TheSamba.com :: View topic - New Buggy- You'll wanna see this:

Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:46 pm

So I buy a Manx from a guy I know the other day, and drive it to work.
Of course one of my co-workers says its cute and it "looks just like Millie's Dune Buggy".
I say "Whos Millie? "
Her: "Millie is an old friend of mine, her husband made it in the 70's when I was a kid"
(Millie is actually the mother of a friend of hers she stays in touch with)
Okay, I call Millie and set up a time to look at it, expecting the worst angle-iron welded, orchard rig.
Millie is a nice 70 year old lady. Her husband built it out of a 67' Bug that had a traffic accident, and he passed away many years ago. The Buggy has been sitting since 1983. In the garage.
I almost shit my pants.
It is 100% mint. Perfect in every way, without so much as a single extra hole or screw. And EVERYTHING works, right down to the wipers, hazards, and radio.
She said they had the old local dealership do most of the work.
And then she got out ALL the original literature. Manuals, wiring diagram, JC Whitney catalog and a BRAND NEW 1st Edition Idiot manual.
Asked me if I wanted the seats and glass from the 67' bug.
So, on with it:

Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:07 pm

so did you buy it?

Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:26 pm

There's no way you passed on that at almost any price.

Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:38 am

Oh yeah....those pictures are in my yard.
Pass that thing up? No Way!
And here she is:

Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:28 am

O.K.- I guess I'll be Mr.Rude :oops:

How much =P~ ????

Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:39 pm

Ya I bet you robbed the poor ole lady. I know I would :lol:

Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:54 am

Well. ..it wasn't free, but I felt pretty good about the price.
And actually.. . I probably could have talked her down some. It was one of those things though. She sounded like she honestly would have got it running and driven it around again.
if anyone is looking for a showroom buggy. ..everything has it price.

Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:46 am

By the way, anyone know the exact make/model/brand of this Buggy?
It came with all kinds of original literature, but nothing matches this particular body.
It's one piece, all of it:hood, dash, body, even has a SLICK integrated battery box under the backseat (seat hinges forward).
She said her husband had a shop called "Alpine Motors" do much of the assembly.
Alpine Motors was the local dealership, it shut down in 1992.

Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:58 am

i'll give 2k for it.

Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:03 pm

So who said barn find buggies don't exist? I LUUUUUUUUUUV it!!!!

Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:14 pm

That Millie. I bet she's a pretty cool ol' gal.

Cool buggy, great story.

Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:25 pm

Bub wrote: By the way, anyone know the exact make/model/brand of this Buggy?
It came with all kinds of original literature, but nothing matches this particular body.
It's one piece, all of it:hood, dash, body, even has a SLICK integrated battery box under the backseat (seat hinges forward).
She said her husband had a shop called "Alpine Motors" do much of the assembly.
Alpine Motors was the local dealership, it shut down in 1992.

I have one that looks real similar, but a slight differnce. Mine has a idention on the hood about 4' wide, and my nose is a seperate piece from the body and has bead welt between it and the front fenders, you might look up under the dash and see if yours is bolted together.
Mine is on a 69 pan, the guy I bought it from owned a import part store that specialized in VW stuff. He said he bought it from Sears and Roebucks (SEARS). It has a gold metallic flake gel coat, just like yours is blue. My battery is under the back seat also, and the wind screen frame is the same. That could be a generic type frame?
I had come across a article long time ago, and I was thinking it said something about a Coyote (sp) had built these for Sears and also sold them theirselves. I'm thinking they were made out in the East coast like N.J. I'll look and see if I can find the info again, its been 7-8 years ago.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:05 am

It's not a Sear buggy the dash and tail are different.
It's a Ranger made and sold in the Washington Oregon area .

We have some files on it in the Archives.
Nice find.
John Shepard
www.dunebuggyarchives.com

Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:30 pm

247vws wrote: It's not a Sear buggy the dash and tail are different.
It's a Ranger made and sold in the Washington Oregon area .

We have some files on it in the Archives.
Nice find.
John Shepard
www.dunebuggyarchives.com

Yes!
It's a ranger by the looks of the other one on your website. And if they were made in washington or Oregon it would make sense, since it's been here AND with one owner its whole life.
And yes, the whole body, hood, dash, everything are ONE piece. Possibly molded in a couple pieces and finally joined and finished in one piece.
There are a couple obvious seams under the gel coat.
The Battery box is totally slick under the back seat. I wish I had more pictures of work I've been doing to it. . but it doesn't need anything!
Very strange to buy a Dune Buggy (or any VW) that just isn't a project right off.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:40 pm

The seams on the nose of the buggy and other places are created because it is impossible to pull a complex curve from a mold. There has to be a place to remove the mold shell to get the product out.

Many makers put a seam across the nose and made the license plate are slope opposite of the hood so it wrap around. Where the second mold part bolts on there is always a seam in the gelcoat.
Sometime if the clear layer is thick enough you can sand it off and buff it out. Others I have seen didn't lay enough clear and the flake is trapped in the Seam.

Many of the fiberglass shops had never built their own molds for something as complex as a complete body. So you will find many that simplified the body lines, cut parts off, and molded the hood and body together as one part.

Hope this helps.
John

Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:33 pm

247vws wrote: The seams on the nose of the buggy and other places are created because it is impossible to pull a complex curve from a mold. There has to be a place to remove the mold shell to get the product out.

Yeah, the seam at the nose is self explanatory. But there's also a seam on the body, a few inches 'aft' of where the dash starts. The vertical body panel (kind of where your outer knee rests) has a seam. Kind of like they made the front and rear of the whole thing separate and then glued them together, glued the lower nose (license area) on and top coated/ gel coated the whole thing.
Honestly, it's as good or better on one piece, its less to rattle loose and seems more solid than the 3 other buggies (all Manx's!) I've owned.
It also has cardboard tubes like a manx, glassed under the sides. And wire ties/holders glassed under to clip the wires to.

Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:30 am

Yes, all one piece bodies on the topside, are actually 2 pcs including the underside firewall.

The front gas tank area and front firewall from your knees forward are molded as a separate part. Sometimes they are even molded without matching metalflake.

This lets the body be molded upside down in one mold. The firewall then is bolted on or sometimes glassed on after the parts are made.

Here is an example of one that was still apart.
This body is an Arabian dune buggy body. It was bolted together at the seam.

with the front end pulled forward.....

Make sure you register the Ranger at the DBA website.
Take care,
John