The Cal-Look Times for Spring 2010
An Occasional Newsletter from Cal-Look.com

Editor’s Note: Thanks, Joe
By John Plow
Editor@Cal-Look.com

Photo by Eric Ellis. Left to right are: one of the Schley brothers, Darryl Vittone (Joe’s son), Fumio Fukaya, Joe Vittone and Lee Leighton at Bug-In 32.

“Hi John – this is Joe Vittone.”

Convinced that one of my friends was pulling a prank on me a few years ago when I received this telephone call, I was speechless. Joe Vittone? You mean THE Joe Vittone? I was speaking to a legend, and did not know what to say. Dave Cormack (of VW Trends and Hot VWs fame) had given Joe my contact details, and I was caught off guard.

Joe passed in February, and I find myself fondly remembering our conversations that followed.

Why the passing of Joe did not receive more recognition is beyond me, as his contributions to the aftermarket VW industry cannot be overstated. It is hard for modern day enthusiasts to relate to, but when Joe founded EMPI (European – later changed to Engineered – Motor Products Inc.), there was not much of an aftermarket to speak of. EMPI became an empire – sadly, one that would not survive his tenure as head – whose contributions spurred tremendous engineering advancements, focus and competition in the burgeoning aircooled VW performance scene. If you are reading this newsletter, you are obviously a fan of aircooled performance, and you can thank Joe (in part) for where we are today.

Fortunately, Joe did receive his due attention in the last few years of his life – due, in part, to the efforts of Dave Cormack – nearly 35 years after selling EMPI to Filter Dynamics and leaving the VW scene. He was overwhelmed at the recognition he received, and it was just dessert for his contributions to the hobby we all know and love.

More thoughts on the passing of Joe can be read on the Cal-Look Forum.

Celebrating 10 Years – Looking Back

December 2009 marked our 10 year anniversary, causing us to pause and reflect on the site since it began in 1999. From the beginning, we always had one simple goal: to be the global meeting place for everything Cal-Look. We never concentrated on maximizing the potential market, focusing on all aspects of the VW hobby (both air and water cooled), or looking for opportunities to broaden our reach. It has always been – and will remain – about aircooled VWs strongly influenced by the original California Look scene started over 40 years ago.

Our mandate has centered on a strong community focus, and we are proud of our accomplishments, including:

• - Sponsoring (and promoting) numerous VW events
• - Launching the world’s first global ranking of fast street cars, the Mark Herbert Memorial Top 10/20 contests
• - Being the first aircooled VW website to launch an online television show, CLTV, years before YouTube and other online technology made doing so easier. 3 episodes were shot, 2 made it into final production, and 1 was released to the public. Production costs (both time and finances) negated future episodes
• - Sponsoring race cars, helping to offset the expensive costs associated with 1/4 mile racing
• - Launching the first online aircooled VW global blog aggregator
• - Launching the first aircooled online video contest, our “I Can Top That” user submitted video competition (before YouTube made this moot)
• - Launching the first aircooled “Cal-Look car of the Year” awards, a user-voted annual contest
• - Providing a community where manufacturers and retailers can engage with their customers, taking the pulse of the VW scene. Many innovative products have been launched due (in part) to the voices of Cal-Look Forum members and the companies who are responsive to consumers’ needs
• - Having given thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of prizes (due, in part, to the generosity of our sponsors) in multiple contests over the years.

Simply put, no other aircooled VW site can match this record.

Our focus on innovation has fortunately created a number of enthusiastically received initiatives over the years. Technology has made a number of the initiatives no longer relevant, however, as well as the emergence of a number of other websites that have, to be kind, “borrowed” liberally from us. We hope that our presence has helped to contribute to the health of the VW scene over the past 10 years, which has always been our goal.

We now have traffic from 174 countries/territories around the world, 2.5 times our global traffic from only 5 years ago. 30% of our traffic is new users, one of the most important statistics in terms of the growth of not only our website, but the VW scene as a whole. Looking forward, we are excited to launch the next generation of Cal-Look.com (more details below) to our readers, with the goal being to serve our users’ needs as we begin our second decade.

The New Cal-Look.com – Looking Forward

In planning for the 4th major redesign since Cal-Look.com’s inception, we were very aware that we had outgrown our previous design, as it was no longer meeting our users’ (or our) needs. Our objective was clear: create an appealing new design that enabled easier content uploading to all sections of Cal-Look.com. The nine-month process proved challenging, as the site has grown in complexity and the demands of our users have increased.

We believe that the new Cal-Look.com reflects where the Internet is heading, accommodating much more content with easier navigation and a fresh design. The new site enables easier updates and team work, something that the old design struggled to do. We’ve added a lot of new content, and I encourage you to spend some time navigating the links on our main page in detail. The Cal-Look.com Toolbar at the bottom of the page is one my favourites, especially the link housing the collection of Cal-Look related YouTube videos. You will also notice the The Cal-Look Legends Section, which is a new section devoted to interviewing, documenting and recognizing the accomplishments of the pioneers who contributed to the Cal-Look scene in its infancy. Our first interview will be uploaded in the coming weeks.

