Dune Buggy and Thing

I went to the Long Island Volkswagen Club's "Three Bugs in a Barrel" show on Saturday. Some nice dune buggies and "Things" there in addition to lots of Beetles and Vans.

It's hard to believe that the first fiberglass "Manx" dune buggies designed by Bruce Meyer came out in 1964 and that the dune buggy craze peaked around 1971! They are built on old VW Beetle chassis and were originally sold as kits. Basically they removed the Beetle's body and bolted on the fiberglass tub body. The owners of these buggies assured me these are still lots of fun to drive in good weather and are easy and inexpensive to maintain. One guy says they are like a low cost Porsche. By the way these shown here are all registered and street legal in NY.

Dune buggy history: http://www.manxclub.com/history.htm Popular VW themed website: www.thesamba.com

Enjoy,
Bob

	Most of the photos are of an original red 1960s "Manx" brand dune buggy (white square and black stripe on hood).
	The buggy with the beautiful "candy apple red" paint job,side pods, and chrome wheels is another brand (Dune Runner?). The owner told me he bought it out of a farm field upstate for $400 and restored it in his garage. Beautifully done!
	This car belonged to one of the officers of the club and there is a photo of him and two of the judges driving around in it.
	Also a photo of a freshly restored 1970s orange VW "Thing".