Alot of people have helped me get the buggy happening and so I thought the least I could do was thank a few of them formally. Some of them are consumate professionals in the automotive trade while others were happy to help where ever they could and listened to me blather on about the car for literally hours.

For those going through the same things with their own favorite petrolhead, we salute you.

Liz.
Liz is my wife, my best friend, my lover, my administrator and lately, the mother of my beautiful daughter (YEH!)
She knows all about me and still puts up with my car habit. Despite the real chance of our mortgage being lower and driving a much nicer car, she still allowed me to build the car.
She also taught me how to save enough to actually be able to fund the buggy.
She has lifted, bolted, payed, mused about colours and generally supported me.
In fact, right from the outset she demanded the car would get finished. She would have no part of unfinished projects.
But her forgiving nature is what is most amazing about her (even when I get carried away).
Lizzy, I love you so very much.

Andrew.
I am not sure whether Andrew has been a good influence on me, but then who am I to talk.
Andrew is my identical twin brother and hasn't stopped hassling me to get the car finished since I bought the shell in 1998 (that's right, last century).
He has helped me as much as he could, lifting, sanding, taking photos and generally gas-bagging about the car in order to encourage me to finish it.
Thanx man. (please stop buying rusty Kombis!)

Mum and Dad.
My Mum and Dad have had to put up with lots.
Neither of them are into cars but that doesn't mean my Mum can't explain what a "Blower" is.
(UAE: un-invited automotive education).
Despite all this they show loving (if careful) interest in my sad car addiction.
They let me use their internet whenever I wanted so I could up-date this page and let me use their garage to store the buggy til mine got finished (instead of housing my fathers prized new Subaru there).
Thanx Mum and Dad.

Liz's Mum and Dad.
Liz's Mum and Dad are the best in-laws a man could hope for.
Firstly Liz's Dad has a whole garage (triple actually, lucky....) full of cool tools and secondly Liz's Mum cook's the most amazing meals.
Bigger than that they have made me a part of their family and have welcomed me for who I am. Liz's father has repeatedly driven me to and from places with trailers, lent me tools he cherishes, given ideas and even let me use his car and trailer while they were overseas.
But, my biggest thanks goes to them for helping get the garage finished and fill a huge drain pit, not to mention making the side gate, fixing up the laundry (while we went on holidays!) and lating a driveway.
Thank you soooo much.

Chris.
Chris and I have been doing dumb things in cars for years. In fact, it was Chris that patiently taught me about oil changes and regular maintainance, while suffering my amateur rallying assaults in a bomby mitsubishi galant (stationwagon of all things).
For about six months early in the piece, Chris religiously came round one night a week to help me rub back the original paint. It was winter for three of those months, it rained alot that year and we where outside in the weather.
Chris had to listen to all my half-cocked ideas about the car while he simultaneously froze to death and got jumped on by my dog (the dog has good aim too).
He then made the fatal decision of moving two streets away from me and has been called on at all hours and every second saturday it seems, to give pearls of hot rodding wisdom and help me lift heavy stuff. I know he thinks I'm a nutbag, but hey, his judgement is good.
Thanx heaps man, (GO THE DATTO!)

Hans & Peter Klaack (Klaack Motors).
These guys are gold. Story goes, Hans father was a factory trained VW mechanic and then worked on aircraft when he moved to Australia. He and Hans opened Klaack motors during the 60's.
Hans has forgotten more about VWs than most people know and done almost everything thought of mechanically to aircooled VWs (including a Mazda Rotary-powered, twin-cab Kombi). He has been building amazing aircooled motors for everything from restored split window beetles to megga HP racecars for the better part of 40 years. Hans also used to build gearboxes for the 9 sec. Rigoli Fiat 850 coupe (think swingaxle and 400hp aprx.).
Peter, Hans son, follows in the tradition while adding a slight bent for watercooled VWs.
They are responsible for the rebuild of the gearbox and some external stuff that needed doing to the Subaru motor.
These guys have been a huge help to both Andrew and myself over the years, building ace motors for us, servicing our tired VWs and generally advising us in our hair-brained schemes.
They're also not bad for a yarn.....
Thanx heaps for all your time and patience. (when are you guys gonna build up Pete's beetle?!)

Kimm Garland (Indian Automotive).
Kimm is something of an oddity in modified VW circles. He's generally quiet, reserved and found in a corner pouring over cars you'd least expect him to. And that, is the great thing about him.
He has no pre-conceptions about what direction you take when hot-rodding any car. He is not in the business of building beach-buggies, but he was the only VW specialist willing to talk about custom fabrication and engine transplants. Many I spoke to were simply not interested. Most couldn't be bothered.
Kimm, on the other hand, did something completely out of his comfort zone, was happy to talk to my consulting engineer and told me his honest opinion at every turn. An opinion learned from experience in heavy modification (not books or gas-bagging).
Thanx for the advice and friendship. (Can't wait for the Limmo!)

Brian (Special Engineering ha, ha..).
Brian is nearly as cracked as I am, the difference being that he has all the talent (and tools) necessary to complete his diabolical ideas. In the last year he has been a real lifeline on a couple of occasions when everything about this project seemed abit too much to cope with.
He is also able to fix quite severe mistakes (let's not go into how he learnt that skill).
He is incredibly generous and has come up with some excellent ideas about how to do things well while keeping costs managable (even if he thinks the car would work much better with a turbo and 42" tyres).
I can highly recommend him for any sort of interesting idea involving a car or 4wd (or a pushbike and a whipper-snipper engine).
Ask him what Custom means some time if you like.
He has been central in keeping me and the car moving along this year.
Thanx for everything mate. (Keepin it "Custom")

Stewie.
Stewie is a guy I miss living next to.
He got me started on the fibreglassing and taught me heaps about the amount I needed to use.
An Excellent guy and a top spray painter to boot.
Thanx mate.

To all those who have harrassed and haranged me to keep going in person or my email, my thanx to you also.
Custom cars might be an individual interest, but keepin the community in it is what keeps you going at the end of the day.

Pete.