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Fri May 24, 2024 11:47 am

The original Shalako weighed 1400 pounds. That is not particularly light. I have the Rod & Custom issue where the car appeared and the wheelbase was 85 inches not 80 like most dune buggies. It did not use a VW pan. It did use the hat portion of the front suspension attachment and the rear torsion bar suspension and frame forks. This particular example doesn't look at all like the one on the Rod & Custom article. The car in the Rod & Custom article had a metal body, not a fiberglass body and the gull wing doors were larger with pin locking mechanisms.

One of Dick Dean's sons was working on bringing one of the Shalako's back from the dead and it had a VW stamped steel bus front suspension. See the post after this one.

Fri May 24, 2024 12:56 pm

Slalombuggy: In response to your comment, here is a picture from RichDean2 that was posted on The Samba. It sure looks like a Kombi stamped front suspension to me. It is certainly not a Type 1.

Fri May 24, 2024 9:08 pm

That's not a bus front end. It's from a type 3.

They use torsion bars like in the rear suspension. It's still too stiff for a street buggy as type 3s are about 300lbs heavier than a beetle with the front being significantly heavier, but judging from the chassis in this picture it's being used for an offroad car

Sun May 26, 2024 11:25 pm

This chassis is one of the versions built by Dick Dean early on. This picture was originally posted by Dick Dean's son Richard Dean II or Jr. Look up richdean2 on The Samba and click on his pictures and you will find it like I did.

The chassis shown in the issue of Rod & Custom for the Shalako had the Napoleon's Hat welded to the structure so that the Type 1 front suspension could be bolted to the chassis. I don't know why there is the propensity to use the Type 1 suspension when it is so easy to bend the trailing arms and it is no where near as strong as an A-arm short and long arm suspension. Torsion bars can still be used with an A-arm suspension if the torsion bars are placed longitudinally on the chassis. When the Shalako was built MacPherson Struts were available that would have fit the fabricated chassis as well as a lower suspension arm from the first generation Rabbit (1970). Or a simple lower A-arm could have been made to work with a strut. The later Shalako could have easily used a 1973 Super Beetle suspension for improved handling and a shorter turning radius.

If I were going to build a new version, and I have been thinking about it, I would use a later Golf version of the MacPherson strut front suspension including the suspension arms and use the same wheelbase as the original Beetle. This would provide the extra room to put the engine in front of the transaxle with additional room for the driver and passenger seat for people with longer legs.

The Shalako also used a longer wheelbase than what most 'dune buugys' used. It was only 9.5 inches shorter than the standard Beetle. Beetle wheelbase is 2400mm or 94.5 inches. The Shalako was built with an 85 inch wheelbase when using a fabricated square tube chassis.

Sat May 24, 2025 11:47 am

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Here are some old Polaroid photos of a Shalako my dad owned in Diamond Bar, CA in the mid to late 1970s. He purchased it in San Diego as a mostly disassembled project and was told it was one of two prototypes. I have no doubt after years of following these cars and with my dad also completing a kit version about 15 years ago. Although the car had VW suspension and power the rest of the pan/chassis was custom steel. It had a T roll bar, fitted side fuel pod gas tanks with flip lid gas caps on each side, rolled stainless steel side pod covers, steel gull wing doors, and very nice quality interior. All of the roof and structure above the occupants was steel frame and clad. The front and rear body sections were fiberglass.
When we got it some had cut out the original headlights on the front end and were fabricating some flip up lights made form stainless steel. Dad didn't like that so he fiberglassed that area over and molded headlight into the fenders. He also added a gas tank behind the interior so he didn't have to use the side pod tanks (for safety reasons!).
He finished the car in gold paint and put new tires to replace the Goodyear Blue Streak racing tires it came with. I remember dad took a Monza exhaust and cut and repositioned the tips to stick up and out. It was a great driving car and he let me drive it around at age 14.
I would really love to know if it still exists and even more I'd like to own it. He sold it in about 1979 in Diamond Bar for $1,600. I figure it may be easier than most to identify now since I know of no others with the headlights on the fenders. If anyone has any earlier or later history please chime in. Enjoy.