RVEECO, grampa's company need info

[firebug]

My grandfather passed away, long before I was born. My dad tells me that his father owned a VW shop called RVEECO or "Rebuilt Volkswagen Engine Exchange Company". My dad's life history has allways been somewhat secretive, so I don't have many details at all. For all I know, my grandfather could have been the janitor there, or just aspired to be the janitor there. I think that my grandfathers name was Carl Hudson, but I could be wrong(long story). I was given a bunch of old Hot VWs magazines a few years back, and I came across a picture of a single cab pulling a wheelie with RVEECO on the side of it. I have since lost the magazine though. From what I can figure, based on what I've been told over the years, is that my grandfather passed away, and the other owner, sold the company, long long ago.
PLEASE HELP!!
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Pictures of stickers, ads, anything with the RVEECO name would be great.
Thanks for you help in solving one of the mysteries of my family.
_________________
Firebug AAC
www.aircoolers.org
'72 Super w/ (2234w/48s)
'86 Westy w/ (18s)

[coad]

RVEECO made external oil coolers back in the day, but that's all I remember.

[firebug]

thanks
_________________
Firebug AAC
www.aircoolers.org
'72 Super w/ (2234w/48s)
'86 Westy w/ (18s)

[sailorkh]

From what I remember, Rveeco was at 1335 Sixth St, Berkeley Ca. They were very big in rebuilding engines, and did market there own oil cooler. But, they have been gone a long time now.
_________________
Kris
1971 Deluxe
1978 Westfalia

[firebug]

thanks again, every bit helps
_________________
Firebug AAC
www.aircoolers.org
'72 Super w/ (2234w/48s)
'86 Westy w/ (18s)

[Big B]

Firebug
I remember in the 70's that there was a company who built a roof mounted oil cooler that was a huge scoop that was mounted usually
on baja's, just above the rear window,a nd I thought that was Rveeco, or Reevco. I'll keep looking for you......

[Big B]

Firebug
I just found this posted on another forum:
Quote:I had a Honda S-600 briefly while in the sevice. Was a wonderful 2 place roadster I do not think they sold here (was thutty odd yar ago). I recall them bringing the 600 line into the US briefly in the early seventies but within a decade most dealers were claiming they never heard of them.

Only 600 I know of waaay back when was the FIAT Multiplia which was sorta a minivan, the 850s were the smallest FIATs recently imported and they were a 4 cyl, water cooled, rear engine. FIAT/Abarth Mille Miglia Allemano 1000 had a 1 liter engine and could do about 130 mph. Double Bubble 750 and 850 versions were more common.

The Citroen 2CV had a 2 cyl air cooled engine (Sahara model had one in each end) of 354 cc AFAIR.

Think the smallest engine in the original Mini was an 848cc with the 997 cc Sprite engine optional. The slightly larger MG 1100 was 1097 cc but eminently swappable as was the Austin America 1275 cc available with an automatic no less, & all imported in the '60s.

I once had an RVEECO'd and warmed over 70 VW Camper and the nice thing was that two of us could have a drag race out of every light and not only would no-one notice, we would never break the speed limit 8*).

Like today, in the 60s there was an entire import subculture going fast and furious just with mostly English imports not Japanese.

[Ace]

I've remember seeing Rveeco coolers on quite a few busses in the bay area in the 80s. I consisted of a long (2 1/2 ft?) oil cooler with a temp bypass mounted on the shell on the Right side below or behind the engine air intake. Mine used a stock cooler block off plate with fittings and had a filter in line. It also had a fiberglass cover with the letters "Rveeco" on the side. That's all I remember about that company.

[steve mighetto]

They were listed as a resource in early editions of John Muir's book "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" .

Back in the 70's I worked in a garage on College Ave. in Berkeley. We installed a few engines from them. They were a booming business. My bus used to have a RVEECO engine with the external oil cooler. I still have the cooler setup floating around in my basement.

I recall they offered a 6 month warranty on their rebuild engines without their cooler. They extended the warrenty to 12 months with the cooler. There were a lot of RVEECO equipped VW's in Berkeley.

They had a couple of different oil cooler setups. One off them was kind of unique in that they tapped into the oiling system on the side of the case. That system used the stock cold oil bypass system to keep from over pressurizing the external cooler and oil lines. It also allowed keeping the stock cooler installed.

[firebug]

thanks guys, this is great. Any chance any one has something with the RVEECO name that they would be willing to sell, or just send picture of it? It would make a great gift for my dad.
thanks again folks
_________________
Firebug AAC
www.aircoolers.org
'72 Super w/ (2234w/48s)
'86 Westy w/ (18s)

[hambone]

The John Muir "Idiot" book makes some mentions of the company, not exactly sure where in the text tho...

[Mr Mike]

Did some checking in the Muir "idiot guide". In the edition dated
August 1986 there are several references to RVEECO. As "sailorKH"
pointed out the address was 1335 sixth st. Berkeley, Ca 94710
They must have had their fingers in a lot of pie's. My book references
a HOWARD PALMER that was one of the "top guns" there. That name familiar? Anyway it was him (or someone else perhaps working there)
that came up with the idea of using a FORD 6 or 12 volt solenoid to
work up a by-pass solenoid to make starts easier on old buses with
poor wiring. Other things they did include swapping out the stock valves of the time with sodium filled stellite valves. They also machined new
parts for better service such as "new hard brass valve guides".
Quoting from the book. Another fact the book states is they were among the first to recomend setting the valves to .006 instead of the .004
that was done "back in the day". They also advised for their engines
that the maintenance cycle be done at 1500 rather than 3000 miles
for a longer lasting engine. The most recent edition of the "idiot guide"
I have is a '91 edition and they still refer to RVEECO. So it seems they lasted untill at least the early or mid '90's.

[static]

During my salad years, I used to shop there. The building is still there.

They were known as notorious crooks, but they sold cheap VW rebuilt engines and parts to cheap-ass young hipsters such as myself. The oil coolers were, seemingly, on every VW in Berkeley in those days.

I never saw one without leaks.

RVEECO lost a lot of money when the rubber hosing that they used failed. It usually failed when the customer was out on the interstate far, far away from Berkeley. What was that hosing brand? Belden? I have forgotton.

Their coolers were not needed as much once the '71's came out.

[rveeco]

i have all the contact info firebug needs, to find out everything about his grandfather and his conection to RVEECO.... does anybody know how to get in touch with him..... i see he hasn't been on this forum for several months.

[BWD]

Send him a PM.
_________________
BWD
JHC
member #2850
1966 Beetle
_____________________________

[rtroy]

I know a lot about their demise.

I was one of the "lucky" ones who showed up one day while the liquidation was in progress. I secured many truck loads (Double-cab, of course!) of parts and conveyed most of it to our favorite vendors down in the LA area, like Tony Moore (Wolfsburg West), among others. For my trouble, I made a little money and kept some bits...

Contact me offline and we can talk.

RT
_________________
Richard

Karmann Ghia and Porsche 356 enthusiast
Founder, The Karmann Ghia Club of N. America

[KTPhil]

[rveeco]

i sent him a pm, i see he hasnt been in this forum since aug. i would like to think he didn't loose interest in finding out about his grandfather.
anyway, the reason i posted is my second cousin has been married to Howard Palmer my whole life. i just spent the thanksgiving weekend with him and we were talking about the RVEECO days he mentioned he googled the name and found the post by firebug, and couldnt figure out how to contact him(he isn't particularly computer savy) so when i got home i did a little research and logged on to your forum.
Howard said he would like to tell firebug all about his grandfather as he was much more than a janitor. i will leave it to firebug to share that with you.
Howard was one of the original partners in the forming of rveeco and ultimately the owner later on.
he told me some great stories about the early days of the company such as picking up some of the first gias to arrive in the US in alameda, with of all people eivel keneivels dad.......and some of the inovations they developed.
anyway i hope i can connect him and firebug Howard would like to talk to him.
btw i don't even own a VW, we had several when i was growing up because of our families connection to the company.

[rtroy]

[rveeco]

thank you richard,
maybe we are one step closer ..... how would i get ahold of this person to send him a letter?
anyway thank you

glenn