The MOKE is on my bucket list..(even though MOKE season in NB is measured in weeks) .but first I need a LWB Mini.

One of these days, Alice !

Maybe I'll swap "HAPPY", my 87 Austin Mini RHD from Barnhillminis (remember them?) for a LWB Mini....who's game?

Hello
did you ever find a buggy?

 

Big Al, This is an old thread with my original address. Mania changed it on me. Still [email protected] Jim

Hey Jim D , you change your email addy ? Just bounced back or are you hiding from wealthy widows ?  LOL

BIG AL

How timely, I just looked at Meyers Manx yesterday. Fully enclosed, timeless design. Needs everything including motor, interior, etc. It is a rare vintage piece. I would post pictures but I can't remember how. No I didn't buy it.

Hello
have you ever found your buggy?

 

Or you could get the Siva Buggy a downsized beach buggy running on Mini mechanicals or the Stimson Mini Bug same scenario but more Hot Wheels looking.

Jim/ Give your head a shake, you don't need "any stinkin" dune buggy-

I don't believe you have ever owned a Moke in your vast array of minis owned over the years-

So, look around, find a decent Moke and go at it !!!

Big AL

I had one years ago in the UK. It was on a shortened VW chassis (the only way to do it) Meyers Manx copy with a full top and side curtains and steel banded wide wheels. I bought it in the winter painted it bright red and drove it daily for about 6 months then sold it on. The biggest thing to look for as with any kit car is build quality and the wiring, luckily mine was a decent one.

Not to worry, Norm - the Dung-Buggy never got to be road-going and never got more than about 1/2 mile away from home, except for the last trip, which was less than a mile. It did eventually have the steering column supported and even tail lights from a 64 Ford Fairlane wagon.

yes mike , thanks why I'm posting. looks like it would be a fun ride for the summer.

did you look at the yellow one at the indoor sale in WHB today?

pitfalls? no roof

upsides? super light weight, amazing handling off road and decent power/weight ratio even with a small Bug motor

Oh, and from reading the other posts on this thread, another pitfall apparently would be if it was unsafely built by someone and then you try and drive it!

A good dune buggy will have 6~12" cut out of the middle, shortening the wheel base, and reducing the weight. Many have a substantial roll cage, but many have no more than the fiberglass tub. In high school (late '70s), the cool solution for the gas tank was to mount a pony keg to the roll bar, above the engine.

In New York State back then, it was required for a road-going automobile to have a windshield and at least one wiper. The dune buggies we built in shop class had a "windshield" about 4" x 6" (plexiglass), somewhere down near the JC Whitney "bug eye" headlights, where they were bolted to the floor. That piece of plexi was just big enough for the inspection and registration stickers. There was a single wiper blade, under one of the seats (the DMV needed to be shown that blade to check off that box on the inspection form - no, the inspection didn't require that it work, or be attached to anything).

Good times,

Norm

I had a dune buggy once - an Ocelot El Cabellero in metallic yellow (really big metal flakes).  I bought it as a rolling shell from a guy who'd had it parked it in a field for more than 10 years.  I think I paid $200 for it, back in around 1985.  My brother and I rope-towed it about 10 miles at night behind his pickup.  I didn't have a garage, so we towed it to my friend's house (at the edge of a pumpkin patch and I built it from there.  Yeah, young and stupid...

Got it running and registered in Rhode Island with a 1600 bug engine, did some electrical work - maverick or pinto tail lights, corvette seats, mag wheels, etc..  The fuel filler neck stuck up out of the 'bonnet'.

I never really had the money to do it nicely, but it was fun.  

The red one pictured is in NH, could be my old one, as the filler neck sticks up, but it's missing the tailgate, which I had.  I was missing the side pod covers.  There aren't too many of these around.

I found some pictures online, give an idea of the style.  I'd buy it again and do it nicely this time - I really liked the style of the El Cabellero.

I can't claim to have had one, but my brother took a '60's Bug chassis, stripped the body off and added a plywood floor with angle-iron edging, bolted the bug seats on and (eventually) braced the steering column. He also cut about 11" out of the shift tunnel and bolted it back together -no welding involved! My uncle labelled it a "Dung-Buggy"  Very light, especially on steering, which was OK while one was holding the steering column up while driving. MY brother once tried to teach a neighbour girl how to drive it, but with such light steering, it would not self-straighten.  They ended coming straight at me. With 2 smaller girls trying to hide behind me and a bush and boulder in front of me along a fence, i had nowhere to go. Luckily the right wheel hit square on the boulder, bounced up through the bush at chest height, and i had just enough room to lean back and see it flash by, followed closely by my brother's grin-spiit face, he was laughing so hard.  The last drive I had on it (not "in"), it wasn't running, had no brakes and was being towed by the family station wagon on about 20 feet of rope. Dad took off before I could engage the transmission for engine braking, so it was a wild ride. As he prepared to slow down I didn't want to rear-end the wagon, so steered off to the right, which produced the water-ski effect of speeding me UP. Dad stopped and I mowed down a few shrubs and bushes before coming to the end of my rope. Bye-bye Dung-Buggy.

(I'm amazed I am still alive!)

anyone have a dune buggy?  what's the pitfalls? upsides?