Building a buggy is relatively easy, all you need is a donar vehicle (VW Beetle) preferably before 1973 for tax free driving, a fibreglass buggy body, seats, window and lights. Then it's down to taste, put on what you want, no two are ever the same.
I started with my own 1969 Beetle that I'd had for several years before the build. It could have been described as cal look, slammed to the floor etc. The Beetle was an impulse buy, bought with my heart not my head, I had just totally fell in love with it, but, I later found out that the body and floorpan were riddled with rust.
So, at first I removed the front wings as they were rusting really badly, then discovered that the battery was nearly dragging on the floor, so was the spare wheel, the roof of the car had holes filled with newspaper and putty. I knew that drastic measure needed to be taken, but I didn't want to part with my car, so I followed a dream that I had from when I was about 14 and taken to my first VWNW show, and that was to own a Beach Buggy, this was finalised after watching Wheeler Dealers on TV it looked so easy.!!!
So, my laptop was out and ebay was on the agenda, I soon came across plenty of beach buggy related items and found a short wheel based buggy body in blue within a couple of weeks. After it had been delivered I started to dismantle my Beetle. I removed the bonet, engine lid, wings and glass, then removed all the bolts from the Chassis, at this point I tried to lift the body free, and yes it lifted but it was far too heavy for me to do on my own, so I decided to cut the body into easier smaller part for removal. I cut the roof off, then the front end, finally followed by the rear. All loaded onto a trailer and taken to the scrap yard.
As I had never used or looked at a Mig welder before, I decided that it would be better to seek professional help in replacing the floorpans and cutting the chassis down, so the buggy was shipped of to Chris Gilley in Stockport. Chris replaced the floorpans and the front beam he also cut the Chassis down by 400mm and re-weld together. I had sourced shortened cables from Flatlands Engineering, so he fitted these at the same time.
Now it was down to me, and at this point I started to learn by my mistakes (many of them). As soon as I'd got the Chassis back, I started ebaying for loads of stuff. Wheels, seats, carpet, engine bling, lights and electrics etc. I was possessed in finding what I wanted. I have to be honest, I went in full guns blazing and hadn't really thought if what I was buying would be right or not, so half of what I bought, I re-sold as it was useless. My advise here is always plan properly, look at what others have done, ask for advise and don't always rush in, wait a little. There's plenty of of suppliers out there, only impulse buy if it's a rare item your looking at.....
I have listed the next stage of how I mapped out the build:

Cleaned and painted the chassis and floorpans, I had to use a hammer and chissel to remove the bitchumin that was on the tunnel.
Fitted an interior carpet, my first mistake, this soon became dirty, rust stained and skinky, so it was later removed and I used hammerite to paint the floorpans.
I then mounted the body to the chassis and bolted in place, using M8 x 30mm stainless steel bolts.
I then cut a hole out of the body bulk head to mount the steering column (measure twice and cut once, I managed to measure once and cut twice here)
I made a fitting brace for the steering column and bolted it to the body just under the dashbord, I then made a smaller one to bolt to the bulk head.
Next was fitting the petrol tank, I cut the shape out of the body perfect first time.
I had decided not to run the fuel pipe through the tunnel, but instead run a 6mm flexi hose around the body using the wiring trunking that was molded into the body.
Originally I bought a buggy wiring loom, but later found that using 7 core caravan wire worked better to run from the front to the rear of the car.
I downloaded an used wiring diagrams that I'd found on the internet using a Google search.
I Drilled and fitted the rear lights, tear drops and cal indicators (a tip, all indicators on the beetle were 21w, the new cal ones are 5w therefore I had to fit resistors to make them flash at the correct speed), finally a stainless steel number plate light.
After testing the brake lights, due to the angle of the body these were hard to see, so I mounted a rear centre brake light.
On to the bonnet, due to the nature of the body (being so thick as it's the pre-mold) I had to bolt the bonnet in 2 places only (believe me, it's not going anywhere) the first was at the sides where it meets the main body, and then at the front where it tucks under the body.
I then drilled and fitted the dashboard dials (110mm hole is required for the speedo), and finally the pertol cap. I used a 90 degree x 42mm stainless steel tubeing bend and flexi pipe to match the petrol cap / filler to the neck of the petrol tank.
I then fitted the windscreen, the wrong way at first, this is a simple mistake as once fitted correctly, it looks kind of wrong. The inserted section needs to be pointing out, this aids in fitting roofs etc.
I fitted a buggy hoop (roll bar) bolted straight through the body and floorpan at the base, and straight into the body at the mid point.
Sorry, this list seems endless, but it does finish, promise.
Finally the seat belts (lap belts all round), I know some people find these dangerous and unsafe, but if you get hit in a beach buggy, even with a full harness on then your not going to survive. I prefer the lap belts as it gives me the freedom to look around.
Next came the front nudge bar and rear engine cage, these are easy enough to fit, the front bar used a 'U' clamp to fit to the beam and used the 2 bottom beam mounting bolts, the rear cage was a bit more tricky, it mounted to the top of the suspension struts and I welded an M12 bolt to the frame horn bolts at the bottom.
I fitted the front and rear seats, which although fiddly to get access, they were easy to do.
Then came a battery box, I decided to fit this under the base of the rear seat, it's out of the way and can be hidden very easy.

