This irresistibly intriguing dune buggy broke the internet in January of 2016. Its hint of light blue off-set colors and monstrous stunts rightfully justify its name — “Shark Attack,” also known as “Land Shark.”

This buggy is a legend and an authentic off-road beast. However, it didn’t claim its fame by performing off-road.

Shark Attack tore up the streets of San Diego and surrounding areas, landing ridiculous jumps, shredding off-ramps, and speeding up embankments. Just as legendary as the buggy itself is the original owner and mastermind behind the machine.

Blake Wilkey, who was 27 years old at the time of the famous video introduction of him and his street-legal dune buggy, says he began working on Land Shark in 2005.

So, roughly ten years of mechanical marvel went into this buggy, and the results are mind-blowing.

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How Land Shark Became Legendary

Shark Attack Street Legal Dune Buggy In the Streets of San Diego
Via: Moto Networks

Shark Attack has a classic 1967 Volkswagen (VW) chassis, with a custom-built engine producing 700+ horsepower.

It is equipped with superior suspension and massive tires to take on all of the high-performance action. To top it off, Wilkey made sure he or his creation wouldn’t encounter any problems while on the road, so he made it street-legal.

The government requires that a dune buggy has traditional safety lights such as turn signals, headlights, rear lights, and brake lights, and those requirements are precisely what the Shark Attack was equipped with.

In December of 2015, Wilkey teamed up with Perplexed Media to shoot a four-minute video of the Shark Attacks stunts. After being posted in January of 2016, the Youtube video titled “Urban Assault: San Diego Shark Attack” was a hit in just five months.

It raked in over 1.5 million views by May 26th of that same year and now sits at 2.7 million views four years later.

Not long after Shark Attack’s fame, Blake Wilkey decided to sell the enticing dune buggy, and a prince in Dubai made an offer that Wilkey couldn’t resist.

The prince offered Wilkey $63,000 for the famous street-legal dune buggy, and now Shark Attack continues to grow its popularity on Instagram, conquering sand dunes in the country of Qatar.

Where Is The Mad Mechanic Today?

The creator of the most ridiculous street-legal dune buggy at a competition
Via: OffRoadRacer

The viral video of Shark Attack created a problem that Wilkey was not ready to face. Unfortunately, all that instant publicity resulted in Wilkey being caught and charged by the law.

He admits the name on the side of the buggy, his license plate, and the Youtube fame is how the authorities caught him.

In the court of law, Wilkey faced several charge counts of reckless driving and excessive speeding in each of the locations he and his partners filmed the video.

After settling in court, he paid fines, served some jail time, and was on probation for three years.

Now, Blake Wilkey is a legend and known all around the off-road world. He currently has a buggy shop in Mexico where he shreds the sand dunes with his new mechanical beauty, “The Megalodon.”

This dune buggy is another custom Volkswagen chassis with a stock LS6 V8 engine producing 560+ horsepower. The Megalodon has had a few other genius buggy builders put some additions on it, but Wilkey has fine-tuned every aspect of the car to his liking.

The making of an “Urban Assault Part 2” was inevitable as it's Wilkey’s stamp in the off-road world.

Like his original creation, “Shark Attack,” the Megalodon is also built for the streets, with a design equipped with all the legal requirement additives.

Wilkey partnered with HP Tuners and a few others to film a nine-minute video of Megladon taking over the streets of Downtown Las Vegas.

The mad mechanic takes his new dune buggy to compete in off-road competitions, perform in dune buggy shows, and enjoy off-road expos with his friends and fans in the industry.

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The Ridiculous Dune Buggy "Shark Attack" doing its thing on the streets of San Diego
Via: Car Throttle

Without a doubt, Blake Wilkey’s dune buggy, Shark Attack, is amazingly ridiculous.

Who would’ve ever known that all that horsepower strapped to a 1967 VW with superior suspension could give this dune buggy a one-of-a-kind performance experience?

All while being street-legal!

In an Instagram post, Wilkey expressed his feelings towards his first creation and has no problem acknowledging that he misses Shark Attack, and selling it was probably the worst decision of his life.

However, he shows much love and appreciation to the new owner.

The first “Urban Assault” video allowed Wilkey to show the off-road world what he and his insanely-built buggy were capable of; now Blake and Shark Attack are icons in the industry.

In addition to being iconic worldwide, the Shark Attack remains at the top of our list as one of the sickest street-legal dune buggies ever to touch the pavement.

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