Nick1994
$100 site donor 2023
Growing up we always went to the dunes every year. Usually with my dad’s cousin Dave, he was basically my uncle. Dave was big into the dunes and built several sand rails over the years. His most prized one was Purpletrator, the one below, a Mazzone tube chassis that he built the rest of the car around. He was meticulous with how everything went together and built it in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately Dave passed away in 2020. We spread his ashes last year at Buttercup, the Southern end of Glamis Dunes in Southern California.
Dave had sold it in 2017 to someone who had always dreamed of owning a Mazzone. The guy sent some friends down from Oregon to trailer it back. Once it rolled off the trailer he realized he wouldn’t fit in it, it’s pretty small. It sat until earlier this year, he dismantled it with the intention to modify it perhaps longer/taller so he could fit. He ended up deciding that Dave had done such a beautiful job building it, he couldn’t stomach modifying it and he bought another one that’s bigger. He reached out to me and asked if I wanted to buy it, I jumped at the opportunity. The past 2 months he put it 100% back together and got it running, it hadn’t run from sitting for about 12 years.
Purpletrator is mid-engine with a built & turbo’d 2234cc VW engine. Weighs 950 pounds and runs on 110 octane racing fuel. Unsure of exact horsepower, around 225. It won 1st Place at World of Wheels in 1999, Bugorama 1999 & 2001, and 2nd Place Bugorama 2004. It was mostly a show-car and didn’t get a ton of duning in all these years. I’d be surprised if it had anywhere near 100 miles on it.
I took it to the Oregon Dunes today and got to drive it on the beach. I had a blast, this thing really scoots! Saturday I’ll be at Buttercup/Glamis Dunes with it.
My long term plans with it are to convert it over to a cable-driven shifter, modifying the bar behind the seat and fuel tank so that the seat can be mounted further back, perhaps fuel injecting it, and maybe one day converting it to a 5-link longer-arm suspension. I don’t want to change how it looks. I love the 90’s theme. I’ll also be taking it back to Bugorama next Spring and entering it in the car show. It’s starting to show some age after nearly 30 years and I’ll work on touching it up a little bit.
Dave had sold it in 2017 to someone who had always dreamed of owning a Mazzone. The guy sent some friends down from Oregon to trailer it back. Once it rolled off the trailer he realized he wouldn’t fit in it, it’s pretty small. It sat until earlier this year, he dismantled it with the intention to modify it perhaps longer/taller so he could fit. He ended up deciding that Dave had done such a beautiful job building it, he couldn’t stomach modifying it and he bought another one that’s bigger. He reached out to me and asked if I wanted to buy it, I jumped at the opportunity. The past 2 months he put it 100% back together and got it running, it hadn’t run from sitting for about 12 years.
Purpletrator is mid-engine with a built & turbo’d 2234cc VW engine. Weighs 950 pounds and runs on 110 octane racing fuel. Unsure of exact horsepower, around 225. It won 1st Place at World of Wheels in 1999, Bugorama 1999 & 2001, and 2nd Place Bugorama 2004. It was mostly a show-car and didn’t get a ton of duning in all these years. I’d be surprised if it had anywhere near 100 miles on it.
I took it to the Oregon Dunes today and got to drive it on the beach. I had a blast, this thing really scoots! Saturday I’ll be at Buttercup/Glamis Dunes with it.
My long term plans with it are to convert it over to a cable-driven shifter, modifying the bar behind the seat and fuel tank so that the seat can be mounted further back, perhaps fuel injecting it, and maybe one day converting it to a 5-link longer-arm suspension. I don’t want to change how it looks. I love the 90’s theme. I’ll also be taking it back to Bugorama next Spring and entering it in the car show. It’s starting to show some age after nearly 30 years and I’ll work on touching it up a little bit.
