I'm sure most have seen variations of these over the years. Most I have seen look to be very dangerously put together, including questionable welding, scary steering , brakes and suspension. Yet, I imagine they were scary yet fun to drive. Let's see the homebuilt "buggies" that you've came across. I'll start with this one I picked up about a year ago. Olds 303, 3 speed stick, Ford I beam, chevy? diff, and short wheelbase on a chevy? frame.
Years ago I had a 70s Dodge Ramcharger that the body rusted off. Before we scrapped it, I removed all of the body except the dash, part of the floor, and the driver seat. It was a lot of fun for a while. It was amazing how much faster it was without all the body weight. One day I was racing up and down the gravel road in front of my house when a rock got kicked up off one of the rear tires and hit my right smack in the center of the back of my head! I think I had a headace for 3 days after that. I cut it up and scrapped it. It was all fun and games until I got hurt. Gene
There have a been a couple of threads along the same lines through the years here. Some have had some really, seriously dangerous, builds. Some were of the so called "R" Rods. 82-84 at I-20 Dragway in Tyler, Texas, there was a older VW bug body mounted to a shortened Tri-Five Chevrolet frame. Actually done well and fast too. Your 303 powered Olds, short wheel based, buggy" reminded me of that. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
We used to have the frame and running gear from a 1954 Desoto Firedome, with one bench seat bolted on, that we used for hunting around the countryside near the town I grew up in. On pavement that little 276 inch hemi would boil the passengers side rear tire for a quarter mile if you kept your foot in it. No seat belts, trans mounted parking brake was all it had for stopping, and the steering column was held in place by a couple of steel fenceposts. And we grinned from ear to ear every time we ran the damn thing. I wish I had a couple photos of it. The hemi eventually ended up in a 1953 Ford pickup.
built one out of an old 54 ford just welded the rear axle to the frame, we were 18 at the time 1967 , first time down the gravel driveway on my buddys fathers ranch lost control within 100 feet and balled up about 40 ft of 5 wire (barbed) with us inside. when we got back from the hospital we found that dad had cut the car up into pieces no bigger than 1 ft long. funny now
I wish I had a photo of my friend Ricks rattle trap,in the mid 60's he bought it from his neighbor and it was a real fun but a little sketchy. It had a shortened 50's truck frame and a hacked up Model A cowl and home made rear panel,no top and a step through cut out for the doors and a wooden stake bed. It did have a dressed up flathead with 3 deuces and aluminum heads and a diamond plate floor..it was a piece of poo but we didn't know the difference,it was fun. Rick joined the military in 68 and lost his life in 69,he would have been building hot rods to this day had he lived. HRP
I spotted this a few years ago at a car show in Wisconsin for sale in the car corral for quite a lot of money. The photo actually flatters the quality of the welding on the steering arm. For good measure, there's anti Ackerman on the reverse installed spindles and the front damper body fouled the radius arm on bump suspension movement.
We had a Vanguard 4 cyl, no body, with a Honda 1 cyl motor mounted on top of the original engine, (where the head bolted on, ), with a belt drive to the front engine pulley. It had 3 reverse and 1 forward speed (slow). And a kitchen chair bolted to the chassis so you could drive it. I think it had 1 brake.
When I was a kid(like 50 years ago) we called them woopies. Me and my brother had a couple of them. The first was a 55 6 cyl Chevy with a 3 speed. removed the body, shortened the frame and welded the rearend solid the the frame. That sucker would spin that right rear tire forever on blacktop. Soon blew up the 235. The second one was made from a 57 Ford wagon that the neighbor kid had and couldn't keep it running. Bought it for $5.00 and had it running great in about 10 min. It had the body removed but was full frame, 292 auto. We built a little bed on the back and put chains on the rear tires to run the fields and back roads. Had a shit load of fun with it until the frame broke. The last I knew of the 9 inch still lives in my buddies 34 coupe.
That's a gawd damn shame. With so much knowledge available in this day and age, how does someone think this is good work? And his "buddies" probably chugged a few beers and told him it looked great.
We ran all kinds of crap like that on the farm when I was a kid. For some reason we had to cut the body off everything and tear through the woods. Something about sitting on a seat attached by some 2x4's and nothing else. Couldn't count how many time we were thrown outta the junk! It's a wonder we are alive. Oh, the good ok days..... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Damn, one bump the wrong way and your gone. I would be nervous driving that in a field. Wonder how many people told him that shit wasn't safe. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Borderboy that vehicle is what we used to call a "skeeter" here. Usually made from whatever you could find.Great fun! And yes,you could certainly get killed driving one but I cant think of anyone I knew who did.
In 1973 - when I was 14, I traded a pickup load of firewood for a '58 chevy. 4 doors and a running 6 cylinder / powerglide. Got in the car to drive it home and the front seat dropped thru the floorboards. I knew I was gonna cut it up into a doodle- bug so I didn't care. My buddy and I drove it into the lower part of the wooden barn where we worked on dirt bikes and shit and started to tear it apart. Off comes the hood and trunk. Big stick welder cuts through the door hinges and all 4 drop in the scrap pile. A good solid tug pulls the front tenders off - cuz the Midwest snow had nearly rusted everything away. A couple of old fence posts hold the radiator support in roughly the right place cuz the inner fenders were gone too . Now we are ready for the "big cut" - 4 door was gonna be too long to be fun - and we were gonna cut the roof off anyway - so we decide to practice "chopping" and we take chalk and make two lines all the way around the car - one about ten inches back from the windshield and across the rusted out floor below, the other about the center of the back door openings. Buzz box cranked to 225 and a handful of extra rods and I started to cut - driver side floor and rocker first then stand on a box to cut thru the roof. About halfway across my buddy starts jumping and hollering like crazy. The headliner and front seat are on fire from the sparks and slag. We push the wreck out of the barn as the interior burns. We throw snow on the car and make sure the barn don't burn either. 15 minutes later after we tear out what is left of the seats and headliner we push the car back in for "take two"... finished the front cut and the top half of the back cut. Started to cut the rear floor and my buddy starts going crazy again ... it appears that I cut the brake and gas lines that were right under the floor! Car is pushed back outside - fire extinguishers appeared and were used to save the barn - back half of the car continued to burn... Car stayed outside for the rest of the work we did! Ended up cutting about 4 feet from the center of the car. Drive shaft was 14 inches long including the u joints. Wheel base was almost square. Welded the diff solid and made dual wheels by welding big bolts between two rims. Put a hitch on the back and pulled hay wagons when we weren't just messing around in the mud and the pasture. Them were the good days!
We had several on the farm when I was a kid. The guys who worked for us would have some old car that they no longer wanted. My Dad would buy them and cut everything off but the cowl and inner front fenders etc leaving the seat and windshield-then weld pipe along the side from the door jambs to the rear. These were "irrigator" wagons. Being very light they were also pretty fast as well. The fastest one I recall was a 47 Hudson with 2 carbs. I would tell the hotshots in town to bring out their hot flathead 49-50 Fords or whatever. That ol lightweight Hudson would smoke em bad!! Also did one like this to chase coyotes out of a 50 Cad stripped down-it went pretty good too.
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