Welcome 

and very nice that you've kept the headlights as they were designed   

Hunter

Thanks. Anyone know if Rats were exported to Germany?

Strong colour and dominant sidepods giving a strong vibe.

I thought you'd had some rain then saw the hose and realised you probably put the soft top on to clean it !

Someone on here will answer the question but there are certainly many types of buggys on the roads of Germany so it would not surprise me if they were exported in limited numbers.

You are some observant Hugh. I had to actually look for the hose when you commented on it being visible. 

Yea, it was a dry summer here in Germany. Car is RHD, trying to get it on the road here in Germany, I'd given it a clean as it's not proving to be easy to get it approved, so it's been stood here a while, sadly.

Original uncut body in Germany I guess it may have been taken over by a member of the British armed forces who was based out there being rhd there was a team based at Dulmen RLC depot who got the UK cars ready for the German roads and future TUV tests whilst over there.

Have you contacted or joined any of the Germany buggy clubs to tap into their specialist and friendly knowledge ?

Original uncut body in Germany I guess it may have been taken over by a member of the British armed forces who was based out there being rhd there was a team based at Dulmen RLC depot who got the UK cars ready for the German roads and future TUV tests whilst over there.

No, that's not the case. I've owned it for a long time and before I moved to Germany. I've tried to find a beach buggy club near me, but no luck. If anyone has any contacts in that direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

IBW's are rotated in European countries but Germany hosts about every 3 years

If you search IBW2017 and IBW20** (ie other years) on here you'll find which european country and thereby buggy club within that country hosted and it might be worth contacting some of the German club

Eg searching IBW2017 gets:

https://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,10252.0.html

IBW's are rotated in European countries but Germany hosts about every 3 years

If you search IBW2017 and IBW20** (ie other years) on here you'll find which european country and thereby buggy club within that country hosted and it might be worth contacting some of the German club

Eg searching IBW2017 gets:

https://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,10252.0.html

Many thanks for this, I'll start making some enquiries with my imperfect German skills 

Here's a photo of it when it was still in the uk.
I'd bought it back in 1998, stripped it right down and built it back up again with some small modifications. Please ignore the number plate, I did replace it with a more appropriate historic black type. 

You moved with it to Germany type 4 motor with a Porsche fan conversion.
As for clubs there thinking there are 14 but Germany is large so look at beach buggies Germany on fb somebodywill know what club area you are in or near.

Looks like the nearest Club is https://www.vwclub-rheinneckar.de/eine-seite/

Although I think that's VWs in general, not specifically beach buggy, which I think Is what I really need to get approval to get it imported and on the road here.

Yea, it came with me to Germany a long time ago now. I mean, I spent 8 years restoring it, it's my car, not gonna sell it. If I can't get it registered here, I'll send it back to the UK I guess. That is actually looking like the easier option right now. But I'd rather be able to keep it here. It was registered on sdbc previously.

A lwb is ok in Germany so you should be ok get in touch with https://buggy-club-rheinland.de/

Already written to them, so see what happens. It's more to do with fiber glass rather than swb or LWB. The TüV here are pretty strict and getting more so regarding fiber glass, but...... If Rat body's were exported to Germany in the past, which I believe they were, it shouldn't be an issue. But......well......baby steps 😉