Monday 11 May 2020

Dutch Buggy book is a real labour of love

This is a bit of a Dutch week, here on Maximum Mini. First there was this barn find Mini Jem (here) and the Dutch-built Nieuwenhuis Special on Zandvoort (here); this time it's a Dutch book about buggies. And what a book! Authors Henny Jore and Jan van der Lit worked 10 years to get their 2 kilograms heavyweight buggy bible in print, which I know was not always easy. The 352 pages tome features anything buggy in The Netherlands and you'll be surprised to learn how many cars were manufactured or made it over to there.

The majority of these cars is of course VW powered but it wouldn't be featured here if two buggies using Mini power weren't made in The Netherlands, too. They were the Barclay Mini Bug, a Dutch version of the Stimson Mini Bug built in Helmond, and the Moonbug, which was a Dutch Siva Buggy made in Amstelveen. The authors managed to track down the instigator of the Moonbug project, Peter Pijpelink, which led to new insights and a number of pictures that were new to me.

But those two cars are just examples of an incredible variety of Dutch buggies and the work that has gone into the research for this book has been enormous. 'Buggy's, Baja's, Kitcars & Replica's', ISBN 978909032659, comes in Dutch and has forewords by American buggy inventor Bruce Meyers and British buggy authority James Hale. It is available through its own website here.

Buggy's, Baja's, Kitcars & Replica's by Henny Jore and Jan van der Lit is a massive book
Picture Jeroen Booij

The Barclay Mini Bug is the Dutch version of the Stimson Mini Bug made in Helmond
Picture Jeroen Booij

While the Moonbug is the Dutch-made Siva Buggy. New insight come to the light
Picture Jeroen Booij

Second half of book is dedicated to another 350-odd buggies and kits that were available in Holland
Picture Jeroen Booij

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