so-calook beetle

I'm going to do things a little different from what I usually do with the blog. I've been working on some new things, but I'm going to postpone that until I can get a handle on everything new that's happening, and for now I would like to take you back in time to a earlier project so I can document this "pre-blog" project properly. I'll probably do a post or two per week about this and I'll try to keep up with other current stuff as well. The earlier project is yet to be completed, but I'm hoping I can do several posts over the next month or three and maybe when I get caught up on the progress, I'll be ready to start again on this one and I can pick right up with the new posts as I finish things up.

If you have read this blog for a while (thanks, by the way, to all of the people who have lately sent kind emails about your love for the handverker blog; it is greatly appreciated) you have probably seen my modified volkswagen in various states over the years. Time to give you some background...

Back in the summer of 2004, I was sitting in my studio after moving everything out. I had just graduated from the U of I, but I was teaching a summer Intro to Metals course and I remember going into my old studio and starting to wrap up the final details. Eric Larson, (a former advanced Metals student that I had taught while I was getting my MFA as well as an Industrial Design major) had stopped by and we were talking about building things outside of the typical school setting we had grown used to. Eric and I had bonded a year or two before as he grew up on a northern Illinois Dairy Farm and we could relate to each other because of our common work ethic and small town upbringing. Besides our love of making and small town background, we were complete opposites (he was always the center of attention and I always wanted to melt into my surroundings, so no one would notice me). 

Eric had always been a big fan of VW's and had owned several since getting his drivers license. This particular day he came into my old studio and he had a copy of the May 2004 issue of VW Trends (pictured above). He showed me a hot rod VW in the magazine that was built by Martin Smith, the Chair of the Product Design Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I was smitten as soon as I saw it. Eric mentioned something about wanting to build something similar and to that car. I thought it sounded cool at the time as I had always wanted to build a car from scratch and I had just built a chopper motorcycle as a part of my MFA thesis. Eric also mentioned something about having a '67 Baja Beetle that he would give to my friend Ian Bally (who was my best friend in graduate school; and I think was also present that day) or whoever wanted it. At the time I think I really thought it would be cool to do build a "So Calook" Beetle, but there were a lot of uncertainties as I was going to be unemployed by the end of the summer and my wife, Jill, was expecting our first child in November of that same year. LET"S BE REAL! With no place to work, and a rental basement full of metalworking equipment relocated from my school studio it was just a pipe dream to start building something of this scope and scale.

Note: I must have taken that VW Trends magazine that day (or Eric planted the seed by leaving it in my studio) as I still have the magazine above complete with Eric's old home address on the front cover. I've been known to be a hoarder of magazines, so I'm guessing I took it. Little did I know that magazine would fuel a project in the near future.