Check out this spanking new Storm buggy which belongs to a customer of ours. Produced by Fibrecraft in Cambridge it’s the first ever of its type to be finished and it makes its debut at this weekend’s Volksworld Show. We got an exclusive glimpse of this brilliant buggy creation…
It belongs to Vic Frankland from Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire who’s been working on it pretty much non-stop since getting hold of the long-wheelbase feat of fibreglass ingenuity last June. He bought it as an unfinished new project – it’s number 2 out of the mould, Pete, the owner of Fibrecraft being the custodian of number 1 which is still under construction, making Vic’s example the first Storm buggy ever to be seen on the road.
The donor car was a tax exempt 1971 1200 Beetle with a restored floorpan and a 1600cc powerplant. The engine, however, has since been rebored to 1641cc and rebuilt with polished and ported heads, reground valves, new cadmium plated push rod tubes, sports coil and Bosch 009 non vacuum dizzy with Magnetronic ignition. Vic stuck with a single Solex 30 pict-2 single car because he wanted it to be totally reliable.
Admirably, Vic’s done all the work himself, sourcing a whole load of new parts from us along the way – and impressively it passed its MoT first time, without any advisories!
The most challenging part of the build, says Vic, was the wiring. “Basically I had to do a total rewire which took around three weeks. It’s got legal twin Fiamme horns at the front and I’ve wired in five trumpet Dukes of Hazzard style hidden horns in the side pod. I’ve also given it under dash lighting and LED indicators.”
With 7×15 wheels at the front and 10x15in at the rear and a ride height that’s been lowered by 2in all round handling is predictably grippy and because of its light weight performance is suitably scintillating. “It looks good and drives great – and it’s only got 33 miles on the clock,” smiles Vic.
If you think it looks good in the pictures, why not get an even better look at it in the flesh at Volksworld – it will be on Southern Dune Buggy Club stand all weekend.
Ian