I have decided to write a thread telling the story of what I know about my buggy, the lead up to buying it and some of the things that I have had done since owning it. It is not going to be War and Peace and once I am up to date I will just add to it as and when there is something new to report. It is for my own benefit as much as anything just so that there is a record of things I have done. There is even a very exciting bit where I actually do some building! Anyway, back to the late 1980's for now.

The very first buggy I went to view was in Budleigh Salterton (Devon) and this would have been around 1988 (ish). My mate drove me up there after I saw an advert in Auto Trader (the actual magazine)! The Beach Buggies were always right at the back under 'Miscellaneous'! I can only remember that the buggy I looked at was red and a long wheel base and then my Mum telling me what a stupid idea it would be to buy it. In fairness it would have been my only car and I would have had to have driven it to work every day all year round so it didn't happen back then.

If anyone on here happens to recognise themselves as the seller then I sincerely apologise but I did genuinely want to buy it!

Fast forward to the summer of 2020 and this one appeared for sale less than a mile from my Mums house and about 3 or 4 miles from where I live. I phoned up to enquire and was told that it had already gone.



I don't know if the person that bought this is on this site but if so where are you? I have never seen it out and about.

Next time: Homer comes home!

the blue manta was at a flat four picnic held at Bidford on Avon 5 or 6 years ago it got sold shortly after.

MantaRay is also available in yellow.

Nice pictures Hugh 
The blue / purple one obviously was not meant to be for me despite being so nearby.
I was clearly destined to be team yellow.
 

A couple of days after ringing up about the blue Manta Ray I saw 2 buggies for sale but they were in Kent. Out of the two it was the yellow Hustler that caught my eye. I spoke to Mrs Cornish who said 'Well if you want it go and get it'. About 3 seconds later I had taken the day off work and was on a 650 mile round trip to Kent! I ended up buying the buggy and arranged to have it delivered.

I returned home from Kent with just a box of assorted spares, the side panels and the log book. I scrubbed and cleaned the panels as best I could but they remained stubbornly mucky. I also cleaned the steering wheel which I planned to put back on in place of the hand made chain link one that was on it at the time. (As seen in the Dec photo challenge).



few days later the buggy arrived and was soon given the name Homer.




Next time: Spaghetti Junction

Similar to how mine arrived Dave.  When my garage now rings me this picture comes up. 😂😂

 
That's brilliant Deb.

There is a rich history of recovery and towing images on this site, and throughout parts of the buggy world, so you may get flooded with towed images if you are not careful.

However, I simply make the point that you can get colour matching or similar liveries:

That is certainly a colour coordinated recovery Hugh!

I can go on...





...and on...





...but you get the idea.

Definitely a popular theme in the buggy world for some of us. 😂😂

Oh lord.... 

I thought my T25 was unreliable.......

Even the petrol station is coordinated in this one.

The second part of your lift home after the dropped valve in Germany and the rest of us endured the wettest coldest June day to travel home

Yes it was Biblical weather you lot headed into from Harwich leaving me to await the AA truck which had good door seals, efficient wipers and high visibility.... so I have quite pleasant memories of the 200 mile trip across country !