elistu Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 Hi all, Having lived here in Thailand for around 6 years now I decided a while ago that it was time to let my final toy go, a fully restored 77 VW 1303 Karman cab. running a 2.4 914 engine and box with nitrous (see pic). Awesome fun and an 11 sec quarter on street tyres!, it has just been sitting in a lock up in the UK for the best part of 6 years only coming out to play twice when I went for a visit. Anyway this has left me with some spare toy money. I was thinking about doing an old Merc lowrider but as I have spent half my life owning and working on aircooled VW's, and the fact that there seems to be a plentiful supply here has made me think more and more about building another beach buggy (I have previously built 3 in the UK, 2 GP SWB's and a Manx clone, again in SWB). Now before someone tells me this has been covered before and I should read the forums. I have, there are 11 topics all featuring the word beach buggy and I have read them all (more than once). They all seem to give conflicting information and not one person has said that yes they have done this and this is how its done, aside from Hogshead who is/was building a speedster (is it finished and registered now?) and Pattaya buggy who I believe owned the black one (was this built by you?) there doesn't seem to be a great deal of information out there. Yes I know all the problems with getting anything done in Thailand regarding cars and farangs but I also know that there was a black scooby powered buggy up for sale recently with book, so its obviously not impossible to do depending which way you go about it. Has anyone actually tried to do it in a Thai name up country? Would that make it easier? Livinlos says in one of his posts that, "in Phuket they refuse to do ownership changes on body swapped cars" he goes on to say "how long before they refuse to tax it". Well I would never sell it and does that mean you can tax it with a different body without problems? I still have many contacts in the VW scene and sourcing a buggy tub is no problem for me, the shipping on the other hand would be. Has anyone here used a freight shipper in the UK that can arrange the pick up, packing and shipping of large items that they could recommend? I don't want to fly back to England and have to do it myself. Also if I was to use this first tub for a mold and have other bodies made here in Thailand would this make registering any easier? Sorry for all the questions but I really like to have all the facts before I 100% commit to this. Absolutely any first hand information on either shipping large items or registering a buggy will be greatly appreciated. Yes I know it will be grief to do it legally and probably expensive but I don't care about that, I mean anything we do in Thailand is grief and costs money so why should this to be any different! Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattayabuggy Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 Hello, Yes, I was the buggy owner. I didn't build it, I bought it as a buggy. Registration issues, always ambiguous here, it was registered in my name, it can be done, I had no problems with tax etc. Is it 100% legal, well I expect not. It can be done with engineers report and lots of back handers, I didn't bother, just taxed it and drove it. I had the Subaru engine fitted, just found the VW so unreliable. It was an 1835 on twin webers, big valves and ports, nice job. The valves had to be ground in every six weeks, I did keep my eye on the clearances. I suspect the problem is modern fuels, I really don't now for sure, I used 95, not Gasahol. It was very fast while it was running, but the Subaru, 2.5 with a Turbo was manic. I have a friend who builds Buggies, and another who builds Speedster replicas. Let me know, I will put you in touch. The Buggy body is no problem, can buy here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elistu Posted September 20, 2010 Author Share Posted September 20, 2010 (edited) Awesome, thanks Pattaya buggy. Thats the sort of info I was after. Did you have any trouble when you taxed it? I mean, I have been told that it has to be inspected by a registered garage every year to get the tax, how did you get round that? I am very interested in a buggy body but only if its a Manx or GP clone, I really don't like the other shapes out there. If you could pass my details on to your friend that would be great thanks. Edited September 20, 2010 by elistu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattayabuggy Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 Awesome, thanks Pattaya buggy. Thats the sort of info I was after. Did you have any trouble when you taxed it? I mean, I have been told that it has to be inspected by a registered garage every year to get the tax, how did you get round that? I am very interested in a buggy body but only if its a Manx or GP clone, I really don't like the other shapes out there. If you could pass my details on to your friend that would be great thanks. I had no trouble at all with the yearly tax, the car was inspected, passed and tax done. This is in Pattaya, where are you? We never know here, every day is a new day, I can only tell you my experiences. We should meet, perhaps PM me. I have lots of info and advice, you can learn from my errors and save money. By the way I actually owned two Buggies here, a black one, the Subaru, and a yellow one, standard 1600 engine. I have attached picture of mine. I have seen this body style and one which resembles a Lotus 7 here. I think the only mould available is the same shape as mine, I can check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elistu Posted September 20, 2010 Author Share Posted September 20, 2010 Yes I have seen it, long wheel base right? I have pm'd you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer222 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Dear Pattaya buggy, I am interested in the buggy and speedster vehicles. How can I get in touch with the manufacturers here in Thailand? Would appreciate your help. Thank you. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Head Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I have Speedster bodies in Chiangmai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duranduran Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 hey, i just recently moved to chiang mai Thailand and im interested in buying a beach buggy type of vehicle, if anybody could point me in the right direction that would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuranMackenzie Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I have lived in Chiang Mai for just over a year now, im looking for an old Volkswagen to buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljeque Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Maybe this place can help as well http://www.thaivwclub.com/tvc/client/ http://vwthai.hypermart.net http://pasakorn.com/2009/12/30/i/ http://www.vwsociety.com/?tag=volkswagen-club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planetartcenter Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 hi, any info on where to buy a buggy body only. chiang mai area.m not interested in engine .thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistachios Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I hope you will not ride your buggy on the beach like some borish american. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semper Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) I hope you will not ride your buggy on the beach like some borish american. No beaches in CM, although many posters are in CM. Wonder what they are going to use them for. Songkran? Edited October 22, 2012 by Semper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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