I brought home a piece of wacky hot rodding today. A model a chassis with some pretty cool goodies on it. A friend of mines dad passed away and left behind a dune buggy project he started building in the sixties and never finished. Drilled axle and bones, metal flake wheel, juice brakes f100 rear end with some wierd tires, and an awesome seat out of a datsun with an all metal back on it. From what I can tell the firewall is an old test panel for an engine stand, a gas tank from a vw, and a steering box and column out of ???. Its primitive but cool regardless of its nasty welds and scary brackets. I bought it for two hundred bucks and will be raping it for parts for my sedan soon so enjoy.
I believe you have uncovered the first 'rat rod'. Agree that with the extreme rear seat placement, there may have been some plans for the quarter mile in then gentleman's mind. Trying to negotiate the dunes from such a driving position would be foolhardy. dj
Hello. Life magazine, July 19, 1954 has a short article with nice photos about dune bugs. They appear to have been made from Model A's and similar old jalopies. It is too big for me to scan or I would post it here. Best wishes, David.
In the late 80's My dad and I ran into 2 of these type buggies while 4wheeling in the California desert. They went everywhere we did.
Cool looking piece of history you have there. My ex-father in-law told me about hill climbing back in the 30's. He grew up east of Wichita. The was a pretty big hill in the area. Not too many of those in Kansas. He said they used to run model A's and T's up and down it. Said how tough they were. If one rolled over you just tipped it back upright. If a light broke off or fender that's how you drove it.
I had one of those back in the mid 80's. Someone had welded a full roll cage onto a Model A frame, F-100 steering and solid mounted the rear end. I bought it for $25 minus engine, tranny, tires and wheels. I had a wrecked'60 Ford F-100 i canablized for parts (rear end and springs, 6 banger with granny 4 speed, clutch and brake pedal setup). I traded it to my uncle who finished it up and used it as a farm truck on his small farm.
Great score! The implement tires say dune buggy to me. Pretty common in SoCal before VW's became so available. I ran across a dune buggy graveyard in Ocotillo Wells CA in the early 80's with 30 old water pumpers. Most of that stuff went to the Pomona swap meet..... sorry no photos
those are some cool pics guys! I would build this but I wouldnt trust this pile to hold up. ITs that bad
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