1967 Dune Buggy, Inc's Bandit Fiberglass (VW)Dune Buggy build and history

Dune Buggy Build and Project History

First a bit of history. In 2007 I decided to re-live my past a bit and decided to start a new hobby. I loved cars and always wanted a muscle car, so I thought starting a "car collection" would be an enjoyable hobby for me. It would keep me out of trouble, and would give me something to "tinker" with in my spare time. I also figured it would also be a good way to bring kids up with cars, and to allow them a chance to get their hands "dirty".

I then needed to decide on a car to purchase and to start tinkering with. I jumped on the internet and quickly found most muscle cars out of my price range. Since I don't have the money Jay Leno has, nor the space he has for his collection, I scaled my hopes down a bit.

I wanted something fun, cheap and something that would fit a family of four. I didn't want a vehicle that would cost me tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars or something that would upset me if someone damaged the paint or spilled juice on the interior. I wanted something easy, something fun, and something cheap. Through numerous conversations with my neighbor, who happens to be an avid VW collector and former VW mechanic, and through further online searches, I came across photos of a Dune Buggy.

Remembering my early years in California during the 1970s, and the cartoons I viewed as a young child, I thought this would be a perfect first car to start my car collection with. It was cheap. It's air cooled. The motor is self contained. It was cheap. There are minimal electronics. It looks "cool." It was cheap. It reminded me of my past. It would be easy to work on. It was cheap. It would be great to pass onto my kid(s). It was the perfect first collector car and ... did I forget to mention ... it was cheap.

So now the decision was made. I searched high and low and bought the buggy below from a guy in the middle of Wisconsin. My project was officially started. I chose this buggy because it was a full chassis buggy (see additional details below each photos) and had enough room for two people in the front and two people in the back, or two people in the front and one child and one dog in the back.

The photos below document the start of the project as I bought it, all the work I put into it, and hopefully the final outcome. I say "hopefully" because as the project was purchased late in 2007 and I started this write-up in January of 2008, this project has just started, and not even I know if I will ever finish it.

Wish me luck.

October 2007 - Photos of the Dune Buggy as purchased. My out of pocked expense for the buggy in its current condition - $500 (and $120 to the City of Milwaukee for a speeding ticket I received when I went to pick up the buggy.) I wasn't guilty, but after going to Milwaukee three times to fight the ticket, it ended up cheaper just to pay the ticket and stop paying $75 in gas for the trip to Milwaukee every time. Total cost - $620. In the purchase I received, the buggy, a motor (which wasn't started in years), steering wheel, windshield frame and a box of "spare" parts (there's always spare parts with a VW.) After buying the buggy, I found out the seller told me a lot of lies about what he did with the buggy. You live and learn I guess. I next removed the lights and unbolted the body. Next I wanted to make sure the motor and transmission worked because if I bought a body for $500 and the motor and transmission didn't work, I got ripped off. Time to test the motor and transmission.


