Deserter dune buggies were offered up between 1969-1974 by Dearborn Automobile Company in Massachusetts — later known as Autodynamics. The Deserters were available with two body styles: one of which was the S1, a typical swoopy fiberglass configuration with no doors, windows, or roof. However, Deserter ran a cheeky ad campaign which promised “Options available for beach, swamp, snow, mountains racetrack, and turnpike.”
The other body style, called the GT, checked a few of those boxes. The GT has a full fiberglass hardtop, including gullwing doors and an optional leather-look vinyl covering. The GT was no doubt born out of necessity for a company based in New England — not California — if year-round driving was desired.
As if two body styles wasn’t enough, Deserters also came with a choice of two chassis. The standard model was based on the ubiquitous shortened VW Bug, but the GS model had a proprietary tubular chassis that flipped the engine and transaxle, converting the dune buggy from rear-engine to mid-engine.
Between the stronger tubular frame and improved mid-engine weight distribution, the GS was a formidable, if unlikely, sports car. As such, many owners opted for more powerful engines such as six-cylinders from Corvairs, or even Porsches.
Production numbers were fairly low, so there aren’t a ton of Deserters for sale. The most recent transaction was from 2021, when Bring a Trailer sold a standard chassis S1 for $14,000.
[Featured image by Mr.choppers via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]
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