Have today created a mould with Mel Hubbard to knock out some pods to house the rear lights. ‘Frenching’ them in.
Also created one pod and it’s perfect. Will be cutting it to size and begin chopping the rear of the buggy around to make them fit.
Also had a crash course in glassing and will be attacking the sidepods (blending them in) over the coming weeks. Work continues, if a bit slower than I’d hoped (darn bathroom:p).
It’s been a slow few weeks what with level of work and waiting on varoius bits to be ready for the buggy, but I’ve been told that the body is now ready for collection.
I’ll be arranging a big van to transport the body and old beetle chassis (which was kindly stored by Mel until the frame is started) to the frame fabricators.
So I have now placed an order for a sidewinder.
I’ve decided to go for a standard grey colour with no flowcoat underneath as I plan to hack the body about a bit once I have the chassis.
Luckily whilst ordering this, I found out about an existing beetle chassis nearby which was for sale.
It was in good shape, only had 2 previous owners and is tax exempt!
It was an absolute bargain, so snapped it up.
I now know my next buggy’s registration, it will be CBY 64J 
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!
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.