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Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:33 am

I am a RC-car nostalgist and my first car (1980) was the fantastic "Rough Rider" from Tamiya.

After 20 years in the VW-hobby now, I would like to build a copy of my own, first model car... But what is the "lifesize" rolemodel for the Rough Rider? It is a single-seater off road "rail" with a body on it... I believe the closest was one model from the company "FUNCO"...but which one?

Basically - what exact car do I need to search in the classifieds for...in order to find a lifesize Rough Rider?

(I am sorry if this has been covered before....I only reside in the Split window forum normally...)

I found this on a website:
"Rough Rider is a very close replica to an original Mint 400 dune buggy which raced around the dunes of Las Vegas before all the fat americans bloated the place beyond all recognition."

Does anybody have some info on this real-life car...is it a "off the shelf" version from "FUNCO"?

Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:53 am

It based on a Funco SSII highcage that Malcom Smith and Bud Felkamp(sic) raced.
They won many races in it.
I think Lerenzo who own West Coast Metric owns it and restored to way it look when it was being raced.

Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:21 pm

It is a FUNCO SS single seater race car from 1976 and was the state of the art back then!!

It was named THE "BEL-RAY BULLET" FUNCO.

I remember seen a feature on some magazine about this car and how it was restored. I am not sure but I believe it now belongs to Loren Pearson the owner of West Coast Metrics.

There were other examples of this FUNCO SS chassis like this one:

The "BEL-RAY BULLET" FUNCO race car is up and running, check this link:

http://www.off-roadweb.com/events/1010or_2010_norr...to_08.html

I've seen some FUNCO SS for sale here in SAMBA

Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:29 pm

Deep south into Mexico there is a regional short circuit offroad series, and they still use a beaten up and abused FUNCO SS II with good results against the other cars which are mainly homemade chassis

Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:57 pm

Wow! Thanks a lot!

The real thing even lives.... that is just fantastic!

So - is this a correct one.....or is this not a "highcage" as described...??

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/ab120/jtindel/

Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:49 pm

There is even a FUNCO SS I for sale here in Samba:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1052501

Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:36 pm

Split,
Funco first built the lower cage SSII which you sat in a seat that was reclining. It was a very comforatable seat. Problem was that I had and many others with it was seeing in the dust.
Gil George built the higher cage model of the SSII for people that like to sit more upright.
This was at the time when the supension seat started to become popular with Taylor and MasterCraft producing the seats.
The red one in the link is the lower roll cage version.
Gil design a chassis and supension that worked great for the time.
It is good to see that there a some that are still being used today.

Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:16 pm

Thanks again!

- What is the difference of a SSI and SSII ?
- Are you saying that the "highcage"-version was a factory built option for both the SSI and SSII?...or was it purely a homemade-modification?
- Who was/is Gil George? (again...I have got 20 years with pre-55 VWs, but just a few hours with Funco-buggies...)

Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:44 pm

A Funco SSI was before the SSII.
The roll cage on the SSI only extended to the bellhousing of the transmission. Engine sat in the open and the engine cage that most used looked what you would see on a Baja Bug.
The height of the roll cage was pretty much standard except for some of the special one's Gil built for himself.
Gil was one of the first person to use Subaru engine and transmission in off road racing.
The SSII as you can see had the roll cage that extended pass the rear of the engine.
Gil George and his sons now build sand buggies and parts for UTV's in Southern California.
Gil has been involved with off road racing since the early days in the 1960s. One of his first creation was called a Wampuskitty. It used single a-arm front end with over 11in of wheel travel.
Funco sand buggies use air bag supension instead the commonly used coilovers shocks.
They have the ability of adjusting the supension just by changing air pressure in the bags.

Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:45 am

So - the "Bell Ray Bullet" was a SSII with a modified, "higher" rollcage?

Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:57 am

I guess I am answering my own question...

Comparing this SSII which is for sale:

...with the original Rough Rider role model:

...it seems clear that the rollcage has been modified to be taller on the Bel Ray Bullet..

Does the highcage SSII's ever come up for sale?

Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:27 pm

Was not really a modification. More of an option for people that wanted to set up right.
Gil never liked as it change to flow of the lines the had design into it.
The original cage design (low cage) looked fast just standing still.
With all the fiberglass panels on it just had a very sleak lines.
Most off road racing cars now days look like slab sided jungle gyms.
They do come up for sale once in a while. Scan some of the off road sites classifies.

Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:23 pm

Malcolm at Barstow at California 400 race Jan 1978.
Broken CV joint. Bud rode a bike from another pit on the course with replacement axle in backpack to replace it.

My SSII at Mint 400 in Las Vegas 1979 Raced the old Class 9 which was unlimited chassis using 1200cc 40hp engines.

It was a very fun car to drive. State of the art for wheel travel, 9 inches for the time.

Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:40 pm

jsturtlebuggy wrote:
It was a very fun car to drive. State of the art for wheel travel, 9 inches for the time.

Joe:

What a nice and sleek lookig car you had!!
May I ask you what happened to that car?

Just for the record, there is another FUNCO SS II down here besides the one the pictured above, and it is located in Mexico City, the owner keeps it in very good shape on his race cars collection, along with a single seater RACECO the he used to race in a big sponsored and TV covered stadium series in early 90's, pretty much like the MTEG series on the US.

Thanks for sharing those pictures and memories of a great era of offroad racing.

Carlos

Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:08 pm

I sold it. I never seen since, so do not know what happen to it. At the that time racing just was not fun anymore and became a chore of prepping it to race.
In off road racing you are always spending more than you make winning races. Unless you can find a person that needs to lose money and wants to sponsor you. I was doing it out of pocket.
I never losed my desire to play in the dirt and sand and now just have fiberglass dune buggies.

This is my Meyers Manx Dual Sport and it very fun to drive handles well in the dirt and on the pavement.
It has a Subaru 2.5L Non Turbo engine going through a beefed up 091 transmission.

Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:19 pm

When Mickey Thompson was alive and running the stadium races, there were some of the racers that actually were able to make a living just racing in the series.
Mickey was the best promoter I have ever seen and there has never been anyone that has been able to fill his shoes.

Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:54 am

jsturtlebuggy wrote:
I never losed my desire to play in the dirt and sand and now just have fiberglass dune buggies.

This is my Meyers Manx Dual Sport and it very fun to drive handles well in the dirt and on the pavement.
It has a Subaru 2.5L Non Turbo engine going through a beefed up 091 transmission.

Awesome ride. I'm sure it performs really well.

Sat May 21, 2011 10:07 am

SplitPersonality wrote: I guess I am answering my own question...

Comparing this SSII which is for sale:

...with the original Rough Rider role model:

...it seems clear that the rollcage has been modified to be taller on the Bel Ray Bullet..

Does the highcage SSII's ever come up for sale?

i dont know a lot of info about these... but that red one looks pretty cool!

Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:55 pm

Hate to burst all your bubbles, the car that they modeld was Bob Maynards Funco ss2, not Malcoms or any other

Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:30 pm

Guz Motorsports wrote: It is a FUNCO SS single seater race car from 1976 and was the state of the art back then!!

It was named THE "BEL-RAY BULLET" FUNCO.

I remember seen a feature on some magazine about this car and how it was restored. I am not sure but I believe it now belongs to Loren Pearson the owner of West Coast Metrics.

There were other examples of this FUNCO SS chassis like this one:

The "BEL-RAY BULLET" FUNCO race car is up and running, check this link:

http://www.off-roadweb.com/events/1010or_2010_norr...to_08.html

I've seen some FUNCO SS for sale here in SAMBA

^ I'll take this one with the yellow top, please.