Kim Irwin
A dune buggy is a great vehicle for exploring nature and countryside that's never been accessible by car.
One of the first steps in buying anything is to determine what your options are. A dune buggy that is designed for a particular terrain will generally perform better on that surface type.
Buying a used dune buggy can be a great money-saving way to own one of these fun vehicles if you take the right precautions. A brand new model could set you back thousands of dollars.
Fun is fun. You can have a wonderful time with taking a stock floor pan, welding a rollcage on top, giving it some decent tires to sit on, and going out to the dunes to hammer on it. Ugly- most definitely, but it's still fun for your first endeavor. I would recommend going with the full tube frame setup for a few different reasons, the most important being your safety.
Dune buggies are a combination of versatility and fun. You can go places in a dune buggy that a regular car gets stuck, like mud-bogging or sand hopping.
The phrase "Dune Buggy" immediately triggers images of traditional off-road entertainment offering open-top, two-seater driving. The original buggy was designed in the mid-60's, and since then, these body shapes and their accessories have been largely stagnant as designs.
There were many pioneers before the "Manx". In fact in a recent interview with Public Television on a show called "California Gold" Bruce to the host of the show, "I didn't invent the dune buggy....I invented this style of dune buggy." Bruce did invent the Manx and clearly spurred the whole fiberglass revolution but, there were many more buggies on the dunes before the Manx.
In my opinion the most important thing to look for is a solid well built chassis. Pay attention to the quality of the welds, and the general workmanship. If you see shoddy workmanship, you can probably expect that the rest of the vehicle is kept in a similar manner.
Our off road buggies are not only visually pleasing, they are put together and prepared for you, the customer by a team of qualified mechanics who have decades of experience between them from all areas of mechanics.
