Sand duning all started with homemade buggies built with car frames and V8 engines. Water-pumpers are what they were called and it was pretty common to see big fat straight pipes coming right off the heads. It wasn't until everyone started going deaf that they decided mufflers might be a good idea. Suspension wasn't very high tech and most guys ran solid rear axles and wishbone front-ends that helped them traverse the giant sand dunes. Paddle tires were unheard of and guys had to groove their own tires. In fact, they often attached two rims together and ran with dual hand grooved tires for added traction and stability. With each buggy built, there was a lesson learned and over time, buggies started to evolve into some really slick machines.
To all of the original desert rats, sand duning was like hot rodding but they cruised the sand rather then the street. Hill climbing competitions and drag racing were common events as every duner wanted to prove their buggy was the top dog. Aside from their competitive nature, sand duners enjoyed one thing the most, and that was simply the freedom of roaming the massive sand hills and enjoying the peace and tranquility that the sand dunes offered them.
Please enjoy all of the old vintage footage of some of the original buggies to conquer the dunes as Sandrazor.com is the only web site I've come across on the Internet that has any videos of those old historic water-pumpers.
