Sell the leftover parts if you’re looking for a little extra spending money.If the chassis is intact, you can easily reinstall the engine and other components needed to cruise around in your new buggy.If the panels won’t come off, lift the frame off the chassis. Many times, you can save both the frame and chassis to form the base structure of the buggy.
When you purchase our plans you will also receive free updates for life Click Here For Two Seat Plans Just 20.0 Click Here To Four Seat Plans Just 20.0 Click Here To Buy Both Plans Just 30. Try to remove the body panels by using a socket wrench on the bolts connecting them to the frame. We will keep you up to date on new projects and step by step build coverage as we complete our dune buggy build.Have everyone lift the frame up, and if you have an extra set of hands, have them push the chassis out from under it. The framework is too heavy for a single person to lift, so gather 4 of your strongest friends. The frame is like the car’s metal skeleton that all the parts attach to, while the chassis is the base part that rests over the wheels. Once you have all the internal parts out, detach any remaining body panels. The same could probably be said of the Bradley GT.Lift the top part of the frame off of the chassis. Some of the entertainer’s harshest critics complained his musical performances placed showmanship above substance. Also, check out dune buggy community forums. Most builders use MIG welding with a MIG electrical torch, a shielding gas, and a metal wire used to solder steel pipes together.
To build a custom chassis, you will need to know how to weld. Search online for dune buggy plans or blueprints. The most expensive Bradley ever sold was a custom gold flaked GT owned by the flamboyant performer Liberace. Plans will run you about 25 unless you stumble upon free ones. Former presidential candidate Barry Goldwater owned a GT II, and actor-environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. The symmetry of these numbers does makes one wonder if the original “source” was “Gary Bradley.” But even if we use the 10-12 car per month capacity as it stood in 1978, that’s still a conservative bottom line of over a thousand cars.Ī handful of Bradleys became cars of the stars. Wikipedia and other sources list sales of 5000 Bradley GT kits from 1970-77, with no breakout of factory built cars. In July of 1981 EVC was formally charged by the Minnesota AG with consumer fraud, and the company closed its doors for good. It all sounded too good to be true…and it was. The GTE had two operating levels, Cruise Mode which was good for 50 miles on a charge, and Boost Mode that could turn sub-8 second 0-60 times ( and may have been a precursor to Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode.) The GTE was powered by a 20.7ph General Electric supplied motor attached to 16-6V lead acid batteries - with a 17th to power the wipers and headlight retractors. Bradley Automotive was forced into bankruptcy in late 1978.Īfter a reorganization was completed in 1980, they emerged as Electric Vehicle Corporation, makers of electric cars called Bradley GTEs. This captured the attention of the Minnesota attorney general who opened a fraud investigation. They went so far as to picket outside company headquarters in Plymouth. As a kid, did you ever lose a key piece to that 1:25th scale MPC plastic model kit? Multiply that feeling by hundreds, and you’ll have a good gage of the mood of Bradley customers in the late 70s. Kits were shipped with missing parts, or ones that didn’t fit. Unfortunately, Bradley only had the capacity to make 10-12. Orders were now being taken for 30-40 cars a month. This worked well for a while, until it didn’t. Who needs salesmen? In 1978, Gary Courneya introduced a kind of pyramid scheme where Bradley customers could become Bradley brokers. They formed Bradley Automotive, and in 1971 introduced a fiberglass sports car called the Bradley GT. At about the time Bruce Meyers was entering bankruptcy, Courneya and Fuller were expanding their product line beyond the dunes. Southern California salesman, Gary Courneya had teamed up with fiberglass designer, David Bradley Fuller, to build and market their own dune buggy bodies. One of those copycats was Gary’s Buggy Shop of Plymouth, Minnesota. Just as Meyers was expanding his operation, his sales took a hit from a slew of new low cost competitors. What is clear is that Meyers’ instant success brought copycats by the buggy load. The origins of the term ‘dune buggy’ are not clear.
The Manx went into serial production that year, and sales took off. The Meyers Manx was designed as an off-road racing car, winning the Mexican (later called Baja) 1000 in 1964. In a round-about way Bruce Meyers’ iconic dune buggy lead to the Bradley. And then there was the subject of our story, the Bradley GT.