Traditional hot rod?! I'm not even going there. Just thought some of you all might like to see what occupies my mind when I'm not thinking about sex, food, music, beer, hot rods or (oh yeah) my family. It's this buggy. It all started innocently enough. You see, we were on our way back from the GNRS, earlier this year and decided to stop in, again, at the Salton Sea to check out the wacky little bergs that inhabit the area. Well, my buddies and I were exploring an abandoned little house when we spied an oval window that had, unceremoniously, been hacked into the shape of a BAJA. Oh well, still it was neat. The thing about these little neighborhoods is that almost everyone living there has some form of VW powered Dune Buggy. We also saw a really neat '49 Lincoln, kinda hot rod style, black primer down all around but more in front, chromies etc., definitely cool. This place is such an oddity and the locals range from pissed off old coots to very friendly, if not somewhat lonely, beachcombers. A beach made up of not sand but billions of dead fishy skeketons! This place is held in limbo by the local government and the environmentalists. One side wishes the whole area would just dry up and quietly go away, the other side realizes there is a whole eco-system there and that more damage would be done to everyone involved if left to die. There are many sites on the web that spout off info from either side of the fence. Back in the 50's, next to Palm Springs, the Salton Sea was THE place for swingin' hipst'rs to go. Dancing the Samba in swanky beach side clubs to drag boat racing all went down right there, just like some old Elvis movie. Maybe you can tell, I'm very interested in this little agricultural mishap. [There's a movie narrated by John Waters ( www.dreamlandnews.com ) that, I think, is out, need to see it. It's called Plagues and Pleasures the Salton Sea.] Anyway, we were looking at this old house which led to a travel trailer that was literally de-evolving back into the earth, that's when we spotted the old guy milling around these old 'glass buggies. We drove by and started talking to him and he was a bitchin' old dude with lots of stories. About 20 years back I swore off air cooled VW stuff, or so I thought. The more I got to looking at this man's buggy collection, the more I thought I needed one. Well, long story a little shorter, we made a deal. A friend of mine procured one from the old man as well. A couple'a months later we went back for 'em. That is a whole other story! Well, we've been working on them but now that summer is upon us, the work may slow a bit. Just the same, I really want to get these things going. Mine will be built in the spirit of an old drag buggy, maybe something like Darrel Vittone might have built in the day, but with a few modern concessions. At some point one of the owners of mine painted the shell candy blue and then later, beige. Yeah, BEIGE. I've been scraping off all the old paint right down to the glorious, original lime green gelcoat. After it is running, I'll take the body back off and do some 'glass repairs and paint it with a color matched candy green flake just because I dig the color that much. I'm planning on a bolt in cage structure, kind of minimalist but safe, relatively speaking. Slammed with 135s on 4.5 inch 356 style chromies and 195 on 5.5 inch chromies. No caps just because. Obnoxious merged header and stinger. I'm going to build my own motor (Scary haha), kind of mild but with a lot of attention to the build and I'm going to balance everything too. I figure this thing will be plenty exciting. If I out grow this setup, maybe we'll build a bigger engine..... How does this relate to traditional hot rods? By the very nature of hopping up old cast-off junk with vintage style and actual vintage speed parts, you have the essence of hot rod. Besides, to me, if it "feels" hot rod, it IS!
I like it! It's a Manx and they came out before I was born so you wont hear me say its not "traditional hotrod" I like the color and the fact that you plan on dragging it! You can make that Manx wicked fast.
Old Ben, the Dune Buggy King called me a couple of days ago and asked if we were planning to come back and buy off more stuff. I told him I'd call the next time we were through there. Well, I have to go read more of the IDIOT book....
Hey, this has only slipped to page.....83!? One more time to help inspire the HAMB'rs who may need a diversion. I didn't spend 15 minutes typing this shit out for 2 replys you miscreants! Smiles!
O.k....yer fucked up...build your seedan coach Kidding buddy....sounds cool..and gawd knows you have ALOT of sand fer one of them buggy thangs.... sounds fun.
HELL YES! a guy in the Mofo's has a manx sitting in his yard... I want it so bad. I am thinking brown metal flake & gold 100 spoke daytons with a built turbo motor!
I wouldn't consider doing this WITHOUT the fez! That, and a matching open face glittered out helmet with clear bubble shield for maximum gayness. We just broke into Sandy's motor yesterday and found all kinds of goodness in there. New lifters, a new Engle w120 cam, perfect crank, pretty much all new stuff inside this greasy, crusty piece of shit case. Sandy took a gamble and bought it from some homeless guy on the Southside. Had a Dellorto carb and 8 pin crank that were visible, so he took a shot. It was like discovering treasure. Brush, can't wait for those spindles, my Canadian art whore! I love you.
The Salton Sea? Isn't that the movie with Vince D'Nofrio as the meth dealer with the prosthetic nose? Dune buggies are cool.
Well, yeah. That movie was pretty good but had very little Salton Sea action in it. It's just where Val Kilmer's character's girl was killed. Ooops.
"Prosthetic nose"? That's what happens when you snort alkaline drugs and swim in the Salton Sea. Don't do it kids. The Salton Sea is the result of human foolishness. Unlike the dunebuggy.
i love the buggys. here's my mom standing in front of one my dad built in the mid 60s. the pic was around 72. she was impregnated with me at the time.
There is nothing wrong with a bug/Manx built with 60's period speed parts. IMO that is tradional hotroding. It is just like in the 50s when guys took a 4 banger Model A and hopped it up to go racing. The VW bugs and buggies ruled many of the H/G gas classes in the mid to late '60s until the NHRA banned them. Lots of racing history in the little VW. Oh yeah, Just ask the Road Devils CC how their fastest guy got shut down by a little bug on Saturday at King of clubs in San Deigo.
Cool...can I have ride when it's finished...maybe a fiberglass deuce dash will make it traditional! Thanks for the Salton history lesson...
love the red lines it is out of print but toward the last few pages of southard's "hot rods and customs of the 1960" there are a few mini t's and some (imho) buggy inspired custom rods; a la the alien which won the roadster show in 69
The Jalopy Journal
