. I've always liked them. Owned 3 of them myself, so far.

Thanks for the detailed report on the fine looking pair.

[Billy Mac]

That red 57 reminds me heavily of the one that my buddy Tim is trying to finish up. His is a 'tad' bit of a darker red...the one pictured gives me a good idea of what his is going to look like

In lending a hand here and there on this project, I have gained a whole new appreciation for the craftsmen(and women) who designed and fabricated all the different parts and pieces that make up these cars. And to think that there was no such thing as CNC machines and computerized robots to do any of the labor...Yup....a whole new appreciation for my elders

[WildcatOne]

Good point, Billy...they didn't have AutoCad, either. The designs and plans were all done by hand and then drafted using pen and ink and various drafting tools on film, sepia paper or cloth, then blueprints were made off of those deals. It's kind of funny to me, because I've only seen a few cars that have come along in recent memory that appealed to my tastes in the sense of them being really "cool looking" cars...and they all have retro styling...all computer-designed. I know you get accuracy with the technology that exists nowadays, but in my book, nothing comes close to the quality, craftsmanship and beauty of the cars that were made before they started "modernizing" them...In short, new cars look like disposable junk to me. Cheers, WC1

[Billy Mac]

My son , Jordan and I rode past a small used car lot the other day and there was a Bug on the corner of the lot. I mentioned to him that it reminded me of George. He replied, "Do ya mean the Herbie Car??" I told him, 'Yes', and he said Cool!....let's go see how much it is....Sadly, traffic was such that I could not get turned around to go find out....Think I'll stop by on my way back to the shop

[WildcatOne]

BillyMac, I want to take up a collection and get you a digital camera!

[WildcatOne]

We played 3 very successful shows this weekend. Today we played at the Hot Rod Show at Carbide Park between LaMarque and Hitchcock. 148 cars were there, we played from 3 to 5 PM, Debby brought my Dad to the show and I got to visit with him. The ladies who come to all our shows just flipped over him and hung out with him while I played with the band. The band were named judges of the event and there were 6 winners (Pee Wee was exluded because he didn't want to be politically involved). My vote went to Eddie's Black '40 Lincoln Zephyr with the badass flame job. Eddie was elated! He said he'd never won anything with that car until today. I took 22 pictures and I kept 19 of them. The link to the album is at the bottom of this post. Also, I got to take a picture of Butch's Red '57 Chevy engine and I also got one of Jim Kolb's Black '57 Chevy's engine. These are the powerplants of the same 2 cars that were at the Fayetteville run that we were discussing last week. I'm lining them up next to each other here. Butch's engine is on the left, Jim's on the right. It's a very interesting comparison and it shows how much creativity can exist within one car's basic identity. The photos can't show the incredible detail on each engine...I've seen Butch's up close and it's unbelievable. Anyway, it was a great weekend. 3 full gigs, 2 of them outside and last night was a huge Halloween Blast at Lone Star. The downside is that I'm feeling kind of sick, I'm cold and I feel like I'm starting to get a fever. I'm going to finish this post and hit the sack until tomorrow some time. Enjoy! WC1

The smugmug thingie says it's still processing one picture, but here's the URL...Cat
http://pctalent.smugmug.com/Other/Hot-R ... 2909_ZtiXa