PLAYING IN THE SAND © 2010 PAUL SCHNEIDER I can

PLAYING IN THE SAND
© 2010 PAUL SCHNEIDER
I can remember playing with toy cars under a tree in our yard as a child. My brother
and I even made cement driveways around the bottom of the trees with some
cement that our Dad had left over from buildng a stone fireplace. We must have
worn out many pairs of pants crawling around on our knees. But, before you knew it you had
outgrown those toys, and moved on to bigger and better toys.
Now I am going to tell you about the toys I played
with in the sand when I got older. I remember my
brother-in-law buying a sandrail, and taking me for
an off-road ride through a woods. Wow, I knew
right then I was going to have to have one. The
brother-in-law helped me find a nice two-seater, but
it had no engine, or gas tank. No problem, I soon
found a Volkswagon dual port engine, and I also
came up with a pony keg that we would use for a
gas tank. With my brother-in-law’s help it was soon
ready to “rock and roll.”
Speaking of which, sandrails are equipped with roll
bars, and seat belts for safety. Before very long,
we were traveling to the sand dunes on week-ends here in Michigan with both of our families. My
sandrail could climb the biggest dune. However, some of the big boys’ sandrails were now using
water pumper engines which gave them more power and speed. There was even a place to drag
race your sandrails at the dunes.
One day, I was in the process of changing the engine in my ‘54 Ford truck to a 302 V8 with a C4
automatic transmission when the phone rang, and a fellow asked if I would be interested in trading
my Ford truck for a water pumper sandrail. I told him no, as I already had a sandrail, and one was
enough. But he was persistant, and wanted to know if he could bring the sandrail over for me to look
at. When he showed up with the sandrail, I had just started the truck, but had not added any
transmission fluid to the automatic transmission yet, so you could not drive the truck. This guy wanted
my truck bad, and said he would go buy the transmission fluid if I would trade even up.
The sandrail was a two-seater with a fiberglass body, and it had huge sand tires on the rear. The
engine was a Ford 2300 with header exhaust. That engine could make that sandrail stand on end. It
even had steering brakes so when the front end did come off the ground you could still control your
direction with the hand brake levers! Plus, it was street legal. Yep, it was a done deal! We had some
great family events with those big boy toys.
After the sandrails, I had a Baja that was made out of a
‘73 Volkswagon Bug, that was lightened up with fiberglass
fenders and hood. It did not have a motor when I
purchased it, but I found another good dual port engine,
and dressed it up a little. However, now I thought it was
too nice to off-road, or play with in the sand..