Manx Club

Hi i am new to the site just joined today. I am a junior in high school and need to start thinking about a senior project. I have always liked the look of old school bugs and such. I wanted to build or restore a Fiberglassed body dune buggy with a vw motor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. i am new to vw engines but my parents owned a carmengia convertible so they can help with the basics. i need to know where the cheapest place to get frames/bodies. Also being a junior working a part time job at minimum wage i dont have much money so this is on a very strict budget.Thank You

Your best bet is to get something that is complete and restore it. Parts will kill a budget, labor you can afford to do as you learn. I have seen complete but ugly buggies go in the $500 range. You can spend an unlimited amount of money on just the motor. I would focus on making a clean and safe rolling chassis and hope someone gets excited and donates a motor or enough cash to refresh one. If you get something post a wish list on this site, one persons junk is another persons tresure. Good luck and don't give up, chicks dig buggies.

I fully agree with fubar. Especially about buggies being chick magnets. Get an old, unloved, neglected but complete buggy. Make sure that it has a registration history with papers to prove it at purchase. That is usually the cheapest way to get started on a limited budget. Trying to re-register a buggy without the original papers can be a nightmare. A complete running finished project that is cheap can in reality be an unregistrable project that someone built incorrectly and which has been refused registration. That usually means a complete strip and rebuild. Unless you know what the problem is and can easily rectify it, avoid them. I hope that you do this as there is no cooler car than a buggy. Ask any question you want to, no matter how trivial you may think it to be. We will do our best to help you. Good luck!!! :rock:

Welcome C. I think you will enjoy this group as everyone is more than willing to give a helpful word or two. As for your project, you should start off by telling us where you live. That way, we might be able to offer some local resources. As for the chassis, if you are in California, be sure to look for one that has current title (1974 or earlier), either registered, or non-op'ed (No Super Beetles!). This will avoid huge registration challenges. You can look on E-Bay, http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ or your local newspaper. A rolling chassis could go from a couple hundred dollars, to a couple thousand or more, so you need to look around. Ask around too, as you never know when a friend or neighbor knows where a nice sleeper might be hiding. Last, some other resources for working on your project would be the Haynes Volkeswagen Beetle manual (I believe it runs 1956 to 1974, or something like that). Also try posting your questions on http://www.dune-buggy.com in the Buggy Talk section, or on http://p066.ezboard.com/brbcdunebuggy . If it wasn't for the above book, and the internet, I would have never got our buggy up and running. :driving:

thanks for the advice please keep it coming i live in Yreka California its way northern like 30 min from oregon border.

Here ya go check this out!! :driving: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=220534

Look at the way the dash is broken. Its definitely ABS plastic under that brown paint: genuine Meyers Manx. Looks like it has 3 Jackmans with it. Nice find!

Not quite $500, but a good senior project I think.

Based on the add I do not think the owner knows what they have.

yeah it a little more than i want to spend but it is a great start thanks for the help ill continue to search i have a little while to decide and get one.

celicagt. Maybe it is more than you want to spend, but if that brown buggy is a genuine Manx, you will never regret spending the extra money to get it. Here in Oz a genuine Manx in that condition would be priced at about $5,000. Go for it.

if i had that much money i woulld but like i said i make mininum wage so...

ask mom and dad for a loan! dont pass up an original manx

looks like im not the only one doing a senior project dealing with dune buggies here, maybe you and i can chat sometime celica

yeah that would be cool i am considering driving to tacoma to get that brown genuine manx now i just have to convince my parents for a loan!!