Building Barbie's Tow'd

[Iguana]

After looking around the samba for a while there seems to be a distinct lack of Meyers Manx Tow'd and Tow'dster builds going on so I thought I might add one of our current builds for all to enjoy.

The time line on this is pretty tights with the intent of the Tow'd or Tow'dster in this case will make it depute at the Manx Club Big Bear Bash for the 50th Anniversary.

I don't own this Tow'd it belongs to a fellow Manx Club Member.

The Tow'd is in for a rebuild / reassemble and some love. It has been together in some way at some time of its life but not for a while. Lori Ann got it in bits and al lot of it is made up from bits and pieces which were picked up around the way from other buggies and shops etc.

Our Mission - Make a cool Tow'd in time for Big Bear ..

Like all our "Projects" we start by doing a layout and parts list. This helps us see what is there and work out what we need to do.

The Tow'd will be an IRS / King and Link Pin, 4 wheel Drum brakes, Type 2 3 rid transmission and 1600 TP engine. It is getting a full pull down and sand blast followed by some of our special buggy treatment.

Not much to look at yet but give her a few weeks and the boys will have it sorted.

Parts are racked and accounted for, looks like it has made a new friends all ready

From here the boys lay it out, run through it all inspecting the parts and do up a 3 stage build sheet. A 3 stage Build sheet refers to our build stages we use to ensure we don't miss something before we move on.

Stage 1 - Fabrication and Parts ordering. We do a complete dry assemble of the Tow'd. We do any fabrication, drill holes, cut fiberglass, add brackets etc and make sure it is all good to go.

Stage 2 - Strip , repair and paint. We do anything that it needs between dry assemble and final. This includes paint and repair.

Stage 3 - Assembly and mechanical. We get all the parts and put them together, we do all the mechanical, brakes, engine CV's etc and trimming as required.

Almost done

[Iguana]

The Tow'd Tub is a rare example of a new tube from 1970. It has never been fitted and still has its original green gel coat.

This one is number TF849E031S

Deciphered from the archives this makes it "

T = Tow'd
F = Fibrgelass Body Tub not ABS
849 = Production Number
E = Month = May
0 = Year of Production 1970
31S = Colour = Lime Green

Funnily enough it still has the original final inspection tag on it which has a date of 3-70 so I guess the Tag matches, sweet.

[BL3Manx]

[Iguana]

[Iguana]

The Tow'd came with all the parts accept the rear deck lid to make the Tow'd into a Tow'dster.

The front bar is not original but it is an acceoptable copy

Roll bar is there and a custom rear bar.

The chassis has had some additional tubes added and a front brace to support the dash.

]

And it has a hard mount 3 rib type 2 transmission

As it hasn't really been apart before we started off by cutting the tub to fit the new support bars.

[BL3Manx]

[Iguana]

[BL3Manx]

Its definitely more challenging to build a well designed buggy based on a vintage body without resorting to adding more and bigger holes, but I've seen it done. This guy has a full cage, reinforced frame, mid-travel suspension, a cargo rack, a solid anchor for his seat belts and the only additional holes I can see cut in the body are the two round holes in the hood. The thought and effort at preserving the body's originality along with its exceptional structural mods are very evident and definitely enhance its quality and appearance.

[Iguana]

[Iguana]

With the body in place it was time to turn our attention to a few of the add on's which were wanted.

A grab bar was one but before we could do that we needed to add the dash ( shown later), once that was done we could fit the grab bar support rail in place and get the alignment made. All tube work is done from 1020 DOM in this case 1 1/4.

Then onto the battery tray. They wanted the battery out of the cargo area, if you call the rear of a tow'd a cargo area . So it was decided it could go underneath out of the way. In this case we will be using an Odyssey 680C dry cell

The rest of the fabrication work that was done was mainly clean up and nothing really to show. But we did get out list ticked off before we called in the local car washing crew....

To keep it off the ground she got to sit on a pallet.

Then came the hose

Guess it should clean up ok ....

Anyone else want a car washed ???

[Iguana]

With the chassis and barwork all sand blasted it was time to move it back inside and inspect to see if any issues had been uncovered.

Like most old cars it is always interesting to see what the work quality was like back in the day, in this case the Tow'd had some interesting welding in places

Just more stuff to put on the todo list I guess. Once the chassis had dried out it was hit with the first coat of etch prime, this is done to avoid the issues of working on blasted steel such as finger prints and surface rust.

Once that was done and dry and quick reassemble was needed to get the last items sorted such as indicator tab, dash bar, dash tabs, harness bar and some other weld outs.

From here we are almost ready for final clean up and etch before applying the seal coat and then beginning the reassemble. Then onto trim, re-wire and mechanical.

[manxvair]

That looks like a nice project! I'll bet the owner is gonna be real happy!

[LADtowd]

I recognize those parts and body, thanks for posting an update. I can't wait to see the finished product, thanks guys, Barbie aka Lori Ann

[Iguana]

[LADtowd]

I'm sure the holiday was taken in the true spirit of the Manx Dunebuggy. We had a blast. I knew we left it in good hands. Paint booth??? YEAH!!! You have definitely made the husband's life a lot less stressful if you know what I mean. Barbie

[Oz Towdster]

[manxvair]

[Oz Towdster]

I'll get straight onto Paul
_________________
Working at getting my Baja Bus and the Towdster back on the road

[Iguana]

[Iguana]

With the time line getting shorter we must get moving ... the Tow'd chassis was prepped with a 2 part epoxy primer and then sprayed with Armadillo Lining with is a Poly Urethane mixed at pressure as it comes out of a special gunb setup. In bonds like glue and then sets hard but flexible. Once that was done it was onto assembly.