I am amazed at the awesome buggies I have seen on this site, but I know everybody did not start out that way. I want to hear some war stories of everybody's first buggies. That one that got you all started.

My first buggy was a simple little buggy not much different from the one I now own. It had a small engine,,,I think 36 or 40 hp but it would run under water. I mean it, it would barely pull itself cause the rear buckshots wanted to float it. It sounded like it was running on 2 cylinders but it would pull itself. Aint notelling at the times I had to change the oil and trans dope cause it was milky. I eventually upgraded to a stock dual port 1600 but missed the lugging power of that little engine. Does that mean my first vw engine was water cooled?

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If your clutch ain't slippin,, you probably got it adjusted right!!!!!

My first buggy was a Chenoworth frame with a swing axle. The motor smoked and had a wrist pin knocking. I ran that motor for two years with the wrist pin knock. The thing was tough as nails, but I couldnt imagine goingback to those days.

i still have one of my first buggys the reason i say that is when i got mine me and a friend went in and bought three for 500 the deal was he got the good front end and 4 new tires and i got everything else well we pieced all three together and had one semi complete buggy within a week and we went riding the only thing is you had to bump start mine everytime it had no seat belt harnesses or brakes now i didnt do crazy stuff but it still hurt the one time i ran it that way, some trees just dont bend over i knocked myself out the first ride then i built the one i have now it aint even close to being as good as allot of these buggys but i am satisfied with what i have especially what is sittin right behind my seats 5 rib with 1915 and a 40 idf carb and 31 15.5/15 tractor tires ya its not the biggest motor out there but its got enough for me

I'm in my 1st buggy now, I like it but need to improve on certin things. I'm running a 3rib with a "SCAT" 0 mile 1776cc engine,I should have went BIGGER, but it does well. The buggy itself is 90", I was going to lenghthen it but have decided to leave it the way it is.
One day I'll have a bigger, badder , buggy ( wonder what that might be ??) for now though what I have will work just fine
Bruce

Hey. My first buggy was a short cobra frame with a wheel base of 91 inches. A bug trans [4.12 gear], 29 inch swampper thornbergs,link pin front beam. A stock 1600 with a pic31 carb. This was great around home untill the buddy I got it from took me to Tellico to ride with the Cooks and their crew! We were building his at the time and took mine there -----Wow that was fun!!!!! I became hooked ever since. I have had every kind of offroader there is and I have always come back to the buggies.

I'm in my first buggy. It's an ongoing, never ending process.

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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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952 Berrien, 1600cc single port, 4:125 long axle, swing axle, T-3 rear drums, link pin front beam, high back poly seats, spun tank.
Pretty nice buggy, traded a motorcycle for it.
That was in 1982 and have been fooling with this stuff since.........

Sold it to my brother about 1992.
He just recently sold it

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Gary

Turbo VW Sand Racer
Polaris Ranger



"If you don't run into the Devil every once in awhile, you must be going in the same direction!"

Davis Motorsports FaceBook Page

My first buggy was a tunnel buggy with an awsome runnig 1300, swingaxle trans, with a roll cage made out of 2 inch black iron pipe. Talk about scary! Glad I never rolled it but I was only 14. I paid 100 bucks of my christmas money on it, boy was that a long time ago.
I also want to thank my friend Jim Staley for getting me into this sport. When I was 13, Jim asked me to help steady his v-dub motor while he ran the jack to put it on the buggy. Thats all it took, I've enjoyed the sport ever since. Jim passed away a few years ago but I'm sure hes riding along every time I'm in the trails. I never feel alone out there in the woods. THANKS JIM!! WE MISS YOU.

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"YOU CAN MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, WATCH THINGS HAPPEN OR WONDER WHAT THE F$$K HAPPEND...WE'RE MAKING THINGS HAPPEN" The strong words of Captain Phil! Rest in peice!

wow. my first buggy. which im still in now. came with a single port 1600, berr keg gas can, thing tranny, whipped coil overs in the rear(couldnt keep the rear down) and whipped shocks in the front. 86 inches and no electrical. upgrades: 1641, 3 rib, legenthing job(+15"), put at 102", 200 bux in pro comp shox.

I have a pic of my first buggy somewhere, i will try and dig it up. It was an old Short Back, stock single port with a bug irs tranny. I bought it for 300 bucks and had 500 bucks in it when it was all done. Man was it a blast, we jumped it and pushed over trees, sure wasnt afraid of hurting it. That got me hooked and have been upgrading ever since, now I am running a Beeline Cobra, 2x3 arms, 6 rib, and a 2176cc Shadetree stroker. I couldn't imagine going back to stock!

