Home Brew - Manx Buggy


 


Built entirely at home in a single-car garage, this Buggy proves you don’t have to spend a fortune to create a show winner


 


It’s not often an interview with a feature car owner starts with the words, “I didn’t want to build this car at all”, but those were the first words Dan Peyto said to me as we settled down in my local for a chat over a pint and a packet of peanuts. “It’s the first Volkswagen I’ve ever owned,” he continued, “but what I really wanted was a Beetle.” 


What did you have before this car then, I asked, and what attracted you to a VW? “I’ve always had company cars, but I had a Caterham 7 as a toy. I just fancied a Beetle, I thought it would be a bit of a laugh. I got fed up going sideways, so thought I’d have something slow and cool instead. The one I bought turned out to be a complete shed though...”


What followed for Dan was basically the same experience many of us had when we were teenagers. The car he bought was a ’70 Beetle that had been done in the style of a UK Cal Looker. It looked okay from the outside but turned out to be rotten as a pear underneath, which meant a drastic change of plan was necessary. It also meant Dan had a lot to learn, but he had a willing accomplice in the task in his good mate Chris Bennington, someone Dan couldn’t thank enough for all the help he gave him right through the project.


“When we discovered how rotten the Beetle was, Chris said, ‘let’s do a Buggy’. I didn’t want a Buggy though, I’d just got rid of an open-top two seater!


“The good thing was this was never going to be my everyday car,” he continues, “so there was no timescale for the project.” Now that could have spelt disaster, but not for Dan – between himself and Chris they managed to turn what was a wreck of a Beetle into a show-winning Buggy in just 18 months, and learn to weld, learn how to build an engine and everything else that was involved along the way. 


Dan had done his research and it was clear the body had to be a Manx. And with that he contacted Rob Kilham at East Coast Manx and arranged to buy the main components – a body, windscreen and hood. “I couldn’t decide on the colour, so I said to Rob, you just do one in a colour you fancy doing and then it will be a surprise for me when I come to pick it up. He wouldn’t do it though, saying it was too much responsibility. In the end, it was my neighbour who chose the final colour – Brilliant Periwinkle.”


With the body on order, Dan and Chris got stuck into the chassis, stripping it completely and preparing it for the 14.5-inch cut. If you’d never done anything like this before, how did you know what you were doing? I asked tentatively. “Just from reading magazines and getting on the internet. Oh, and I bought John Muir’s book, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, that’s just brilliant. 


Of all the many tasks the dynamic duo undertook, shortening the chassis was certainly the most daunting. “We chopped it on a Saturday and Chris came round again at 9am on Sunday morning. We opened the garage and thought ‘what have we done?’. There was only one thing for it – weld it back together again, but not before taking measurements from every point they could think of to ensure it was all square. With new ’pan halves in place of the originals, the whole lot was stripped to bare metal, de-rusted where necessary and painted in industrial satin black. “If it’s good enough for a forklift, it’s good enough for a Buggy,” Dan reasoned.


The suspension components were all acid dipped and either painted or powdercoated in black to match, while every single nut, bolt and serviceable part was replaced or renewed, using stainless steel fasteners throughout.


The one thing that was becoming abundantly clear throughout the course of our chat was that this Buggy was built on a very sensible budget. Dan asked us not to say exactly how much he has invested in it (and he does know exactly, right down to every last nut and bolt), but suffice to say we’ve featured cars in the past that have more money in their wheels than Dan has in his whole car. And talking of wheels, there’s a prime example. All four came from eBay, but in two different transactions. The rears are Chevy bolt pattern and, though the guy selling them didn’t appear to know it at the time, turned out to be original American Racing Equipment Spirit slots. Result, especially at £150 the pair. The fronts are Wolfrace slots that came in at just £100 the four. Likewise, the seats and steering wheel, they all came from the online auction site at bargainous prices. “It’s good having my job,” smiles Dan, “I can plan my jobs around picking bits up!”


The mechanical side of the Buggy is pretty straightforward – Puma adjusters in the original beam, Toxic shocks all round, new Brembo VW discs and drums all round, a stock 1300 gearbox and a rebuilt and mildly tuned 1600cc engine. “It’s more than enough in a car that only weighs 560kg,” says Dan, with a grin.


I didn’t set out to build this car, but now that I’ve done it I absolutely love it and use it whenever I can.




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