Turning a VW Beetle into a beach buggy for £1250

My working world these days is full of infotainment, smartphone mirroring and lots of technology to do with electric cars that I don’t fully understand. It’s going to give me a great deal of pleasure to describe to you the technical spec of May’s buggy. Proper old-school stuff.

The glassfibre body is a Prowler, which is essentially a copy of a GP body, which, as all beach buggies have been, is a copy of the original Meyers Manx. The body is ultra simple, with no doors or openings, and literally bolts to a Volkswagen Beetle chassis. Unless you’re building a long-wheelbase buggy, which doesn’t look quite right, you have to cut and shut the floorpan.

This buggy was built using a brand-new body by a company in Birmingham called Kingfisher Kustoms, which is run by lifetime buggy enthusiast Dave Fisher. Built to stand abuse from motoring TV stars, it uses an independent rear suspension from a 1302 ‘Super Beetle’, CV joints from a Type 2 van (they’re stronger and allow more travel) and rear hubs from a VW Type 181 ‘Thing’. At the front, there are disc brakes from a standard Beetle but with four-to-five stud adaptors. The tyres are suitably podgy 215/60 R15s at the front and 275/50 R15s rear.

The engine is bored out to 1776cc, has big-valve twin-port heads, each of which wears a Weber 40 IDF carb, and breathes out through Supertapp mufflers. The cam is an Engle 110, the pistons by Mahle and the crankshaft standard VW. To top it off, the whole lot has been lightened and balanced. It hasn’t been on the dyno but the output is guessed to be about 100bhp.

The car hasn’t been on the scales, either, but I’d guess at no more than 650kg. It feels very light when you push it around and it feels light to drive. Now, I’m not claiming Lotus- Elise-like handling for the buggy but it feels fabulously light on its feet, with light and direct steering, a ride that’s good by modern standards and acceleration that is probably lousy against a watch but feels very sprightly through the trousers. The motor is torquey, with great throttle response once it’s warmed up.

But where’s the beach? I haven’t looked into it but I suspect that finding an expanse of sand on which the car could live up to its name is very difficult unless you live in Scotland or near Pendine Sands in Wales.

Churning up sand is not environmentally friendly. It’s the same problem that owners of Ariel’s Nomad must have: where to use it. Actually, the Nomad is rather like a modern beach buggy. Simple, minimalist, light and fun. Removed from modern, highly complex supercars that have performance that’s unaccessible on the road.

Lack of sand isn’t a problem. A beach buggy is fun anywhere, even in central London. Small, squat, nimble and easy to literally hop in and out of, it’s the perfect urban transport. Especially if it’s sunny.

Three famous buggy drivers: