About Me

I started fabricating things out of metal when I was very young. My dad raced stock cars and swamp buggies and I got my start welding at age 13 while learning about motors and racing. By 13 I was also racing stock cars. Over the years I built and raced stock cars, swamp buggies and mud boggers. I have made many things for myself and others such as utility trailers, bridges, and sculptures. I worked as a welder for only 1 year of my career making car hauler trailers. For most of my career I was a plasterer in Florida. After moving to upstate NY I worked in a variety of jobs in the construction field. I have only started exploring the artistic side of metal fabrication during the past five years. We started the metal business in 2006 to take my career in a different direction. It will take a while, but my plan is to fill this blog with pictures of many of the things I have built over the years. I hope you enjoy seeing some of my unique creations. My wife is actually writing this blog for me but she is presenting it from my standpoint with the information I give her. I am more skilled with a welder than a computer.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Swamp Buggy in Florida

  
In 1994, I lived in Naples, Florida.  People used swamp buggies to hunt and play in the mud and swamps of the Everglades.  I wanted to build one for us to play with too.  My son was 3 months old when I started to build it.
This is a 3/4 ton Chevy rear end that I got out of an old junk truck. 
This is a 4 speed transmission from an old Ford truck I had. The way I had it set up, I had a 4 cylinder Datsun engine with a standard transmission that went into the 4 speed and then into the rear end. Later, because of having problems with the 4 cylinder, I took the motor and transmission out and replaced it with a 302 Ford motor with an automatic transmission. I hooked this to the 4 speed. It ran a lot better with the Ford motor in it.
This is the view of the back of the buggy with the tractor tires and the start of the deck. 
My son was two years old in this picture.  He was helping me check things over.  We had been using the buggy for two years now.
Me and AJ in our driveway.  We used to go for rides around our area.  We lived on a dirt roat that ended at a canal.  There were lots of woods and muddy ditches for us to ride in. The front end of the buggy was made out of a 1978 Ford twin I-Beam.  I cut it to make a straight axle out of it. It had a Datsun steering box and tie rods on it. It rode like a Cadillac.
Here is another shot of me and AJ out for a ride.
This is the buggy up on the trailer the first time we took it out to "Bad Luck."  Everyone who had buggies, trucks and ATVs liked to go there to play in the mud.
This is me driving back to pick up my wife and son after going to help a friend who got  his buggy stuck.  He had to return the favor right away, since I got stuck helping him out. It was always a good idea to have others go with you because getting stuck was pretty common.
Here is another shot of me driving through the mud.
Her is our little guy by the buggy.  He was two years old. Now it's 13 years later and he's almost 6 feet tall.
This was my friend Jim.  He had a buggy and took us out to "Bad Luck" since he knew where to go.

3 comments:

  1. that looks like so much fun... not fun enough for me to want to move anywhere that has wild storms and crocodiles on your front porch and snakes too...but it makes me think about it :)

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  2. I am from southern Michigan and love the sport of mud bogging an having fun. Do you know anywhere that I can find plans or designs to build my own swamp buggie, I do not have near enough to buy one from a company but with my welding and fabrication skills I know I can build one if I can find plans. Can you please help? Thank you for your time. Feel free to contact me at bradly_skinner@yahoo.com

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  3. Hi,
    I am sorry we did not get back to you sooner. We will send you an email today at the address you gave with more info.
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete