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You can’t afford a dune buggy, what can you do? If you’re halfway handy with a stick welder, you already know where I’m going with this.

As fun and thrill invoking as dune buggies can be, the design and construction of such machines is something sometimes better left to the professionals. Ever since the concept of “off-roading” became a mainstream element, manufacturers haven’t been the only ones having all the fun. This widespread-infatuation with off-highway action inspired countless backyard mechanics and home-hobbyists to replicate the capable terrain-handling design features into their own creations.

All of this is usually a good thing; the capitalist economic model, based on private ownership and production principles, allowed an eager public to suck sand rails down like hotcakes; buggies were raging and nobody could get enough! But when you can’t afford a dune buggy, what can you do? If you’re halfway handy with a stick welder, chances are, you already know where I’m going with this.

Everybody thinks they can build the Eiffel tower. Well, maybe not everybody – but you would be inclined to think it based on the amount of bad, home-built dune buggies that you’ll run into if you like to play out in the sand. In fact, these bad looking (and dangerous) design characteristics are not limited to just “home-built” dune buggies. Manufacturers (large and small) have all been guilty of pushing garbage through their assembly lines, on one occasion or another. For all the fine examples of off-road formidability through engineering excellence, there’s a home-built mess that’s just waiting for someone to put it out of its misery.

Here is a prime example of good follow-through in the face of adversity. This man obviously has a fair amount of mechanical inclination – and it almost makes up for the poor craftsmanship in which said mechanical inclination has been implemented. Appearing to be a conglomerate of farm equipment, this little buggy was definitely not designed for safety.

The fuel tank is located directly above the engine – and right behind the occupants’ heads (best place in the case, you know – it blows up somehow). A Volkswagen set of torsion springs can be identified suspending the front end directly below the dilapidated headlights; the rest is a mystery.

When this Chevy pickup truck was nearly at the end of its rope, a few farmers decided to take her out for one final romp before they put her down. As a fitting, final task, the crippled farm truck was driven, bedless, around the farm, and jumped repeatedly over a large plateau until the frame crumpled at the bed. Did a little, 45° angle kink stop those U-joints from pumping life into the differential? No sir!

In one final act of defiance, the stubborn truck continued to roar around the field, despite dragging half of the frame along the ground. Chevy: Like a Rock.

This Model A mail truck may have started out with a humble, little set of “pie-cutters” from the Ford assembly line; but as a Bloomfield, Montana delivery truck, adverse driving conditions (like snow by the foot) were to be just about the only thing this truck was ever going to see.

Knowing this, Roman Champ modified it, in 1936, to stand up to the challenge. Notwithstanding the blatantly-obvious “Big Foot” treatment, a heavy-duty truck axle was installed to handle the torque shock when the big set of 11.25x24s would bite into something less-forgiving than soft snow. It’s hard to tell whether this is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen – or a tragic abomination of a classic – but here it is.

It’s a tribute build to a movie in which the focal point was centered around a dry, post-apocalyptic bad land. The plot effectively reduced mankind’s technological prowess to a bunch of small-block V-8s thrashing around in battered, tube-chassis buggies across a vast, open wasteland as they shoot each other out for a few bottles of water.

As rugged and rough as the real Mad Max lifestyle is, the Burning Man Mutant is just a conglomerate of rebar meeting at odd angles to adjoining the substandard engineering with amateur welds and a lawnmower engine.

Rather than complete a killer-build with an LS powerplant that can shred knobbies like a soft block of cheese on a sharp, serrated blade, most men have a dune buggy project sitting along the side of their house that resembles this sad state of affairs. It’s a half-built sand rail, typical of the pre-LS days.

A perfect fit for a nice, stock 1600 cc dual port to find a good way to grenade itself over time. This buggy never got the chance to even do that, however – the owner never got around to finishing it before posting it for sale in the present state you see it in after doing next to nothing to it.

Not every piece of trash has to have a retro coat of weather-worn, orange paint peeling off the surface from the ‘80s. This project sits in its owners’ garage with all the hopes in the world of aspiring to the “vision” that it occupies in the mind’s eye of its creator. We all know how those things go. Few men can conceptualize something into a tangible prototype that meets the expectations it was designed to live up to.

Most of them are destined to fall far short of their goal before subsequently floundering in an unused corner of the garage until being junked at the next family move.

The epitome of everything you can ever hope to aspire to as a backyard builder is summed up right here! This is what you get when you can weld – but not good enough to get paid for it. Of all the men qualified to design a proper chassis for their “home-built” buggy, this definitely isn’t the handy work of any such man.

Forget stringers, gussets, and cross members – you’re lucky this guy put a second rail next to the 1 ½”tubing that seems to comprise the entire length of the load-bearing structure. There doesn’t even need to be a motor in this thing for it to look like a deathtrap.

Next time you find yourself aimlessly wandering around the Peruvian desert without a travel itinerary, consider moseying on down to Huacachina. You can book a travel tour to the ancient ruins of forgotten cultures – or decide to entrust your safety to the third-world maintenance practices of a buggy converted from an old Volkswagen platform.

There’s next to no resemblance as the pan was ditched for a four-wheel drive chassis, which begs the question – where’s the Volkswagen in this thing? I see no Bug, but I do see a curious design feature of the roll cage – it’s literally designed to “roll” in the event of a rollover – and keep going until it falls back on its wheels. Rides, anyone?

Custom tube-chassis can come in all shapes and sizes – and they don’t all have to be bad looking, either. Although misplaced to some degree, the custom-fabrication applied to this mow dog is second to no man – on his block, at least. You probably won’t find him zipping up trophy truck frames or channeling out a ’32 roadster on Counting Cars, but the geometric cohesiveness that bends the tubes together around the tractor body is on par with some of the more-advanced metal work we’ve seen.

