There are lots of wild concepts and designs that get “built” but instead of being usable they are simply pieces of rolling art or sculpture that are meant to be looked at but not seen or heard in motion. The Reboot buggy is not one of those pieces. Designed and built to push the limits of both the aesthetic and the performance side of a four-wheel drive vehicle this thing is part art project and part Baja truck and we’re totally in love. It has everything it needs and nothing that it doesn’t, including a 400hp stroker small block.
Joey Ruiter is the brains behind this creation and he’s the head of the operation at J. Ruiter, a Michigan based firm that works with everyone from people making clothing to people making lamps. They design stuff and this Reboot buggy is a design project par excellence. Built with all commonly available parts like a small block Chevy, a Turbo 400 transmission, independent suspension on all four corners, King shocks, and Howe hydraulic steering, it has a curb weight of about 3,000lbs and that means it should really rip with that engine in it.
The look of the thing is pretty jarring and we think it is neat, especially with the light bar running across the front of it. It is kind of amazing how much different the thing looks sitting in a studio verses seeing it in motion over the sand, eh?
The price? $50,000. What do you think? Would you buy it?
Check out photos and then hit the link to see the ad for the Reboot Buggy
WTF?
A buggy with built-in blinkers?
This is made for people with an extreme phobia of looking anywhere but straight ahead. The sort of idiot who will get hopelessly lost in the desert as they plough on in a straight line for mile after mile until the fuel runs out and they are eaten by vultures.
It looks like an r/c model anyway – does that explain the complete lack of all round vision…..
There is only one word to describe this buggy, FUGLY! If you call that art, burn my eyes out please!
Agreed on being fugly, looks like a 12 yr olds lego toy. The rear suspension design is odd also. I want trailing arms but independent a-arms.
I like it. All function.
Commenters above must not have good eyesight to tell that the sides are semi-transparent for good visibility. The cockpit could probably benefit from a sloped windscreen, for aesthetic sake.
Saw this in person at SIlverLake. Most people were astonished that the DNR allowed them to run with no flag and not displaying the proper permits……..as the rest of the world has to for safety reasons.
Not to mention the occupants heads were above the body line, and lack of a functional rollbar……..again, completely against the rules.
The design was visually innovative (read ugly) but not really functionally innovative. Basically the mechanicals are the same thing that dozens of gearheads turn out from their garages every winter to do battle on weekends in the sandbox.
$50,000? Meh.