Let me try and explain some stuff - bear with me! lol!
Resto Cal is the term given to a particular 'look' which originated in the West Coast of the USA. I'm sure you guys have heard of Cal Look - You could say that Resto Cal is the 'opposite' of Cal Look. There are a lot of misconceptions as to what Resto Cal is - many people think its basically a restored Californian Looker ( Cal Look). They're actually wrong!
Resto Cal dates back to the 1960's/70's and since then has developed and evolved to the kind of style which you see on the car on this thread. Resto Cal has its roots firmly in embedded in lowrider culture - VW's were seen as a cheap source for many Hispanics to lower and cruise the streets - The rich guys had their Hi-po motors, the poor lowriders had their slow cruisers.
These days Resto Cal is defined in a nutshell as a stock and as close to original as possible bug, as if it had driven out of a VW dealership and then slammed to the deck on a set of period rims, lowrider style and sporting a number of period correct accessories which were available to VW's back in the day when these cars were new. Resto Cal has a huge following around the world and has its own class at shows. The most famous Resto Cal clubs in the world are the German Folks in the US, who also have chapters in the UK and Japan and also Restowagen UK here in England. Restowagen is the highest profile club in the UK and famous for their line ups at VW shows in the UK and Europe. I'm a very active member of Restowagen UK and organise the displays at VW shows, administer moderate the forums at
http://www.restowagenuk.com and many other things. Restowagen is acknowledged as having some of the highest quality VW's in the world and the standard of cars which are continuously being built move the standard of restorations in the UK higher each year. Even the US guys have come over to the UK and conceded that our cars are better built than theirs! lol! Anyway, that aside, Resto Cal is a very classic look and while it may not be to everyone's taste, it is taken very seriously by many people out there and there are constant debates on the guidelines which make a car a Resto Cal.
Resto Cals used to be cars which were simply lowered with a roofrack and loads of period accessories but now things have developed and moved in the direction of 'less is more' and narrowed beams.
Resto Cals are BIG money over in the UK and US, and very desirable Some Restowagen cars from my club have sold for around £15,000GBP (R224,900) to collectors. UK and European magazines are constantly watching the build up threads on the forums waiting to bag the first feature!
You can see a selection of some of the Restowagen UK club cars on this thread on The Samba here..
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=325072
All cars are classed as Resto Cals' and belong to Restowagen club members.
Now for narrowed beams..!
Narrowed beams were originally created to allow the fitment of wider wheels to stop them sticking out of the arches, however, as the quest to go lower continues it was discovered that 3 inch narrowed beams allow good offset wheels (4.5J Fuchs or 5.5J wheels) turn inside the arch and don't rub the lip of the arch while turning. This allows the car to be dropped so low that the wheel is entirely inside the arch and is able to turn with no interference. Then again, things developed further and the wheel tuck which you get with a 3 inch narrowed beam became desirable so people started narrowing 4 inches, then 5 inches, then 6 inches - simply just because they can. However, the maximum you can narrow a beam before the shock towers hit the inner quarter panels is 3 inches on a balljoint beam and 4 inches on a king and linkpin beam. To go any further requires a lot of modification and fabrication. As it became harder and harder to stand out from the crowd, beams became narrower for wow factor and I've seen 8 inch narrowed beams on some cars. Yeah, the turning circle is non existent, and then things start to become stupid.
Contrary to popular belief, narrowing a beam does not make the car unstable if it has been lowered. Many people believe that the front of the car will fall over, but in reality, you don't notice any different from stock width beams, except for the reduced turning circle when you go more than 5 inches narrow.
I can understand this modification leaving many of you scratching your heads and wondering 'WHY?!', but this has become a part of VW culture both in the US and Europe and this look is here to stay! There are some people who will never understand it, and others who will go - 'I like that, that looks cool!'.. they're definitely a love it or hate it thing and constantly provoke debates on almost every VW forum on the internet!
Hope that goes some way to explaining things?
I've never heard of Resto Cal.