But what matters, of course, is your opinion, and we would love to hear from you.

Thanks for a great 10 years; online communities thrive (or die) on the contributions of the participants. Without our readers there would be no Cal-Look.com, and we are grateful for your involvement and feedback over the years. We feel very fortunate to have been a part of this hobby, and look forward to serving you going forward.

2009 Mark Herbert Memorial Top 10/20 – Finalists

The results from the 2009 Top 10/20 contests are as follows:

Turbo/Nitrous click here for the times and speeds.

• (Position, Name, Country, Prize)
• 1 – Richie Webb, U.K., Winner’s Trophy and Dash Plaque; 1 Pair of Slicks or Drag Radials, M&H Tires
• 2 – Niklas Haglund, Sweden, Dash Plaque; I Year Subscription to Ultra VW Magazine
• 3 – Stefan Mälman, Sweden, Dash Plaque; T-Shirt, Rancho Performance
• 4 – Bob Hemphill, USA, Dash Plaque, Hat & Stickers, Hot VWs Magazine
• 5 – Jimmy Jansson, Sweden, Dash Plaque; Original Cal-Look.com T-Shirt

Normally Aspirated click here for the times and speeds.

• (Position, Name, Country, Prize)
• 1 – Juhani Jyränkö, Finland, Winner’s Trophy & Dash Plaque; Copperhead Clutch Disc, Air Cooled Engineering; 1 Year Subscription to Ultra VW Magazine; $100 Gift Certificate, G Down Exhaust
• 2 – Magnus Lundgren, Sweden, Dash Plaque; T-Shirt, Rancho Performance; Hat & Stickers, Hot VWs Magazine; Cal-Look.com Window Decals
• 3 – Patrick Friel, USA, Dash Plaque; T-Shirt, Rancho Performance
• 4 – Petter Carlberg, Sweden, Dash Plaque; Hat & Stickers, Hot VWs Magazine
• 5 – Mike Lawless, USA, Dash Plaque; Original Cal-Look.com T-Shirt
• 6 – Rod Richardson, Australia, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Joe Vittone Signature Series Visor
• 7 – Nils Gulbrandsen, Norway, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Joe Vittone Signature Series Visor
• 8 – Jason Foster, USA, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Mousepad
• 9 – Tom Funnell, USA, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Mousepad
• 10 – Patrick Friel, USA, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Window Decals
• 11 – Kenneth Fleischer, Sweden, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Window Decals
• 12 – Neil Speirs, Canada, Dash Plaque; Cal-Look.com Window Decals

The performances continue to amaze us, with the average Top 10 ET/MPH being 10.481 @ 132.63 MPH. The average Top 20 ET/MPH was 11.892 @ 112.709 MPH. Congratulations to all finalists for the amazing amount of commitment it takes to build, run and maintain VWs capable of such exceptional performance.

Accolades are especially due to this year’s winners, Richie Webb (Top 10) and Juhani Jyränkö (Top 20). Richie has worked on his car’s performance for years, and to finally make it into the 9s with a relatively heavy convertible is an incredible feat! And of course there is the King of Finland, Juhani Jyränkö, 4-time repeat Top 20 Champion, only 1.2 seconds off of Richie’s time in a naturally aspirated (albeit much lighter) car!

In terms of the dominant participant country, we had a tie between the US and Sweden. When looking at the average ET submitted between the two countries, however, Sweden gets to the wear the Cal-Look Crown, with an average ET of 11.242 (versus 11.901 for the US). When you consider that the population size of Sweden is a fraction of the US, this accomplishment is especially impressive. It must be the long, dark winters, locked away in cold garages planning for the spring. This may also account for the high volume of site traffic we get from Sweden, especially during the winter.

Please acknowledge the generous contributions of the companies that make this possible, including:

Air Cooled Engineering (aircooledengineering.com)
M & H Tires (mandhtires.com)
G Down, Inc (gdownusa.com)
Rancho Performance Transaxles (ranchotransaxles.com)
Ultra VW Magazine (ultravwmagazine.com)
Hot VWs Magazine (hotvws.com)

These sponsors continue to step up and support our hobby, ensuring its health into the future. Please remember this when you are deciding who to vote for with your hard-earned consumer dollars.

Thanks to all the finalists for waiting while we finished the new site design. ALL FINALISTS need to forward their mailing address to Editor@Cal-Look.com in order to receive finalist dash plaques and prizes.

We have also now uploaded all 9 years of the Top 10/20 finalist results to the new site for your perusal. It is interesting to track the change in cars and performance, and I encourage you to check it out.

Sincerely,

The Cal-Look.com Team