Here's my beach buggy

[ElijahTurtle]

This is a project car I've had in storage for quite a while. We're about to buy a house so this one will get trailered up from the family farm where it's currently resting. It's been in the family since I was about 5. It belonged to my grandpa. He had it all decked out at one point & would tow it behind their motor home & race it on the beach with other buggies in So Cal. When he moved back to Texas, he stored it in the barn. It sat there for 15 years. I offered to buy it when I was getting my DL, but he said no. But relented when I was in college & I swapped him my 45 colt revolver for it. Which was given back to me when he passed away a few years ago.
Basically it's been gutted since I got it so I could do a complete rebuild on it, but I put it back in storage shortly thereafter & it's been there for about 10 years since.

[url="http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q83/elijahtturtle/?action=view&current=f8aae46e.pbw"]Slideshow Link[/url]

[ElijahTurtle]

I'll have to try to find the picture of it with the soft top & soft doors he had custom stiched for it. It was originally cristened The Frog & the rear windo on the top was a frog shape.

[Vee Dub Nut]

THats very cool that its been in the family so long.. Keep posting the pics as you start working on it.

[CoryN]

Looks like a really good starting point to work from. Great that it has sentimental value as well.

[Bill K]

I couldn't agreee with Adam & Cory more. The family history makes that car very special.
Also, a big old welcome to the Texas Manx Dune Buggy Club.

[David Head]

I like it. It has nice lines to it. I also like the flat side panels with the built in mud flap. You don't see those very often. I had a pair one time that I wish I had never gotten rid of. Keep us posted.

[ElijahTurtle]

Yeah, I have no clue who the manufacture was. I've never seen another one with the hood like that. I tried dunbuggyarchives a few years ago but got nothing. There were just so many knock off companies back then that's it's likely that I'll never know.

[blackthree4me]

nice start I like the story as well
my friend I grew up with had a buggy in there garage top and all
I always wanted to get it and fix it up but he always said Nah
lets get the boat they had money

allot of that stuff looks to be in good condition
I would say some paint and a good clean and prep that most of that stuff could be reused.

enjoy your project.
I would definatly find some old picks with Grand dad
tooling in the buggy
got be at least one somewhere?

[ElijahTurtle]

I'm missing one of the pics where it has the top up & grandpa is standing by it after he had it all finished. But here's a couple that I have from the "work in progress stage" where he was driving it around. When he bought it it had been in a fender bender & the hood was busted up a little bit. There's a shot of the back of the RV he towed it behind on our vacations to the beach.
That's my older brother in the back of it. He was about 6-7 then. He's 34 now.

[ElijahTurtle]

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw this! It looks exactly like my buggy & it's from the same town in CA that mine came from. We used to live in Garden Grove when I was a kid. This is only other buggy I have seen with this exact body & hood configuration. Might lead me to a possible manufacturer so I can fill in the history gaps on my buggy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1959-VW- ... 234951821&

[ElijahTurtle]

I have now discovered the likely identity of my buggy. It is a Lithia Springs Buggy. Very close to a Balboa Lido. I happend to see another one like it on eBay that said "lithia springs lido" and got to googling it & it led me back to the DBA where they had a section on it that wasn't there in years past.