best looking buggy body? why?

yes, this is subjective and yes, opinions are like arseholes - but, what is your favourite looking style and why.

mine is some freakoid 1970 ripoff of what would have been an astrum. thus i dont mind astrums (tank stays in front, same WB as manx's, one of best approach angles about, no headlights on stalks to be attaked by the forest at speed, side pods for storage and deflecting the sand sprayed up off front tyres, ect.

but, i really like the look of the bounty hunters. for an old body style they look pretty modern and good front approach angle. they prob dont have enough guard space for articulation??

iguana is nice and modern but.....

whats your thoughts???

I like the bounty hunter, especially when in street form. The raked back windscreen looks cool, very AC Cobra. I would guess it would have very good aerodynamics. Here's a distorted fuzzy picture;



My new favourite might be an iguana, but it will have to wait until I see one with a real paint job instead of camo.

The ugliest would be a more difficult question, as there are so many ugly buggies. The J&S and Kalita both have horrible proportions and are quite ugly. But that's just my opinion :thumb

I really think, despite hating myself for it, that the Manx is the best looking. There are a few reasons why.
1. It's the original and set the precedent. Sort of like Fender Telecaster or Gibson Les Paul guitars.
2. The dimensions and proportions are classic and work very very well.
3. Everything that has come since has been highly influenced by the Manx without having the original style of the Manx (with maybe the exception of the Mini-T or the Bounty Hunter).

That includes the Manxter, which looks real nice, as do brad's new buggy and the Sharpbuilt bodies. BTW, Mike's new one looks a lot like a bounty hunter.

Wow! I'm a purist and never even knew it. I hate purists...I need to go and beat myself to death with a frozen herring now...🙄

i have to agree with the les paul guitars part, am a proud owner, and God if it was a women, well... lets not go there...

But I'm the one for buggy bodies that no one really likes. Like the Austrum (excuse the ute tray), and Mantas (without the headlight cut out in the fibre glass at the front to put em in.

I would luv to put flip lights on a manta, would be sooo sick, not practical, but schick.

I would have to go with the Iguana (www.iguanaoffroad.com) .. although I agree with Bajawes in I am keen to see one with a real paint job.

Reason for picking the Iguana is:

- As Pete said the rest are just copies of the Manx and it is good to see someone doing something different
- The one piece tilt forward front is wicked
- At last headlights and tail lights that don't look like an after thought.
- Has a real awesome look to it.
- It is original and was made right here in Australia, although influenced by the Manx it did not try to be one.

Mike's new one looks like a Bounty Hunter because he imported a Bounty Hunter and moulded the front onto the world's ugliest rear end. Although I am yet to see one and it seems to have disappeared from his website.

manx.

anyone heard more on this buggy body?

bout 6 months ago, was some mention on their website about selling in australia, along with euro and US.


Maybe our ADRs scared em away, Haha.

My favourite would have to be the FrankenStrum from Tassie......:P:P:P:P:P:P:P....its one sexy bit of gear.....

he's baaack.

where's a progress pick of the green meanie 11cab?? haha :thumbsup 😀

Manx , ALL the rest are wanna be's

:blush
👍

Front hinged Bonnets may not be a great idea safety wise, with the old Celica's etc decapitation was a real possibility with a frontal impact .

vw2b wrote:I would have to go with the Iguana

lets give it 12 months and see how it ages. That's the real test. And really, aside of head and tail lights, it's very similar to a Manx. Which BTW, is a good thing. :thumb

I liked the tray back version Brad built last year. Very agricultral, but cool.

haven't heard much about the COR Geko buggy, hows that going?

How about a Kyote -Sorry this is in fact a Dearborn Deserter!

[ Edited on 8-5-2006 by ancientbugger ]

there's so many old buggy body models u here of, but where are they?

think i can get a crappy wreck of a buggy (even just a lwb body needing respray, serious tidy up) from someones backyard cheaply?

pete wood wrote:And really, aside of head and tail lights, it's very similar to a Manx.

And aside from the flip bonnet, the curved windscreen, LWB, dash layout, more tyre room, wider guards, area above the gearbox for EJ20 turbos and pipework, modern steering column and room for a radiator and 80L fuel tank, it's very not similar to a manx at all ? 🙄

😀

Seriously, The only thing in common with the manx is the one piece no doors body flowing over both wheels fiberglass tub design. But if you don't have that then it's not a buggy, it's a kit car.

I think the Iguana is the least manx like buggy out there. The "way" buggy and the blue one posted above are so different I think they are more kit cars than buggies. :thumb

I don't mean specifics, I mean general styling. To me, the proportions look similar

The proportions have to be similar otherwise it doen't fit on a VW floorpan.

Don't you agree that if it doesn't have some basic resemblance to a manx then it's not really a buggy?

Well yes and no. The deserter, manta, bounty hunter and calita all look quite different to the manx. And what about the Mini-T and the Meyers SR, They are completely different cars, but still are buggies in the strictest sense of the word.

[ Edited on 9-5-2006 by pete wood ]

helterskelter400 wrote:he's baaack.

where's a progress pick of the green meanie 11cab?? haha :thumbsup 😀

LOL, you have to have progress to get that......
Moving house over the next couple of weeks, so it will have a new home, and renewed motivation.....so as the renovations begin, the manx may get some work.....:o

pete wood wrote:Well yes and no. The deserter, manta, bounty hunter and calita all look quite different to the manx. And what about the Mini-T and the Meyers SR,

I don't think the iguana looks anymore like a manx than any of those buggies.

I wouldn't call the Mini-T or Meyers SR a buggy. They are kit cars. The manxSR site call it a car, not a buggy.

All a matter of opinion I guess.

I got bored and looked up buggy on wikipedia (as I pondered the meaning of "buggy") 🙂

More commonly beach buggy is used in reference to an automobile that uses a cut-down Volkswagen Beetle chassis and is rebodied with an open fibreglass shell.

That is one of the definitions. Open fiberglass shell I think is the key, which the meyers SR isn't. :thumb

I can take your rejection of the SR well enough then, but Mini-T is definitely a buggy.

I think really all buggies are kit cars. They were the beginning of the kit car industry. In fact, lots of the manufacturers of buggies went on to release Non-VW style kit cars. Alex Dearborn is a good example of that.

Anyway, I'll stop being anal now and let some other people argue for a change. 🤓

My favourite would have to be Idlewild's Manx style buggy. It's just like a Manx except it has wider guards so you can fit decent tyres.

I liked it so much................I bought one! So my Taipan is going to look like this

64vwmark wrote:My favourite would have to be Idlewild's Manx style buggy. It's just like a Manx except it has wider guards so you can fit decent tyres.

I liked it so much................I bought one! So my Taipan is going to look like this

so whats happening with the tiapan shell????

manx for me, but its the buggy life style that I love the most... :bounce

Manx ... Old Bruce got it right way back then and everyone else has tried hard to copy but all suffered for a bad case of imitation.

The Manx is the best in the market for simplicity and base functionality.

You don't really appreciate how good it is until you try to improve on it ..... I couldn't so I gave up and built something that wasn't trying to be a Manx but I still think the Manx is the best looking Buggy out there.

on a swb basis id have to say the manx BUT id have to say the iguana does it for me in lwb form i think its the depth in the body that has been incorporated just makes it a stout tuff looking rig
and we all know its not just asthetics articulation and tyre size are the main benefits:thumb

A few years ago I went to SoCal and stayed with Bruce and Winnie Meyers and then went to Baja with the Manx Club. Later Bruce helped me to buy my SR.

Bruce made the Manx SR (Street Roadster) as a road going car instead of a buggy. The only thing in common with a buggy is that an SR has the shortened body pan. Bruce said that an SR would squeek and rattle worse than a Towdster off road. He never intended the SR to be a Buggy but as an on road car. One Manx Club member has removed the doors from his SR and has set it up for off road use. Bruce said that he does not like to see it. It irritates him.

My SR will never go off road except to the sand at Lancelin so that I can say that I did it in a sports car with a buggy suspension under it.

I think that a buggy has to have the "Buggy Look", which a Berry Mini T or an Manx SR do not have.

Bruce also said that he does not understand the appeal of the Tow'd and be does not like the Towdster because he fitted mudguards and an engine cover to it to satisfy market demand. Towdsters squeek and rattle when driven hard off road as there are too many pieces that are only bolted together.

So take it from the master himself. A buggy has as few body parts as possible and has to have the "buggy look", hence his recent development of the Manxter.

In reply to Richards aka shaihulud i too agree that the mini t and the sr were never built as buggys but as a kit car and sports car respectivly.
But in a way i do disagree with Bruce in regards to the Towdster over the Manx as they are much more capable offroad (forgeting the noises) over a Manx mainly due too there higher ground clearence in the centre of the wheel base and there ability too be able to lift the front wheels over over larger obsticals due too very minimal weight over the front wheels with no fuel tank in the front, But if you drive aggresivlly as i have a habit of doing on the black stuff it can get quite hairy with the front wheels skiping around but oh what a buzz.
CAN'T WAIT TO GET IT BACK ON THE ROAD.
Andrew

G'day Andrew. I agree that the Tow'd is an amazing machine off road, with go anywhere ability.

I think that part of Bruce's reason for not liking Tow'ds is that he had that serious accident in one in the Baja 1000. He broke both legs and it was the final straw that finished of the B F Meyers company. He lost his business and his marriage to Shirley. He went to Mexico for a few years and took a long time to get over it all. He's OK now.

One of my mates at the school where I work has tracked down a Tow'd. He will get it soon. I want one.

A Manx is a much better looking buggy than a Tow'd in my opinion.

as a package, a manx might be better looking but the towd was the next evolution of the buggy "way back when"

why cut and join a pan when you really only need the beam front end and the backend joined by tubework and a bit of bodywork to keep the pedals dry.... this is the towd. - i look at it as a 4 wheel dirtbike or the first quadbike... haha?!?!

I like the looks of the Empi Imp

[ Edited on 3-6-2006 by Empi Imp ]