| MANBUG
- 1968 VW Convertible Baja - I purchased this
car from Michael Axton, son of Hoyt Axton. He was kind of down and out
and so was the car. Engine barely ran, tires were bald, interior was
saturated from beach dog who was allowed in the back seat soaking wet
all the time. I caught it just in time. Salt water SUCKS!!! Fiberglass
is bad and will be replaced this winter after complete body off tear
down. Will get Linex top and bottom of pan, new tranny and bus
reduction
gears, taller tires, cut and rotate front end, solid motor mounts,
frame horn struts, new front and rear push bars, four headlights,
bikini top and more. |
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Another
project I would like to do for the MANBUG is to built a fiberglass
TBird type top for it. I have plenty of experience in fiberglass and I
think have figured out the best way to build it. I actually came up
with the design in the 70's but never acquired a 'vert. Now that I have
the car, do I have the time or patience? We will see. Other plans
include a complete tube frame with super tough IRS rear and wide link
pin front end. Again... we'll see what happens.
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This
image shows the bug pretty much as it looked when I got it. We just
cleaned it up a bit, rather my son Dylan did. I am actually building
the car for him. He was only one or two when I used to scream through
the desert in Arizona in my rail and tough boy bajas of old. After
moving back up to good old Humboldt County in 1987, I was injured and
couldn't do physical work for several years and had to give up my VW's
- sold it all! Now he's older and loves working on cars - he's
also much better at it than I have ever been. Decisions on what to do
next are usually debated before I do anything to the car. But I am
outfitting the car the way I like for the most part. He can make
changes after I turn it over to him.
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I guess in my
own mind I see MANBUG becoming something like this - only street legal.
As you can see I have a long way to go. At least I'll always have
something to do. I also have plans to build Thing-type fenders for
MANBUG. I might have time at some point, but as you can see I already
have too much to do.
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Here's a great
image taken at the end of the Mail Ridge Run we made with the buggy
club from Southern Humboldt in 2002. This run started in Redway and
ended up on the Avenue of the Giants. Nice trip, but most was gravel -
not good for those who don't like dust, rock dings or going fast. Mark,
the organizer likes to scoot. It was fine with us. we don't get too
many chances to let it loose with others. However, we did not have a
roll cage nor did we have adequate harnessing. We do now. Hopefully the
new HUMBUGS Air Cooled VW Club will put some of us together for some
real rootin' in the mud this winter.
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