We removed the body. Here's a photo of the pan with the body removed. A bit scary looking??? Okay, time to change the oil and try to start the motor. We, actually my neighbor changed the oil while I assisted and we then started the motor. After sitting for 5-7 years minimum, both my neighbor and I were surprised when the motor turned over and fired up. May I add ... it sounded goooood. Now I thought my $500 was somewhat worth what I bought, but I still needed to test the transmission.
November 2007 - Well the Chicago winter hit and my Buggy project stopped. You cannot work on a buggy outdoors in sub-freezing temperatures. During this time, and after many discussions with my neighbor, I thought it would be better to have more "spare parts" so I found a 1962 chassis and tranny for sale in Indiana. After a quick trip, here's the second chassis for "spare parts." With this chassis, I also received a pedal assembly. Total cost - $100 (no ticket this time.)	No photo
December 2007 - no work was done on the buggy all month. With the holidays here and the cold winters, the buggy will have to wait until 2008 for more work.	No Photo
January 2008 - Next, to see if the transmission works, which was more difficult, we needed to fix the "tunnel" which was butchered by the previous owner. When I next had time, and money, I called a local welder and had him weld the tunnel shut. Because one of the previous owners had butchered and not properly cut the tunnel, the tunnel was more difficult to weld than expected. The welder actually had to add material to close the hole in the tunnel. Total cost to weld the tunnel - $85. I also had to buy another pedal assembly since the first one worked, but when my neighbor and I took it apart to lubricate it, it broke during reassembly. 2^nd pedal assembly cost - $20 Time to test the transmission. With the drive wheels lifted off the ground, and the motor running, my neighbor and I (this time more me than him) put the buggy into 1st gear and the tires began to spin. Then 2nd, and 3rd and lastly 4th. All gears worked. Oh ya, reverse worked as well. Now my $500, oops $620, was worth what I received. Very good day. Now starts the pan and body work - aka, the hard stuff.
February 2008-I started looking for a body shop to do the fiberglass work and the paint job on the buggy. After talking to four of five body shops, and receiving quotes of $2000 to $4000 JUST for the paint job and minimal fiberglass work, I thought it may be better to look for a fixed buggy and sell the one I have. It may be cheaper and I would be able to enjoy a buggy without any work. The internet search starts 3; I found a few buggies in Detroit and made the trip out there, but they weren´t much better than the buggy I have and the prices were higher. I didn´t buy anything but will continue my search.	No photo, never bought a second buggy.
March 2008 - I found another buggy for sale. After e-mailing the seller, I got the price down but the buggy doesn´t have a windshield, has a motor, chassis and body. I thought I would do better, but instead ended up with another half working buggy. I went to pick up the buggy and found it needed a lot more work than the owner disclosed. I did not make the same mistake again. Also during March, our local VW club had a indoor swap where I picked up a Empi shifter ($20), a steering wheel ($9), and a buggy windshield ($20.) More spare parts for the buggy project. Lastly, I found a person who does paint and body work out of their home. We´ll call him Glen. Glen does it in his spare time and seems to do a pretty good job. He stopped by and quoted me $1500 for the body and paint. Not bad I thought, but I still wanted to get another quote from Maaco.	No photo
April - Still looking for another buggy, I found one in Minneapolis. Full size buggy, good floors, seller says good overall condition, BUT the motor doesn´t run and he's not sure of the transmission. I'll try to check it out in the next few weeks. Not promising for $2800.	No photo
May - Real estate is getting harder and harder. I'm spending more time working and bringing home less. Nothing to report on the buggy this month. At the end of May, I made a trip to Effingham, Illinois to the Mid America Motorwork´s Volkswagen Air-cooled Meet and swap (www.mam.com.) There I ran into another buggy with similar lines to mine. Through research, I found out I have an Allison Fiberglass Manufacturing Inc. body from 1969 built on a 1967 Chassis and motor. Mystery solved. (update - no mystory solved - not an Allison buggy.	No photo
June - The 11 gauge floor pans arrived and were cut to size by the metal shop. Instead of going regular 11 gauge steel, we put in 11 gauge diamond plate (real heavy duty stuff.) Thanks to Jay-R´s Steel and Welding (ph-847-949-9353) in Mundelein for the help. Great guys and really know they steel. Also in June, I attended a VW show in Milwaukee and stopped by MoFoCo (www.mofoco.com) to pick up a new exhaust system ($95.) Looks great and should sound great (have not fired it up yet.) Side note-the Buggy in Minneapolis is still for sale and is now $2400. If he drops it to $2000, I'll make the trip to see it.	No photo
July - Not much happened this month with the build. After much soul searchng, I determined NOT to pursue a second buggy (economy, finances, etc.) I may readdress this issue after I complete my first buggy. After much internet research, I was told my buggy was manufactured by Allison Fiberglass Manufacturing in Daytona Beach Florida. Well, after even more research, I discovered that was false and this buggy may actually be a "Bandit" buggy made by "Dune Buggy, Inc." from Denver Colorado in 1970 to 1972.	No photo
August - Well the decision on the body shop was made and broken. I decided to go the cheap route. See notes later on. Also in August, I had a phone conversation with the owner of a company called 23Deluxe (www.23Deluxe.com), the Colorado authority in dune buggies, located in Englewood Colorado who was going to help determine if this is truly a Bandit Buggy. (Thank you 23Deluxe!)	No photo
September - The real estate market is taking a beating and more time is spent on work and less / no time is spent on the buggy.	No photo
October - No update	No photo
November - No update	No photo
December - No update	No photo
January 2009 - No update	No photo
February - okay I'm getting tired of not doing any work on the buggy. The body went outside on my trailer so I can spend more time on the chassis. The chassis work started.
March
April
May
June
July - Stripped and sanded the frame. Removed the front end for the transfer of the steering and break components to the new front end. Cleaned the motor with engine cleaner.
August - finished cleaning the motor (after 42 years, it needed a good cleaning.) Put the new front end back on. Painted: top of chassis, front end, motor, installed exhaust,

So now you're up to date on our first VW Dune Buggy. I couldn't of made it this far without my neighbor, Jim, and my loving family who has put up with me and my moody moods throughout the project so far.

Last but not least, this project would not of been possible if I had not been in the real estate profession. I have to plug my company, so if you need real estate help in the greater Chicago Illinois area, visit us online at www.ReCoBu.com or www.MegaGarageHomes.com or call us directly at (847) 550-5500.

Thank you for visiting and for reading our Buggy Log, now go out there and start your own Buggy project.

We wish each and every one of you, much happiness, much wealth, but most of all, great health.

Make it a great day.