My first visit at Strictly VW restoration shop

Last December 7th, I went to a VW vintage engine restoration shop at the city of Irwindale called Strictly VW. They are known in the VW industry of southern California as one of the best in VW engine restoration. I met the two gentlemen at the shop who had been building VW engines at the same shop for the past 30 years.

I told them that I am looking for a single port 1600cc VW engine. They had 3 engines in their shop: 1600cc single port, 1600cc dual port and a 1776cc. I wanted to buy the single port but they told me that a guy from Sacramento just made a deal with them that morning and that guy is bringing in an engine exchange core. I felt bad because I was ready to get the 1600 single port engine he got on display. The 1776 cost close to twice more than the 1600 and so I kind of backed off purchasing the 1776.

I decided that the best option for me is to bring to the shop an undamage VW 1600 long block engine core that they could rebuilt for me. I also need to buy a transmission because the 36 and 40 Horse power I have respectively in my 1963 & 1964 VW bugs would not accommodate the bigger flywheel of the 1600.

I had a great time chatting with the two guys at the shop and they showed me their 1956 & 1958 VW bus that were parked in front of their shop.