The buggy then went to a local garage to have the brakes fitted, at this point a few faults raised up, the indicators weren't working and the starter motor had siezed. All that was needed was a new indicator relay, and a new starter motor. All fixed and off for the MOT. It failed on a couple of items at this point, the brakes, even though the garage (dare I say professionals) had fitted the buggy cylinder unit, the resevouir was leaking due to being pushed too tightly to the body, so grinding a small amount of the body away resolved this fault. Next was the indicators flashing too fast, so I bought and fitted the resistors that I mentioned about. Eventually though, she passed. I insured it through Adrian Flux, who I cannot recommend enough, finally taxed her at the post office (even though it's tax exempt you still need a tax disc)
I then had some driving fun in it, but as with all projects there are a few items that you always want to change, so I changed the 13" Mountney Steering wheel for a new 12" Deep Dish Grant Steering wheel. New EMPI floor mats Billet crank wheel and chrome dynamo wheel. New billet oil filler and billet oil pump cover. Ali bolt on rocker covers (another mistake, they bend too easy and do not form a good enough seal) so these were removed in favour of some clip on stainless steel Scat ones. A new chrome handbrake leaver and a Bugpack gear stick completed the interior. To be honest, at this point I would recommend that if you can, stick with standard VW parts, the gear stick was a nightmare. It was really easy to fit, simply remove 2 bolts pull of the old one, and bolt the new one in place. The problem was when accelerating in 1st or 3rd gear, due to the way it had been mounted (and wouldn't go back any further) it wouldn't go into gear correctly so it would jump out of gear. In the end I filled down the mounting holes on the gear stick, this ensured it could be pushed further back. It fixed the problem in the end.

I then found an oil leak coming from the push rod tubes, so I replaced them with blue and silver EMPI expanding tubes (the bolt out type), these didn't stay on the buggy long, I bought them mainly for the look. But my 1300cc engine developed a fault (man made, as I found a nut in the crank case) this resulted in the engine being damaged. New one needed.... Not a bad thing as number 1 and number 3 spark plug holes had been cross threaded by a previous owner. So I bought the current engine a 1641cc of a friend. It had it's own faults, that was it has a constant oil leak, not much a very small drip, but I can live with that.

I then out of cosmetic preference decided to remove and change the exhaust system. This was a Christmas present to myself, I had simply grown board with the original twin cannons, so commissioned Mike Hausmann to make me a custom one out of Stainless Steel. A work colleague had been given an Akropovic Race Can from a 2003 Yamaha R1, as it only had about 2000 miles put through it and was made from Titanium. Although at low speeds it is quieter, put your foot down and hear it Rorrrrr...... This then produced another problem, even though I had triple measured and taken photographs with the measurement, it was knocking on the engine cage, So, I removed the cage and sold it... Problem solved.

Another day, another buy... After attending several shows, it became apparent that there is a lack of storage space and I have no where to store my cleaning stuff (yeh right) so my beautiful wife bought me a vintage Coca Cola Cooler, I used the drain plug hole in the cooler, and bolted in an eye bolt, perfect fit no changes to the cooler required. I then added another eye bolt between the back and base of the rear seat. The cooler can now be padlocked into place. Finally a padlock goes over the handle and lid to prevent it from being opened (I only put the padlock on the lid once the buggy is stationary to avoid damaging the cooler) The padlock holding the cooler inplace to the seats stays there to prevent a disaster in the event of a crash.....

I found that the surf board mounted to the roof generated lift as I travel along, this caused movement in the roof and I really didn't want any damage to be caused to the roof, so I removed the surf board, and filled it down flat, I then re-glassed the board to add strength, the board now sits flat to the roof and prevents lift.

I decided to change the way the windscreen wipers sat on the window, so I welded 2" to the drivers side, and 1" to the passengers side (LHD) to lengthen them, I then bent them in a vice to adjust the angle against the window. Finally I changed the steering column bearings as I had found about 3mm play in the wheel.