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| JD and his '65 VW Bug; Before Restoration |
We asked Jon to share a bit about this classic bug and here is what he wrote:
"This was my father's car (note the original yellow on black plates) and I made him a promise before he passed away that I would have it restored. It is a European model VW with a locking steering wheel and yellow tipped red tail lights. After being driven in Germany and other countries in Europe for a driving vacation, it was shipped to LA Harbor to remain in the U.S. for good.
I have pictures of this car in the Zuma parking lot (behind Tower 5) during the late 60's and early '70's, as that is the beach I grew up on when I was a youngster. The sight of a lifeguard decal - usually the old CSLA decal - in the rear window of any type air cooled VW in the '60's and 70's was simply iconic, as many, many lifeguards back then drove them. VW's were so plentiful that you could buy a used one in very good condition for only $300...that is what I paid for my '63 in 1972. They were only $1799 new. At a Barrett-Jackson car auction in Orange Couny a couple of years ago, a mid-60's Type 2 (Samba Bus) sold for $265,000, and was the number one seller for that auction!
Remember the Lifeguard VW dune buggies at Zuma 40 years ago? They were air cooled of course and I remember that the engines were pretty dirty...oil attracts sand very easily. I mused at what the carburetors must have looked like after I saw the engines. I had occasion to drive one of them once as a young recurrent County Lifeguard in 1973 on an early morning patrol, and was I stoked! (I think there were only two of them.) You had to be really careful, as they were not 4-wheel drive, and easily got stuck in soft sand. I think it was Dan Culbert who warned me not to drive it on the back of the beach. I didn't!
I spent the first three months of my retirement working on this car just to get it running again, and it is the 4th air cooled VW I have owned."
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| After Restoration |
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| Sweet! Love the LACo Lifeguard Decal too!... |
Best Regards,
JD
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(Text and Photos by & Copyright JD Moryl 2013. All Rights Reserved.)
*** Thanks JD! We really appreciate you sharing your restored VW Bug with all of us, including its Zuma Beach Pedigree ! And here is something else that most people are not aware of with respect to JD's lifeguard background. As he mentioned above, 1973 was his rookie year, but here's the kicker, as it were... JD took both the L.A. County and L.A. City tests, went through two rookie schools, and worked for both agencies until the merger in 1975. And since he lived in WLA at the time, he was on schedule with L.A. City at Ave 21 during '73-'74, and worked his requisite days for LACo. ***
10-4
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Until next time.....
"County Recurrent" News
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