Hell guys my fist buggy I paid 1300 for dropped another 1000 and a months time and work in. the first trip made it 2 miles down rode blew it up. 1 week later traded my mud truck [which was for sale 4 2500] for another buggy that had been sittin awhile. Then 2 days later it started hammerin. that when I decided to start building. Now about 8000 dollars later I learned the only way to really know and depend on something is to do it ya self YES every thing did run great at one time.

My first one was an old champion frame probably late 70's or early 80's model. It had an 1835 with a single IDF weber 40 and a 3-rib, and do not know what's inside of the motor (cam, lifters, crank, etc...) It ran good the day I bought it, that's why I never tore into it. It also had disc brakes on the rear wheels , but no front brakes. It was built like a tank, whoever built this buggy put on a 1/4" thick steel plate on the belly all the way. I had it weighed and it weight almost 1900lbs. I ran it for almost 1 1/2 years with no problems. Then that's when I decide to build me a new one that will fit me better. I was going to put the ole' 1835 on it with a 6-rib, but I dropped the motor and broke the head on it And then it lead me to put on a new 2276 stroker motor .

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"Loud pipes saves lives"

My first baja i ever bought was in high school around 81 or 82. clean/candy apple red, Bought off a preacher. sat real low to the ground ,all stock. I think it was a 69. Sold it when i moved to california bought another one out there and drove it back here sold it bought another and so on and so on.

my first was a flour pan buggy with a bus gear reduction swing axel had a whole 60 bucks in it unlike now i have 65

This is my first buggy. I have only improved it for my taste in riding. Raised the top to fit poly seats in and my head. Rebuilt the motor from a 1600 to a 1915. Added a IRS from a Swing axle and a 3 rib tranny. I have thought about building a different frame but for now I have to wait on a job to be able to afford it.

The Wild Kids

Heres my first buggy in action. It had a factory lin pin front, bus irs rear with a 6 rib and 2.0 type IV.

Awesome picture griffin and great responses guys, thanks. I am just starting right now.Low on cash, but can build anything out of anything with metal. Hope one day to have a factory frame......till then I am just building what I can to get into the woods and get started. Thanks to this sight, happy birthday by the way and thanks to all of you guys.

mine was a funco knock off, spent its life as a racing buggy in florida and after all the tracks closed it sat for years. then i got it and rebuild what i could and ran it as a woods buggy for a few years. i ran it first with a swing axl out of a 67(stock) and a 1914 and a webber progessive. old bug pack header 009 no oil cooler just a filter.

then after running a few times i started to do up grades . put a dog house on with and oil cooler in side , filter pump , zinith ndix carb. ran it like that for a year or so. but the motor had a pin hole in an oil passage so i took it off the road , started to put redux box tranny it it but stopped and got a new rail two seater to build up.
now let me tell you about the 1914 i got it in a car for $400 it had a set of stroker 94's in it for a wopping 5.75 to1 comp. that with the scat c-45 cam made it the biggest pain in the a$$ to tune . if you used a light you would fowl plugs in a day we did it by ear and it ran "good" i went home and checked it and we had about 38deg in it. i thought the pully was off and left it like that. but it ran that way for about two years till i tore it down. would have been a good turbo motor.

I'm planing on giving it one more rebuild. it was just way to much to let it die a rusty death. hears a pic with redux on. alot of us started with junk and worked are way up from there , try and find you a used one and go from there

I got my first buggy at 18. It had a 1641 with dual delortos, and had been inspected by the Ohio highway patrol with a rail buggy title. I traded it for a 1978 Bronco, because I was stupid and didn't know what I had.

This was my first. Berrien Sandfox 4 seater that was way to street for me. I built it to be more street than offroad and quickly realised I wanted a woods buggy. Now I am building my second. Only owned the first one for 3 months after I finished it. Sold it for good money but its never enough. Take my advice and start cheap and easy, its much easier to learn that way instead of spending $10-12,000 on a new one. They all get the job done and its just for fun!

My first offroad buggy was a 1985 Honda Oddysey. I dumped all kinds on money into it to make it race worthy. I ended up trading it for the Red VW Buggy I drive now. During the interim period I bought a couple of Honda Pilots for racing and trail riding. One I gave to the wife unit and the other is my long travel that im in the process of putting a Rotax 700 twin in it. Im selling the Red VW buggy because Im in the process of building my new VW fuel injected turboed Buggy. Hope tb be ready by the Spring Wellsville ride. can you say obsessed..................Absolutly!

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Water cooled Dry Sumped Subaru Powered Turbo Charged Fuel Injected 2500CC Tank. Oh Rah! He who dies with the most Toys not only wins, He also wears them out!