Although I wouldn’t put my name on this green and yellow wonder for the world to see – I’d probably be okay with rolling over in it. After all, the man did put a five-point harness in it.

What do you do when your product sucks so bad that nobody wants to touch it? In the case of my cooking – I usually just add cheese. In the case of this concept – the cheese is the fact that it’s based on the locally-popular Lada Niva. (You’ve never heard of this thing for a reason.)

This four-wheeler is designated as the DSE-1700A, but don’t let the door-less presentation and a fancy name fool you; this little Samurai rip-off looks as bad on the inside as it does on the outside. Rudimental frame construction makes this thing a laughable prototype.

The Rostec-built Lada is packing a mouse-like punch, straight from the factory of AutoVaz. The four-wheel buggy (for lack of a better word) is scarcely more than a Volkswagen Jetta. The AutoVaz offers no such thrills, however; it’s pumped out at a new production assembly plant quality-controlled by Renault-Nissan – both of whom take a more conservative approach.

Despite the high-profile conglomerate responsible for the little Lada, you could practically build this thing in your backyard.

Here’s a real-life cutaway of the DSE 1700A. This is where all the special stuff happens – on the inside. As you can tell, there’s not much here; just a bunch of simple box-framing and clever jig work.

This thing is supposed to be radiation-proof as well as fireproof. I’m not sure who dropped the ball on that one, but to be fire and radiation-proof, a good place to start would be adding a canopy and a set of doors.

This relic is the reason for the contemporary remake of the old design through the AutoVaz assembly lines. It was a stunning icon of the day – when off-road adventure took the world by storm. Suddenly, it was popular to own a 4x4 that could travel to the far reaches of the planet – even if it never would.

The stateside-take on a four-wheel adventure ended up evolving into 2,000 hp tube-chassis on tractor tires. Elsewhere in the world, however, tin cans like this remain the quintessential adventure machine. The AutoVaz is pictured here, jumping a world-record height of 3.973,” the most air any Lada has ever caught in recorded history.

Here it is baby – the Hennessey Raptor of the rest of the world. The pickup truck has transcended to a level of accolade paralleled by none – even the wealthy, Bentley-driving business tycoons and investors love their pickup trucks. It comes as no surprise then, that the little Liva Nita would eventually pick up another axle and a few heavy-duty peripherals along the way.

Cargo racks, auxiliary fuel, tool-kits, and hidden compartments can be found throughout the mini-6x6 (if you know where to look). Don’t expect Hennessey Raptor speeds or formidability out in the dunes with this one – it’s better at attracting attention than getting things done.

If you’re not up to speed on the San Diego Shark Attack, picture what would happen if you gave a young, testosterone-fueled man an insanely-powered, ’67 Baja; one that’s built like a Ken Block special – and then showed him Gymkhana videos of a 1,400 hp Mustang ripping up downtown streets for 15 minutes.

He’d do exactly what you’d think he’d do – the same exact thing (minus all the professional production and safety closures). And that’s essentially what he did right before posting it on YouTube for millions to see his face, license plate, and name plastered along the side of the ‘67 as it wreaked havoc in downtown San Diego. House arrest, jail, and probation are how that story ended.

Here’s an original twist to a van conversion that would almost be more applicable for a pickup truck. While some guys like to go low to the earth with their vans, there are others who like to embrace the spirit of exploration by increasing the vertical authority of their vans (well beyond any practical means, I might add).

With an already tall center of gravity, even simply putting body spacers on a van remains questionable – a full-blown suspension lift is just about as necessary as a screen door on a submarine. The ridiculousness of the “van lift” is intensified by the prohibitive costs – it’s hard to justify “needing” this thing when you could have had two vans with the money you’ve pumped into your mini-earth roamer.

The insane, compound-articulation of Alec Jaeger’s one-off, custom Rock Dog Sidewinder is unlike anything you have ever seen a machine do before. While most men have to jockey their projects around Tupperware bins full of Christmas lights and the family van, Alec’s Hendley, Nebraska domicile affords him the luxury of having a dedicated shop for things like this.

There’s no doubt his Sidewinder’s off-road capabilities are impressive, but this is not his first Sidewinder build, nor will it be the last. And as impressive as you may think it looks straddled over this massive rock, no amount of words or pictures can do the justice of watching Alec’s Sidewinders in action – you just have to see it.

When your toys are purchased with contractually binding signatures and involve payments (with interest), it’s especially hurtful when they break. But when those toys are in the $20,000 neighborhood, you would expect them to be able to take a beating. Well, whether a manufacturing defect was a contributing factor or not, operator error is almost always the cause of destroyed ATVs and side-by-side’s in the case of total structural failure.

Clearly, somebody thought he had something a lot more rigid than he actually did, but it’s highly unlikely anybody on the trip thought this was the last vacation the RZR was ever going to take.

This machine isn’t necessarily a bad design. It may be supremely crude, from an engineering standpoint – but it gets the job done. Although the design of this four-wheel machine seems to be completely useless, it acts as a perfect platform for the unobstructed viewing of back-country mud-running – some of the wildest pickup truck tomfoolery you’ve ever seen in your life.

There are always imitators that dilute the sport into a backyard build-off between hobbyists; but at its finest, mud-running pits extremely-powerful machines against each other in a lightning-fast faceoff down a mucky pit – it’s actually pretty cool. As for this thing, the lack of seatbelts suggests everything you need to know about it.

Sources: Daily Mail, The Drive, Jalopnik, Car Throttle