Broad-Eyed Bug - The Sandwinder Baja Bug Story

When most people think of ‘Vintage’ style Baja bugs, it’s usually the bugeye style kits that come to mind. These were indeed the first designs that made it into kit form from Miller-Havens Enterprises back in 1969. By 1971, these kits had been blatantly copied by several manufacturers, much in the same way that Bruce Meyers’ original Manx buggy had.

These original kits are commonly referred to as the 'Bugeye' kits. Miller-Havens updated the design in mid-1971 with a longer rear engine cover and rear fenders that were lower at the rear, due to new California regulations on engine coverage. But this still wasn’t enough in many states and countries to bring the Baja bug up to legal standards.

In many US states and other countries around the world, the main issue was the front headlamp spacing. In the UK, for instance, despite other vehicles like the Series 1&2 Land Rover having similar headlamp setups, the BIVA build regulations stipulated that the headlamps on the bugeye kits were too far inboard from the wing edge.

It was a similar story in Germany and in Italy, where a version of the original Miller-Havens kit had been marketed by Autozodiaco. It’s not unusual to see bugeye Bajas from these countries with an extra pair of headlamps mounted further outwards:

In 1972, wanting to address this issue, Don Rountree of the Sandwinder company asked Barry ‘Burly’ Burlile to come up with a new design. Don was both a professional Baja racer and the owner of a company that gained an impressive reputation for building cars. The launch of the first wide-eyed Baja kit helped cement Sandwinder’s reputation. This is one of Burly's original designs (Courtesy Barry 'Burly' Burlile):

Burly came up with a two-stage design; the first incorporated the Sandwinder front-end design with a more stock rear-end appearance. Don liked the front design but requested a redesign of the rear end. Here's the completed kit - note there were still referenced to the word 'Chopper' as the Baja Bug term hadn't fully caught on yet. (Courtesy Barry 'Burly' Burlile):

The rear end of the Sandwinder design certainly provided much more engine coverage, although we think you’d agree it wasn’t as pretty as the Miller-Havens designed kits (Courtesy Steve Rountree):

The front-end kit could be bought as a regular kit or a flip front; this is the front end you’ll still see on many Class 5 Baja racers today. It offered a high amount of clearance and, as wide-eye Baja kits go, it’s quite attractive, being more angular than the regular wide-eye kits we’re used to seeing in Europe.

Unlike most people in the Baja and buggy business, Don Rountree didn’t get into producing kits off the back of a hobby. He opened the doors to R&H Fiberglass in 1966, primarily manufacturing Corsair boats. R&H were the company that manufactured all of the lightweight fibreglass parts for EMPI too. 

Don was the first to come up with an alternative to Bruce Meyers’ Manx, which he called the Sandwinder and, shortly after he started producing bodies for the Sandmaster company, formed by Scott McKenzie and Don Arnett.

As Don got to know Scott, he decided to go with him to Pismo one weekend in a car he’d built; that first trip was a disaster, Don’s car sinking in the sand, so he returned home to Riverside and began work on a new car. He had Dean Lowry build him a tricked out 1600 Variant engine for the car. This car eventually featured on the cover of the 1970 book Baja-Prepping VW Sedans and Dune Buggies:

Before Don knew it, boats were no longer a part of his life; he’d been sucked into off-road racing and started his ‘hobby shop’ at the side of R&H. 

He decided to try out the Tuesday night track races at Ascot Park in Gardena and did very well, amassing the most points in a buggy in his first year. In the following picture, Don Rountree (seated) casually chats to Steve McQueen and James Garner at the Ascot Park races:

In 1971, Don began to make Chassis for other racers. Most of his customers were local to the Riverside area and Team Sandwinder became very successful in desert racing. Over the years, a wide assortment of people drove Sandwinder cars. The most famous of them being Steve McQueen.

Sandwinder’s yellow cars were a familiar sight in Southern California desert races until ’77 when Don finally decided he was burned out and closed the doors. But the Burly-designed kit lives on as his legacy - even if you're into the Bugeye styled kit more than the wide-eyed kits, there's no denying there's something aesthetically pleasing about the design: