Lucky bastard Tony sent in this letter and set of photos. I am very, very jealous of his toys! My daughter begged me to get a dunebuggy again (we had one when we lived in Mexico) when she saw his, but I really like his tube chassis Laser 917.

Having been a follower of your web site for a number of years, I thought I would take an opportunity to share with you some of my toys and a little history.

I live Northern California and have been into kit cars and dune buggies for many years and just recently had an opportunity to own/drive my dream car.

I was fortunate to find a rather well built Countach replica for sale at a very reasonable price in a nearby town. The Red Countach in the photos is built on a lengthened late model Fireo chassis with a fully adjustable coil-over shocks and aftermarket tubular front suspension. The engine is a 327 cubic inch Chevy connected to a 4 speed transmission. The pictures of this car do not do it justice, you would not believe the attention this car gets whenever it is out. I cannot think of a single trip out with the car that someone didn’t either want to have their picture taken with it or took a picture from their cell phone camera while I was stopped at a light or stop sign.

The car is horribly unpractical to drive on a regular basis and has blind spots that will drive you nuts. The car is so wide that you have to have a custom built platform from which to do even routine maintenance on the motor. Even cleaning the inside of the front windshield is a major task because the windshield is so raked back. I am not a little person by no means and not as flexible as I was when I was younger so getting in/out of this car is by no means an easy task either. For all the draw backs to this car, I would not have traded the experience of owning one for anything. The feeling you get from driving a car like this more satisfying than any inconvenience.

When I first got the car I told my wife I was going to have to loose some weight so I looked good getting in/out of the car. She pretty quickly reminded me that all I needed to look was married. Although she never drove the car and didn’t really want to, she enjoyed it too, mostly because when I drove it, it put me in a very good mood.

Unfortunately a planned future move forced me to have to sell the car which I did to a person back east. I have heard that the car is again for sale now at more than twice the price, I was asking for it. Hopefully it will find a good home someday. I look forward to owning another one when the time is right.

I will be working my Laser 917 which I have modified with a custom tubular frame, automatic transmission and stroked small block 350 Chevy. Not wanting to have to deal with a gantry, like you would need to work on the space shuttle, I am in the process of converting the car to open cockpit with a tilt back end for easy cockpit and motor access.

For right now my wife and I are just enjoying our street legal dune buggy for around town.

Tony