Santa’s sleigh … but in a beach buggy

For the ninth edition of the Wheels of the West Rand series, the Krugersdorp News met Carel du Toit who showed off his Santa-red 1984 Beach Buggy.

But what exactly is a beach buggy? It is essentially a kit car with the chassis, gearbox and engine of a Volkswagen Beetle and fibreglass body which was invented and popularised in the 1960s.

Carel is a member of the West Rand Beach Buggies (WRBB) group and bought his beach buggy in 2020 before the group had even started. He describes the group as a bunch of people who enjoy spending time together doing what they love.
He immediately fell in love with his buggy, even though it was just a plain-looking buggy back then.

“The feeling of freedom when driving can’t be explained, there is a saying ‘if you don’t own a beach buggy, you won’t understand’,” Carel explained.

“My beach buggy is a ‘beanish short wheel based buggy’, this 1980s fibreglass shape body was manufactured in Cape Town and was fitted onto a standard Beetle chassis that was also shortened to fit the short body,” he added.

He said it has a stock standard air-cooled 1600cc twin port motor that delivers about 67Kw with a four-speed manual gearbox, however, he changed the exhaust system to twin trumpets, where the loudness draws people’s attention when driving past.

Carel explained these four-cylinder VW air-cooled motors are durable, low maintenance and long-lasting. It only needs the points cleaned and – the most important part – its oil topped up, as the beach buggies are known for ‘marking its territory where it stands’.

“It’s not the fastest car but when driving my buggy, it feels like my inner child coming out to play. People of all ages notice it and wave at you. I would say it attracts more interest than most expensive sports cars. In my opinion, the beach buggy is also one of the best off-road vehicles,” Carel believes.

He concluded he is proud to say he’s part of an awesome West Rand Beach Buggy family.

If any petrolhead wants to show off their classic, unique, exotic or rare cars, send an email to [email protected].