The first buggy I rode in and eventually became my first buggy. A bug chassis shortened 12" with a crude tube frame on top. Built by my dad and uncle in 1976. Thats my 82 year old grand dad in the photo (this was his buggy before it got handed down to me)



This next photo is of dear old dads four seater built for the family with schedule 40 black iron water pipe. This was a copy of a his friends Corviar powered buggy. This one started with Ken Fisher of Fischer Buggies in Tampa's race engine from his class I car from the Florida 400.



This photo is of my first build. I bought this car from a close friend and rebuilt it with a Custom aluminum body custom painted graphics and a 1976 stroker motor.



The next photo is of my custom two seater, Porsche 914 engine, 091 trans, all Fox emulsion shocks.



The final photo is of the custom four seat car know as the Safari Wagon.



That is the end of the Red Barron evolution of technology

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

Thanks, I thought you were one of the good guys.

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

Thanks for sharing! come down and ride sometime!

I did not mean it in a bad way .I was looking for something else ,,,,SORRY it came off wrong no rudeness intended.Loved the rides and I have a soft spot for 4 seaters it was one that got me into buggies 28 years ago

i like the old pan buggys

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I DO NOT FREE BASE COCAINE

I really like the two seat "Chenowth" style buggy. Cool frame for sure and it's always nice to see hobbies that are shared by the family. Cool pics.

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

I don't know what rockrockets said, but if anything like my reaction when I saw that last one, and no matter how bad it sounds, it was:

"Holy shit, that's a coffin for the kids if it rolls"

Phillip, the wagon was never intended for serious racing or hill climbing it is a trail rig. I have rolled the Chenoweth down a 30'-0" embankment into a canal with a foot of water at the bottom. No damage to anything but my pride.

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

I agree that offroad vehicles can be dangerous but honestly I don't think I'd call it a "coffin for the kids". I guess he could have bought a $20k Rhino or Razor since they have so much "engineering" behind them. Except everyone I've ever know to be killed was in an "engineered" factory bought ride. That includes and 11 year old girl that had her neck crushed because the seat belts were inadequate. Personally I'd rather have a kid strapped in the Safari Wagon than I would sitting on top of a quad or bouncing around inside a stock rhino. Just my $.02. I've seen plenty of buggies with bubble gum welds, rusted out frames and no seat belts. To me a well maintained and well built ride deserves a little credit.

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

Thanks Forty, It was built using 120 wall 1 1/2" tubing and there is a good deal of reinforcement in the frame. If when I had built it I knew that I would be moving to the mountains of Tennessee or had seen this site prior to my build I would have added a couple of X braces to the Halo bars and roof. I think it would fair ok with some minor damage in a roll. I just know that you can't compare a play car to a purpose built hill killer or race car.

I plan to build a purpose built hill climbing two seater that will be built for a serious roll over. The wagon sees a lot of time on the road as it is tagged and insured. Legal in Tennessee

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

I was looking for another post and I posted before I used my brain .I for one love to see builds built from tubing not kits ,,,again I love the whole built from scratch killer skills. I am all about WC it is just so advanced....And the green buggy looks like the type frames I build.

He deserves plenty of credit, it's a lovely ride, but I am saying the upper half of the cage will fold like a cardboard box in a shunt, even your RZR example has a better roof structure than that simply due to it's small size meaning the main members are stiffer. More diagonals next time!
It's not just safety, if it's just gentle runs in the woods on the trails it's probably not too much of a concern unless something silly happens, but it'd make the whole chassis stiffer so those rear shocks would work better on the rougher trails too

The good thing about quads and bikes in an accident is you can let go so the machine goes it's own way

Thank Phillip, I always take advice. I have driven the wagon up to 125 mph by myself. The wife and boy don't accompany me when I get crazy. It is no more dangerous than ridding in my truck or the wife's Prius if you turn them over hard it's going to be bad.

I loved running the wagon on the natural gas pipeline in Ocala National Forest woops 3'-0" deep in a line for miles. Nothing like getting it up on top and running it at 80 mph.

I think you could air drop your car with no parachute and the cage still be intact.

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

There's some improvements to make even on ours, it's not a perfect cage, but it's pretty damned strong.

The problem is, we get a lot of stuff like this over here, so I have a natural aversion to flipping without lots of metal holding the roof over my head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Im2fDOpLF0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo50xoz8swo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvUp-5bR6IQ

Red, the picture of your Grandpap strapped in is without a doubt one of the coolest pics ever posted here. It has never been about how fast a race you ran but rather how long you can stay in the race.

Thanks he was 85 years young in that photo. This was the guy that raced Indian motorcycles in Jersey on coal slag tracks in the 1950's he was in his 50's and still racing. I miss him very much!

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

Just wondering if that yellow one is still around i seen one like that up in land beetween the lakes about 2 years ago looked exactly like that one

You are a lucky man to of had him for your Pap. Genetics can be very cruel or your best friend.