techBox

So now I need to choose a short wheel base body to fit the overall style I want.

There are many buggy manufacturers in the UK and most have a short wheel base version.
Different bodies have different positive and negative points and different people will have a favourite.
Here is a selection of ones I considered (please forgive me if I miss any out)

http://www.manxbuggies.co.uk for the sidewinder

http://www.buzzbugs.com/ for the predator

http://www.eastcoastbuggies.co.uk for the manx, prowler and bounty hunter

http://www.dunebuggy.co.uk/ for the surf buggy and GT SWB

http://www.beachbuggies.co.uk/ for the jas buggy

http://www.kkvw.co.uk/ for the GT, kango and kombat

http://www.beach-buggy.net/ for the manta ray, renegade and kyote

http://www.doon.co.uk for the doon

After weighing up the pros and cons (and price!) of all of the above, I settled for a sidewinder. This is the new body by Mel Hubbard and just so happens to be the closest manufacturer to me!

After being without a project and buggy for too long, it’s time to start thinking about a new build.

Many ideas have been floating around my head and I’m beginning to pull them together in my mind.

First off, this time round I’m going to have a space frame chassis. this way if I decide to have some crazy engine put in, the car will be able to handle it. My last buggy suffered too much from wobble on bumpy ground (although this may have something to do with the gas shocks we stuck on it!)
A frame chassis will also protect the passengers of the car a litle more if an accident ever occurs. Safety is always something nice to have!

The car would definately be a short wheel base vehicle (as this looks much better in my opinion), but I needed to decide on the overall style.

(Mel + Simon, I hope you don’t mind me using these images ).

It could be a classic buggy with standard windscreen and chunky tyres.

Or it could be a retro style buggy, with no sidepods and thin wheels.

Or a french style, typically lowered with modern alloys and no bumper bars.

Or a streetfighter style like my old car.

Although I dare to be different, I ultimately still like the overall stance and look of my last buggy, so I will be using that as a general template for the new one. Lowered screen, big shiny roll bar and nice big wheels!

After only 6 Months, we decided to sell.

Building the buggy had been most of the enjoyment and it was time to start thinking about a new project.

There are many ideas we had which couldn’t go into this build and if we had kept the car there were a lot of things we wanted to change. The decision was made to start from scratch

In March 2004 , everything was together and the teething problems ironed out.

The finished car looked like this.

We were very happy with the result and the car went to the volksworld show and won ‘best coolest buggy’ at the SDBC picnic that year.

Once together, a roll bar was designed to our specification and added.

This was an extruded stainless steel tube of 2.5 inch diameter.

We decided to make a ’street fighter’ style buggy, which gives the car quite a steep stance.

To really set it all off, we also needed some wheels!
After spending many hours on the internet, we decided to import some centerlines from america with a very modern look.

These took nearly 6 Months to arrive (the usual story of a company waiting for enough orders to do a run) and they were well worth the cost of just over £1000 (without rubber!)

We chose a body and were lucky enough to get hold of a second hand one ready for painting.

The car was built up and after a lick of paint, the new body was added.

After throwing the car about at university, the car came back with me to London.
In 2000, my brother and I decided to rebuild it and it was destined for 4 years in the garage and a stripdown.

During this time, we decided to make the car a short wheel base and once we had the chassis bare, it was chopped.

The car was then gradually built back up assuming we were going to stick with a yellow body, by either modifying the old one or by getting a new one.

A bit of history with my buggies.

In 1996, I was at university in Portsmouth and while there I discovered a beach buggy for sale.
I had been looking for a project car for a long time and a beach buggy seemed to have it all.
Cheap to buy and run, easy to work on and a street status not usually found with other cars within my budget.

Without a lot of work buggies aren’t fast, but they more than make up for that with the fun they can give.

So I bought my first buggy – TKP 143H, a long wheel base GP mark 1 and changed the seats for some new corbeau buckets.

Here is the only image I have of the car at that stage: