What is a Dune Buggy?
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A dune buggy is a small and lightweight vehicle built for driving off road, over beaches and sand dunes. They're great for taking down fire roads, and tons of fun for cruising around. What started as a stripped down and shortened VW Beetle floor pan, dune buggies evolved into fiberglass body buggies, tube frame sand rails, rail buggies, woods buggies, baja bugs, and even inspired the development of rock bouncers, side-by-side ATVs, and UTVs.
The Tub Buggy or Fiberglass Buggy
Also known as tub buggy and fiberglass buggy, these are usually based on a shortened air cooled Beetle chassis. Tub buggies came to the spotlight after winning the very first Mexican 1000 Rally (now the Baja 1000). For many people, the Meyers Manx and Manx-style tub buggy is what many people envision when talking dune buggies.
The Sand Rail
Another style of dune buggy is the sand rail. These are purpose built, custom frame vehicles for riding and jumping sand dunes. Sand Rails are usually tube framed with smooth or grooved front tires, and often have paddle tires on the rear for traction in sand. Many sand rails are VW-based, and are popular with mid-engine configurations and lightweight front suspension options.
The Rail Buggy
The rail buggy is a tube frame vehicle built for off road trails, hill climbing, off road racing that can also be turned into a street cruiser. Off road rail buggies may have beefed up suspension, off road tires, steering, and chassis components to handle the abuse from trails, trees, and rocks.
The term woods buggy became popular when describing a rail buggy purpose built for rugged woods and hill climbing, and can be identified by tree bars - side crash bars that protect or deflect tree impacts away from the rear tires.
The Baja Bug
The Baja Bug is an on and off road vehicle built from a VW Beetle. These typically have stock floor pans, mostly stock bodies with larger tires, and can be built with monster suspension, tire, engine packages, and roll cages.
There is a lot of overlap between different styles of dune buggies, these are examples of common associations with each term - your local slang may vary!
If you have any questions regarding dune buggies, sand rails, rail buggies, or baja bugs,
send us an email at sales@dunebuggywarehouse.com