My mother's, Angie Bastian, first car was a VW Beetle that she commuted to work and school. This car was far from the show car she would someday own, but was the start of her love for VWs. This love furthered while she was working at a book store at a mall in Ohio and she saw her first California Look Beetle on the cover of Hot VW's. She was hooked and knew that someday she would have her own Cal Looker.

She eventually sold this car in Ohio and her and my father, Jack John DiGiacomo Sr., moved to Bakersfield, CA to follow a job opportunity. While in Bakersfield, they met a guy who was in a local VW club, V-Dubs LTD. It was at this time that they both caught the bug and had to find themselves a Cal Looker.

Shortly after joining the club, they bought a 1966 VW Beetle in 1982 as a partial Cal Look driver. By 1984, they had removed the body from the pan and completely reworked and repainted the body in a deep black with the blue and magenta heartbeat graphics on the side. They participated in many of the iconic circuits in California such as inter-shows, show for gold, bug-ins, and etc. As part of the V-Dubs LTD. club, my parents and their friends were showing their cars almost every weekend, then spending every weeknight making modifications and perfections to increase their scoring for the next show.

In 1984, the car was featured in Hot VW’s and Nitro and shortly after my parents had me on 5/3/1985. Needless to say, I slowed down their show participation a bit, but some of my first memories are riding in the backseat of the Cal Dub on the way to car shows. In 1989, the Cal Dub ended its show participation in California as our family moved back to the Akron, Ohio area to be closer to both of my parents' families.

Over the next 4-5 years, my parents showed the car in Ohio bit winning most of the shows they participated in, but the inclement weather limited their ability to drive and enjoy the car like they did in Bakersfield. In 1989, they divorced and shortly after sold the Cal Dub. This was one of the most devastating moments in life for me. My parents had just divorced and got rid of the vehicle that I had the fondest memories of my life with.

I would spend the next 24 years of my life dreaming about this car and how I might someday have a chance to own her again. Finally, in Spring of 2018 I posted a picture on The Samba requesting any information folks might have on the whereabout of the car. Within 2 days, a gentleman responded stating that his father had worked on the car in his shop in Ohio about 2 years prior and that he would check their paper invoices to see if they had the owner's phone number. Sure enough, he responded the next day with a picture of the invoice and phone number.

I called the then owner, a veteran named Mike, and told him about the history and who I was. Finally I offered to buy the car from him and he chuckled and said he wasn’t ready to sell her but promised he would give me first dibs. A few months later, I went to Ohio to visit my mom and family and her and I went to see Mike and the Cal Dub. He pulled the car out of the garage and both of us were immediately in tears as years of memories came rushing back to us. Mike was such a gracious owner that he even let us take it for a drive, the moment I had waited my entire life for. When we got back to his house, I again offered to buy the car and reminded me that he just wasn’t ready.

I would spend the next 2 years calling and checking in with Mike to make sure he wasn't ready to hand her over. Finally, it was early summer of 2020 and we were mid pandemic. I called Mike and he informed me that he was remodeling his house and could use the extra funds and asked that I give him 1 last summer with the car and reach back out in early Fall. I called Mike a few days into October and we struck a deal. I immediately found a transport service (who normally transports exotics) through a friend of a friend. We got everything scheduled and on 10/26/2020 the Cal Dub was officially back in Bakersfield.

As I was cleaning out the car, I found the original registration card when my dad signed the car over to the new owner in Ohio. It was exactly 26 years to the day (10/26/1994).