The best dune buggies combine style and functionality, making them popular both on the streets and on the sand.

For years, the sand of deserts and beaches proved a challenge to motor enthusiasts, providing little traction for tires and allowing heavy vehicles to sink in and get stuck. The eventual solution was the dune buggy, a powerful but lightweight, sand-friendly car that rose in popularity through the 40s, 50s and 60s, eventually gaining cult status all over the world. Today you can see dune buggies almost anyplace there is sand, and lovers of these unique vehicles know no greater thrill than zipping across beaches, leaping over sandy dunes or showing off their customized cars in clubs and auto shows. So what's the history behind dune buggies, anyway?

Greg Rardin is a custom car collector and video editor in Carrollton, Texas. An auto fanatic since his high school days, Rardin has owned, restored and built some 30 cars over the past three decades. Here he outlines the evolution of dune buggies:

• Origins. According to Rardin, dune buggies started out the same way that street rods did—with a bunch of guys who wanted to modify vehicles for a specific purpose. In this case it was to drive well on beaches without getting stuck or to run across desert dunes having fun.

• Early models. The early dune buggy models were little more than V8 engines on very basic chassis, usually ones that were built at home. A couple of seats and a steering wheel were about all that was added to complete the vehicle. From these humble beginnings, the modern dune buggy evolved.

• Today's style. The dune buggies of today look both modern and pleasingly retro, and can be fully realized works of automotive art as well as high performance machines. As with most car cultures, dune buggy fans often have as much fun caring for, customizing and displaying their vehicles as they do driving them. There are even owners who prefer to keep their buggies out of the sand altogether, driving them proudly on the streets instead.

• Clubs for fun. Dune buggy owners often congregate in local and national clubs, where they can swap stories and information, share their love of cars, and organize rides and events. One of the primary groups, according to Rardin, is the Manx Dune Buggy club, devoted to vehicles built by Bruce Meyers, one of the industry's true innovators. If dune buggies sound like fun to you, check out a nearby club and learn more!

Manx Dune Buggy Club
www.manxclub.com

Dune-Buggy.com
www.dune-buggy.com

Dune Buggy.com
www.dunebuggy.com

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