FOR those of certain age, there are few things on four wheels cooler than a beach buggy.
Children of the 1970s whose tiny minds were blown by Starsky & Hutch getting serious air in a speeding ‘dune buggy’ (as they tend to be called in the US) during the opening titles of the hit cop show will no doubt have fantasied about trying to replicate the feat at some stage – and now one of the original big names in the buggy business is back to help them realise their daredevil dreams.
California-based Meyers Manx made its name in the 1960s with its shortened VW Beetle chassis-based buggies, which were so good the King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, drove a specially customised Chevy V6-powered version for his starring role in 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair.
The Bruce F Meyers-founded firm marked its 60th anniversary last week with a parade of over 80 Meyers Manx beach buggies at the Goodwood Revival, including the aforementioned Meyers Manx ‘Crown’ Buggy, which was led by company chairman Phillip Sarofim in a new Meyers Manx Resorter - a reimagined version of an original 1960s Meyers Manx design built on a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle chassis.
The 60th anniversary celebrations continued at the Earls Court Motor Show in London, where Meyers Manx unveiled its Meyers Manx 2.0 Electric Prototype: an electric reimagination of the classic dune buggy which can go for up to 300 miles between charges.
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“Goodwood Revival was the perfect stage to honour 60 years of Meyers Manx while showcasing the future with our electric prototype,” said Phillip Sarofim.
“It’s a tribute to the legacy Bruce Meyers started and a look forward to how we’re keeping the Manx spirit alive in the electric age.”
While the fully restored screen-used Thomas Crown Meyers Manx buggy sold for a cool $456,000 when it was auctioned at Bonhams back in 2020, you can get your hands on the launch edition of the Meyers Manx 2.0 EV for a mere $125,000 – which gets you an exclusive green paint job, throwback houndstooth upholstery and priority delivery - or a standard version for just $75,000.
The US firm will also be happy to sell you an old-fashioned petrol-powered dune buggy for £119,500 in the form of the ultra-exclusive Meyers Manx Tarmac Touring Edition. Only six of these machines are available, all with a distinctive gunmetal metal flake paint job and powered by an aviation-inspired three-cylinder 2.0-litre Radial Motion engine from Bespoke Engineering, which delivers over double the power of a classic Volkswagen engine and shares parts with GM’s famous LS1 V8 for ease of tuning and maintenance.
However, those ‘handy with the spanners’ who are craving an old-skool Meyers Manx experience and just happen to have a spare VW Beetle lying around as a donor car can always just buy an Old Red kit and build their own.
Priced at $14,500 and based on Bruce F Meyers’ original buggy – which, as you might have guessed, was nicknamed Old Red - there are just 24 kits available, which include everything you need to turn your donor VW chassis and engine into a sand dune conquering funmobile – including custom-made PRP Enduro seats inspired by the vintage Volkswagen seats in the original Old Red.
Further information at meyersmanx.com.
