Aircooled VW South Africa

dont quote me on yhese next few words but it makes for a great story...my baja stood outside our neighbours yard and as i walk to the car our neihgbours dad came to me and told me about a buggy body that his at home and if id like to take it...and this is the interssting part ..if its true i dont know?he told me that he had lived in pe and that he bought the buggy back in 1961 and get this he said that it was the second one in south africa and that his mate had bought the first one...i think he said he paid R900 to build the whole complete car...now if its true i dont know ...but it inspires me to build this buggy just incase it is so that its not thrown away and forgotten about...here is what we've done so far me and my dad...

the night we got it...


after a bit of cleaning...


this nthing must have been a very nice buggy cause it used to be this mettalic copper colour...

we then started stripping the baja...




we then started cutting the pan...what a mission!!!eventually got the channel welded together and put hte buggy on to fit it and saw that its a bit wider than the pan,then we fitted the wheels back on and will probally go on with it this weekend and keep u guys updated...




i was thinking of making the buggy white with the herbie stripes and 53 number ,what do you think?and it has allready been
named "herb" seeing that "herbie" is a kids name and this is old bugg..."ol herb"

Hi there.

All the best. Live overseas so I cant restore myself back home. I envy you guys.

Saw a buggy with an alluminium sill to camoflage the wider body. Cant remember the web site anymore.

All the best

Nice buggy, Dubster! That is an original Kestrel buggy - proudly South African - easily identified by the small quarter vent windows to the side of the windscreen, and the one piece bodyshell (i.e. bonnet not seperate). Saw this one in Mossel Bay a few years ago, just to give you an idea how nice they can be made:



(I've got one as well, still have to get it to my place though)

Pine, what's happening with your Buggy?

Thats not a Kestral. It looks more like a Sandshark but no power buldge on the bonnet. You will see the lines are not a bulky as the Kestral. The Sandshark also had cabbyhole in the left dashboard. The Sandsharks screen and canopy had a vinal finish in the gelcoat where the Kestral was smooth.

Why do I know this. The Sandshark was my introduction to ACVWs. My Dad and I built one in 1978.

yep this buggy has got a cabbyhole and these weird moulded seats at the back i had a body before this one that looked the same but had a buldge on the bonnet and had a flat seat at back...

That was another differance between the 2. The Sandshark had moulded "bucket" seats in the rear. The Sandsharks bonnet buldge had 3 long raized lines onto of it.
With the 2 standing next to each other, the Kestral looked like a poorly copied Sandshark.

then this is pobaly a sand shark were they made in 1961 cos thats when the guy told me he had bought/built the buggy?

1961? I doubt it. The buggy craze only started in the States in the mid-60's, and the earliest reference I could find about buggies in South Africa is around '67. Nonetheless, thanks for the info, Tom! Would you say this buggy is a Sand Shark?

Looks Similar but does not have the raized lines on the bonnet buldge and the back mudguards are wide (compare the mudguards where the roll bar meets). From the above pic it also looks like it does not have moulded rear bucket seats. The Rear wheel cut outs are to high.

This looks like a Kestral that someones tried to neaten up.

The plot thickens. This is the buggy Teresa bought me, we are hopefully going to fetch it the coming weekend. These are the only pics I have of it, but it has moulded 'rear seats' and the window frame appears to have a much rougher finish than the rest of the body. I was under the impression it is a Kestrel?




A few years ago I assisted in the rebuilding of this Kestrel buggy in Bloemfontein (if I am not mistaken it even had a Kestrel name plate inside the footwell). What really annoyed me, was that the nose was not symmetrical at all due to an obvious factory moulding defect.

hey guys not much happening so far with the buggy ...just want to know something...does one have to shorten the steering rod when building a swb buggy?a couple of guys told me that you have to???

You on your own. Mock every thing up and see whats comfortable for you.
Most bugs need there steering shaft and column shortened The last one that I build I left it standard but had to move the top mounting.

hey guys time for a update...ive been working this whole past week trying to get the buggy finished...but im not chip foose and i dont have a whole team of helpers...so things went slow.... but here are some pics...im using my speedo from the s beetle and its bigger than the normal bug one...so it cuoldnt fit in the origional hole because the wiper motor is in the way...so i had to make a custom gauge pod...







now the gauge is turned to me wich is kinda kwl just got some finishing up to do on it and it should look allright...for the rest off the buggy...ive got 6mm stainless steel brake line all the way through and stainless fuel line im also using a electric feul pump nom one that my dad had on his xr 8 it was to small for the v8 but gave enough petrol to about 240km/h so i think it would be enough for a standard 1600 t1...i did the tank conversion wich took most off the time and preping the body for primer...had an issue with the gears aswell but sorted that out...still got a lot of work seeing that this is a "few saturdays work" buggy and im working with things i get for free or cheap stuff i buy from middas,ect...also got a early birthday presi two bucket seats


...i think they are gonna look cool...will keep u guys posted as im making progress now...

You are doing good work Dubster.That clock does look nice turned in.