I owned two VW Beetles as a teenager and at some point decided that the 2nd one, a '62 whose body had seen better days, was the purrfect candidate to convert into a dune buggy. I removed the body, shortened the pan to an 80 inch wheelbase, bolted on a Meyers Manx look-alike fibreglass body and scavenged most of the VW components to move over to my new blue beast. I had a blast doing it, and in the process learned mechanic skills, to weld, use a cutting torch, rebuild VW engines, change clutches and do wiring. I still had that silly car when I got married at 21 and it remained my only vehicle for an entire year until daughter Michelle was born...even drove the pregnant wife around in it during the winter....bundled up in really warm clothes of course. Unfortunately, no pictures remain of the car.
I filed that experience in the ole brain to be recalled one day to do another kit car, planning that this time it would be a more sophisticated and rewarding attempt. My initial thought was a '57 Corvette reproduction, but the estimated costs could have pushed $150k.....I didn't have the "huns and "thous"" to make that happen, so went to plan B, a '55 Porsche Speedster replica. After lots of nosing around the internet, I decided on a Streetbeasts Speedster "C", which has a real 2"X4" tubular steel frame embedded into the fiberglass. It would, I reasoned, be much more rigid than the other kits, which consist of a body on a VW floorpan. It allows one to bolt on suspension components front and rear and a typical transaxle/engine combo, eliminating a lot of work AND the VW donor car.
The beast arrived on Friday the 13th...not a good omen to start with. Gina and I had a fun ole time getting it off the truck, as there was no
forklift in the neighborhood and it took a good 70 minutes to coax it off and onto the driveway. We spent the remainder of the afternoon jacking and rolling it the 35 feet or so into the garage.....with only inches to spare on both sides.
We finally got the @#$%&* thing parked inside, and as luck would have it...no room left to work on it. I'll need to remove the top of the crate next days off and get it jacked up to install the suspension and power train.
This is a shot of where the VW front trailing arm assembly will bolt on. I'm going with
Appletree Auto, a supplier of heavy duty sandrail and dune buggy components. The enitire front kit costs about $1250 and includes disk brakes and rack and pinion steering.
This pix shows the rear suspension mounts. I'm again using an Appletree rear suspension kit with a Bus transaxle (type 2) and 2.5 litre naturally aspirated Subaru engine (rotation the same as VW). These engines are plentiful, reliable, and cost around a grand. I'll need to adapt the ECU to it, but it's all in the enjoyment of building is it not?
This is what the rear of the completed car will look like (but in Porsche Guards Red instead.) Ain't she gorgeous?
Stay tuned for more episodes folks...as The Salvage King attempts a new and exciting project in tinker land!
