The UK Scene

While the youth of LA cruised around in Beach Buggies in the early sixties, we were busy carefully manicuring multicoloured speed stripes onto the side of our Ford Escort Mark 1`s. The VW scene slowly began to realise their was a hole in the market. The first Buggies to be seen in Britain were Manx imports. One of the first people to catch on an actually start building their own buggy was GP Mouldings, who soon ran into a design copyright battle with Mr Manx himself and won. The GP remained the staple diet of buggy heads throughout the Sixties and Seventies.

A GP Buggy advert from the time when John from Jas Speed-Kits was managing the development workshop (1971)

The introduction of a long wheelbase version and a MK 2 was the beginning of the UK`s own input into design and development, with moulded windscreen frames and integrated side panels. Once a few kits got into the hands of Perfectionist Show Car builders in the early seventies the scene exploded with buggies featuring regularly in VW shows and events.

Over 13 different kits were in production in the UK by the mid seventies with varying designs, buggy kits even found their way onto other makes of donor vehicles such as Mini`s, 2cv`s and small Fiats.

The decline in interest in the early eighties forced GP Speedshop to sell the original mould, since then the GP kit has been handed down from person to person. The original MK2 mould is still in production but has more than seen it`s day.

With the re-lighting of buggy interest of Buggies amongst the VW enthusiasts in the late 90`s, John from JAS Speed Kits who still worked for GP Speedshop noticed that there was a shortage of quality kits available in the UK and set about redesigning and sculpturing from scratch, a brand new buggy. The aim was to keep the original 60`s style as much as possible but to improve on overall strength, legroom and appearance. John the owner of Jas Speed Kits was one of the original team that designed and developed the original GP kit in the 60`s and does all the chassis work for the famous GP Spyder kit which is still very much in demand.

The First Demonstrator Jas Buggy came off the line February 1998, and still remains the highest quality buggy mould in the country. The Jas Kit is very much an classic 60`s styled design, dropping many of the additions and style changes from 80`s. The JAS Buggy is the ONLY kit in the UK that has been re-designed from scratch, using brand new moulds. Taking the best features from the MANX and the GP mk I, II and III, the JAS Buggy gives more leg room in the back (making a more practical 2+2), smoother lines at the rear (giving more attractive engine coverage), and an extra thick moulding, making the JAS Buggy the strongest, practical and most attractive buggy available. Do not be fooled by young start-up companies who have bought old moulds.

With over 30 years buggy building experience, JAS Speedkits is very much a family run business geared around ever changing customer needs and concerns. As buggy building tends to be an ever evolving task, owners, John & Sharon, aim to keep in close contact with all their customers with impartial advice on anything from engine problems to chassis work and modifications, helping you tailor your buggy to your own needs.