CJ Hines - 1967 VW Buggy - S2. Ep19.
Custom of a custom
You always come back to your childhood vehicles and for CJ Hines this couldn’t be truer. There are not a lot of car guys who can say they still own there first car…there are even less car guys who can say that car is still cool enough to win trophy after trophy at car shows…and even fewer guys who can say that original car looks nothing like the car they once drove around in their youth.
His love affair with the VW Bug has been going strong since the 70s when his Dad brought home a rusted out 1967 Bettle. The rusted out bits were replaced with an old school Baja Buggy narrow eyed kit that in the day was all the craze. At 15 years old CJ and his father went over the car to ensure it was road worthy before he turned 16 and got his license. This was his daily driver for 9 years and was taken to car shows and kept it in pristine condition. He met his eventual wife in this car and had her name written on the side of the car, this is how much this Beetle meant to CJ. After a while the car needed some rust repair from the harsh PA winters and CJ opted to put the project to the side and move into the Jeep world. Unfortunately while CJ was building and competing professionally in rock climbing a full tube chassis truck, the Beetle sat in disrepair for 17 years. Then the law came knocking looking to move a few cars where his Beetle was stored due to “local ordinances,” which is when CJ decided to finally get around to repairing his high school vehicle.
CJ started the project with the simple task of getting it rolling so that he could move it back into the garage and either part with the car or rebuild it. Fortunately his wife, remember her name is on the side of the car, pushed CJ to rebuild it rather than sell it and from there it snowballed into the head turning creation. Before the teardown CJ and his father wheeled the Beetle into the garage and without changing a spark plug or cleaning out the carb the car fired right off giving them the boost needed to start the build. CJ then completely dissembled the car and meticulously looked over every part to see what was salvageable. He knew he always wanted a Dune Buggy similar to the Meyers Manx and after finding out the entire floor pan needed to be scrapped CJ decided to build a legendary buggy from years past.
A little history lesson before we go any farther! The Meyers Manx dune buggy was a small recreationally-oriented automobile, designed initially for desert racing by Californian engineer, artist, boat builder and surfer Bruce F. Meyers. Drawing on his experience in sailboat construction, Meyers modeled and built his first dune buggy, "Old Red", a shortened VW Beetle with a monocoque, fiberglass shell and Chevrolet pickup truck suspension, in late 1963 to May 1964 in his garage in Newport Beach, California. He then started production by his B. F. Meyers & Co. from 1964 to 1971, in the form of car kits applied to shortened chassis of Volkswagen Beetles. The car line dominated dune racing in its time, breaking records immediately, and was eventually also released in street-oriented models.
CJ started by researching companies that continued building the Meyers Manx kits and found ACME Car Company in central PA that built not only a reproduction body but updated frame. With the knowledge that he wanted to go with a larger motor one day the 2x3 boxed frame was the right choice to get the project started. Once the body and frame were chosen CJ had a decision to make about the stance of the buggy. He looked over 100s of other buggies online and debated over the safari original stance, lifted or street stance. What CJ didn’t find is a buggy that had been slammed on air ride and from there the gears started turning…
Pulling from his tube chassis off road days, CJ knew the guys to call to help him create the completely one off suspension that would allow the buggy to get the lowest stance possible. The front beam was the easy part with 2” drop spindles and air shocks on the front. In the center of the beam there is a custom adjuster that allowed CJ to get the buggy even lower while still maintaining the suspension geometry, gotta love the German engineering. The beam has also been narrowed 4” to tuck the wheels under the front fenders. In the rear CJ had some help from a friend and built a completely custom rear subframe to house the air ride suspension and runs and airlift management system that independently controls the front and rear. There is no tank and everything is run off an air pump and looking back CJ says the only thing he would have done differently is build a tank into the roll cage.
As precision as the chassis was the body however is fiberglass and needed a little massaging. CJ says, “The left wheel was sitting 2” farther out than the right wheel, and had it put together and taken apart 100 times,” to ensure that the body tucked under the wheels perfectly. Speaking of wheels, this was probably the hardest decision CJ had to make. He noted that his wife laughs about CJ trying to get the wheels and the offset just right to perfect the stance. He would stay up sometimes until 2am doing drawings and measurements to ensure the wheels had the right fit. Finally CJ ordered the perfect wheels only to get an email a week later that the wheels had been discontinued. CJ settled on a set of Moto Metal wheels with a 2” spacer. In the future CJ would like to upgrade to a completely custom 2 or 3 piece wheel to eliminate the spacers and get the “deep dish,” look. The brakes have been upgraded to disks all around with a Chevy bolt pattern to give CJ many more options for wheels.
The air-cooled motor in its original form put out 36hp and CJ reports it was okay for the original build. CJ then stepped up to an AMR supercharger to boost up the power to 90-100hp for a few months until it blew out a cylinder from not enough airflow around the 3rd cylinder (CJ talks technical about this during the podcast). The current motor now has a 2276 stroker motor with larger bores, cylinders, valves, heads and upgraded cooling system to ensure this buggy ran as good as it looked. The car is now pushing somewhere around the 230-240hp, that is about 6.5 times as much horsepower as the original motor, and CJ couldn’t have a bigger smile on his face when he drives it! In a 1500lb car this now is a street beast. The weak point now in the drive train is the stage 1 clutch with a stock transmission which CJ plans on upgrading very soon.
Unlike the buggies that get used in the sand, CJ made sure his interior was plush and nice so that he could ride in comfort and style. This car sees no rain so the floor has been carpeted and padded and topped off with custom PRP seats with harnesses that are color matched perfectly. The back seat is custom made by CJ to fit perfectly and keep the rear end sleek and low while also to carry the kids around the neighborhood! The mechanical controls like the e-brake, shifter, steering wheel and gauges are all from the original 67 bug and look right at home with the build. If you’re wondering if there is a top, there is not, CJ gets wet like a man in the rain!
Exterior accessories come in the form of motorcycle headlights with custom brackets that mount horizontally. The taillights are LED’s off of eBay that almost flush mount to keep the body streamline. The mirrors are from a UTV and match the overall theme of the build perfectly. The roll cage is 100% custom and did not come with the body. CJ did some drawings of how he wanted it shaped and his buddy came up with CAD drawings to make it come to life. CJ and his buddy then started bending pipe and welding it in to create a strong frame and increasing the rigidity of the overall vehicle.
CJ has racked up trophy upon trophy with the buggy which wasn’t the original purpose behind the build. His 3 years build came from a love of the car rather than building a show car to win trophies. All in the build cost around $20K to build which I would be hard pressed to find a more fun and well put together car for around that price point. What we didn’t mention in the podcast and wanted to highlight is CJ loves to show the car off and lets whoever wants to sit in the car, especially kids, sit in it. As he had said a few times in his instagram post, he was once the little boy that dreamed of having a cool car and their smiles when they sit in it is worth every second. If you want to know more about the car go hit CJ up on instagram @67baggedvwbuggy or Facebook at CJ Hines. He loves to talk about the buggy and will help out anyone who is building a buggy or just wants to talk cars! Find him at car shows all around the NE as he does like to travel with the car out of state and don’t be scared to go say hi to him, you never know what kind of knowledge he will drop on you!
