I realized recently that there are no rules to these blogs, and therefore nothing saying that I can't post something that happened before the blog existed. Owen was feeling like he wanted his buggy on the blog as well, so I decided since it was also just "finished" during the winter of 2006 that I would post a few pics, some descriptions, and a few details of it's history.
Here is what we started with,
an old John Deere lawn mower donated
by Grandpa Reese. We tried to make
it a working mower, but we decided in
the end that it might make a better go-kart.
This is the first stage of the Ballistic Missile Buggy. It had an 11hp Briggs and Stratton motor, electric start, 20" rear tires and 15" front tires. The steering was lowered to adapt to the lower seating area and the tie rods were raised to allow for more clearance. The rear axle was still open, so traction was not as good as it could be, but it went everywhere the kids wanted to go and more. As you can see, Owen quickly became a pro buggy driver(this kid has no fear!) The motor survived for a while under Owens punishment, but if finally blew up under the 
pressure. It literally had a 6" hole 
in the back of the motor where some of the major components of the motor took flight. Owen's sad face was enough to break any heart of a parent, but we had to let the buggy sit until we could justify the cost of a new motor. Part of Owen's Christmas for 2006 consisted of a brand new 6hp Briggs and Stratton pull start motor. It was not nearly the power of the old motor, but it was definitely sufficient. We opened the rear end, locked it up for more traction and put a larger drive pulley on the motor to increase the speed a little. It still has a super low crawl gear with the 5 speed transmission, but now it can go around 20mph at top speed. The final color that Owen decided on was a really cool blue and some Troy Lee Design Ballistic Missile stickers. Here are some pictures of the finished product. It was definitely worth the small amount of money and large amount of time invested for the fun the kids have with it, and the fun we had building it together.
