Cal-Look.com - Nostalgia Corner by El Dub

El Dub's Nostalgia corner.

Meetings, cars...

Treasures from the past.

Memories, people, meets.

H/Gas, I/Gas...

EMPI, Auto-Haus, R/S...

Back to menu...

1- THE FIRST YEARS... | 2- THE REBUILT ONE | 3- TOP CHOPPED ANYONE? (Soon) |

LIGHTNING BUG : The rebuilt one...

After the crash of their first VW Gasser ever at Bug-in 3, the Schleys Bros had to build another one... Personnaly, I'm not sure if I would have race another VW after such a crash, but fortunately, the Schley are bravest than I am and the decision was quiclky made to race again, this time using a '60 body... Here is the result... An H/Gas bug which was capable of 11.52sec. @ 112.98 mph... Awesome or what...

The Lightning Bug name remains the same but the car now has many fiberglass parts helping to save weight : all four fenders, engine cover and front hood. Plexiglas windows were used too. But following the NHRA rules book, a rollcage was necessary as fiberglass parts were used...

Color used is a very electric looking pearl metalflake blue paint... Note the EMPI adverts in the background. But note that the car is now sponsored by the purple Deano Dyno Soar company... Definitely not a surprise as the two brothers were working as managers for that very same company.

Another mild wheelie when leaving hard... The front end was very light, relying on funny car type tube axle for support and steering. Picture by Glenn MILLER is a thumbnail.

I have no idea why, but pictures of the back of the Lighning Bug are not so common... That's a shame as it looks as good as the front, right? Note the push bar to help in the pits.

Battery, fuel tank and brake reservoir are relocated... Note the non working headlights which are NHRA compliant.

To be continued...

TECH SPECS :

As usual, here are some facts regarding the tech of that Gasser... Very useful if you want to duplicate it, as it seems to be the new trend today... *Laughing*

- ENGINE : Dean Lowry prepped Brawn-to-Soarus '69 2180cc.

- 92mm big bore kit X 82mm
- Port polish, reshaping of combustion chambers heads
- 40mm intakes & 32mm exhaust
- Dual springs, chrome moly pushrods
- 1.4:1 ration rocker
- #DDS140 cam
- Compression ration : 12.9:1 (Crazy...)
- Weber 48 IDA (F2 emulsion, 150 main & air, 37mm venturis)
- Scintilla Vertex magneto
- Deano exhaust header

- DRIVETRAIN :Porsche '64 transaxle.

- Close ration gears 1B, 2B, 3E & 3B
- Limited slip-diff
- Bullet proof axles

The Schley bros removing fiberglass nosepiece (...)

- BODY & CHASSIS : '60 sedan.

- Blue metalflake with gold leaf lettering by Chick Iverson
- Weight reduced, acid dipped and glassified (1077 lb)
- DDS front axle with adjustable dampeners
- Stock spindles without front brakes
- DDS rims 13' front & 15' rear
- M&H slicks 6.60-15

(...) to expose the lightweight front end...

As period Hot VWs magazine quoted, this Lightning bug was a real H/Gas record breaker! And it sure looked as well as it was going fast...