BEACH BUGGY

On page 110 of last month’s issue, you showed a photo of beach buggies under construction, with a request for readers to assist in identifying the facility.

It was, in fact, the Capital Motors workshop in Pretoria in 1970/’1, where the Sandkat buggy was built. I remember this because my now 92-year-old father was the parts director for Capital Motors, the Volkswagen/ Audi/porsche dealership, which built the buggy using all-new Beetle parts and engines.

As an 18-year-old, I often drove the Sandkat, much to the envy of my mates. At that stage, I had a 1967 Beetle, which was modi ed with many Empi and Speedwell accessories, for which Capital Motors was the SA importer and distributor. It may also be of interest to note the late Graham Hill was the owner of Speedwell in the UK and he and my father had a special friendship. I remember CAR doing a road test of the Speedwell Beetle in about 1966/’7. It would be interesting to see that again, as I was driven many times in that particular car. It was quite special for a 1300 Beetle.

As an aside, in 1966 Capital Motors sold the new Porsche 912 for the princely sum of R6 000. In 1968, the new Beetle 1500 was introduced to SA at the incredible price of R1 499 (R1/cm3) and the new Audi Super 90, of which I owned one, was an expensive R3 150, rivalling the much less expensive Datsun 1600 SSS from a performance perspective. MIKE BROWN Sea Point [Thanks for lling in the missing links, Mike. About 15 years ago, I nearly bought a 912 for R80 000 but decided it was a bit too pricey. I could kick myself given the prices old Porsches fetch these days. That Speedwell Beetle test was in our June 1967 issue – editor.]