You Can Build This Fun Car for $635!

From the April 1967 situation of Automobile and Driver.

The Meyers Manx is all issues to all males. Our first glimpse of 1 was from straight astern, and it seemed like some form of loopy scout automotive, a mixed-up command automobile. Its maker senses in it one thing of the traditional character of Mercer Race­abouts and Apperson Jackrabbits. No two of its 250-odd house owners see it precisely the identical approach.

The out of doors varieties say it is good for pack journeys and searching expedi­tions. Scorching-rodders hail it because the re­incarnation of the road roadster. Kooky women suppose it is kinky, or is it vice versa? Pissed off executives cannot determine if it is higher suited as a station automotive or as an escape module. Surfers swear it is the woody of the longer term. Sober, pragmatic males rationalize their ardour for it by inform­ing themselves that it is a wise, low-cost, all-purpose utility run­about. Motorcyclists permit as the way it’s nearly pretty much as good as having two bikes. Sports activities-car fans say it delivers extra pleasure per pound than a Ferrari GTO. Pontiac GTO house owners attempt to look the opposite approach . . . unsuccessfully. And dune buggy rac­ers say it is the tip. The one factor all of them agree on is that it is extra soul-freeing, leaping, bounding, uninhibited enjoyable than anything they’ve ever pushed—on or off the highway. We’ll purchase that.

The Meyers Manx is the proper reply for the person who’d moderately roll his personal. It is a equipment automotive. It prices $635, plus no matter it’s a must to spend for the Volkswagen components needed to finish it, plus labor—except you do it your self. It is not troublesome to assemble; any man with common mechanical capability may do the job over a few weekends. And for energy: Volkswagen, Cor­vair, Porsche—you title it.

That is one of many nice issues concerning the Meyers Manx—its solely limitation is your personal creativeness. You should buy the essential equipment (there’s an much more fundamental, stripped equipment for $498), pay $100 for a wrecked VW, throw it collectively and neglect it, or you possibly can construct it up with all new components and tender loving care. It is your selection—all the best way as much as a 200-hp engine, metalflake paint job, luxurious inside, onerous high, facet curtains, magazine wheels, four-wheel disc brakes, absolutely adjustable suspension, and racing tires.

The Meyers Manx is the automotive for the person who’s fed up with sellers, wheelers, factory-installed choices he does not need, trade-ins, reductions, excessive strain, onerous promote—the entire bag. About half the shoppers of B. F. Meyers and Firm are drained businessmen who purchase a Manx to place collectively of their spare time, a proj­ect they suppose will take their thoughts off their work. They are saying they’re going to give it to the children as a gift after they’re completed, however like electrical trains at Christmastime, they cannot let go. The children do not see a lot of the Manx that Daddy constructed, nor of Daddy, for that matter—he is off blowing his thoughts on some winding nation highway.

That is one other wonderful thing about the Meyers Manx. It is an actual automotive. You possibly can license it, and insure it, and drive it wherever, anytime. With the highest and facet curtains in place, it is as comfortable and watertight as any little imported roadster. You possibly can hook up the heater and make all of it heat and toasty in sub-zero climate. With snow tires, it’s going to undergo blizzards that might cease a snowmobile in its tracks. With tremendous­-balloons, it’s going to mud dunes with the most effective four-wheel-drive Jeeps and Bron­cos. And with racing tires, it’s going to out­deal with and outbrake any sports activities automotive we have ever examined.

Though the Manx was initially designed as a dune buggy, it is equal­ly at house on pavement. One of many maker’s favourite methods to demon­strate the mountain-goat agility of the Manx is to drive it onto a kind of 45-degree cobblestone slopes underneath a freeway bridge. The demonstrator steers the Manx straight up underneath the girders, racks the wheel over, and leaves it racing round in a small circle up there on the steep incline prefer it was gyro-stabilized, whereas the passenger hangs on for pricey, candy life. This act is often adopted by a leap off a precipice onto and throughout a area of basketball-­sized rocks, overland to the seashore, a fast tour at terrifying angles over the sand dunes, then right down to the water’s edge to hurry alongside, enjoying tag with the waves, and at last—­mercifully—house once more.

We managed to take care of our equi­librium throughout this section of the check, however actually obtained unhinged after we slipped behind the wheel for the panic cease from 80 mph. It squeaked to a halt in an unbeliev­in a position 204 toes, or 1.05 g—the form of efficiency you solely anticipate finding in a Chaparral. Inconceivable! At the least with inventory Volkswagen brakes, we thought, and tried once more. Hmmm, 210 toes (1.02 g). Every part was checked. Once more: 207 toes (1.03 g).

The Manx’s dealing with is troublesome to explain, however in a phrase, it is fast. It is like carrying a pair of pants—you flip, it turns. It darts moderately than steers, and it sticks like mad. Understeer it is obtained, however after sending all our devices off scale at effectively over 1.00 g, we gave up making an attempt to make it break traction and slide.

One Corvair-powered Manx is the scourge of the gymkhana circuits, having received the Southern California autocross championship two years operating—together with taking 22 occasions in a row—towards all comers: Co­bras, Lotus Tremendous Sevens, and all. One other Manx received some form of nutball race over rock trails within the Colorado foothills. A inventory Manx may in all probability win the Large Bear motorbike enduro outright, if it was eligible. The truth is, one four-wheel-drive membership outlawed the Manx from its dune races as a result of the Manx has solely two-wheel drive, which the out­raged membership members mentioned gave it an unfair benefit. Bitter dune grapes.

However the Manx’s best victory­—the legend that might be handed from technology to technology—was ultimately yr’s Pikes Peak hillclimb. Ted Trevor, proprietor of the Crown Manu­facturing Firm, maker of kits to adapt Corvair engines to Manxes, Volkswagens, and Porsches, towed his racing Manx from California to Colorado together with his avenue Manx. Don Wilcox, who had by no means seen the hill earlier than, certified Trevor’s Corvair­-powered Manx over the brief course in 6:03.4. Operating within the under-305-cubic-inch sports-car class, the Manx was quicker than all of the sports activities vehicles, in­cluding Ak Miller’s undefeated 427 Cobra Equipment Particular, and quicker than all however seven of the extremely particular­ized Championship hillclimb vehicles. In the course of the race itself, Wilcox was handily forward of Miller’s time, and virtually within reach of the end, when a line fell off the gasoline pump. Wilcox hopped out, ran to a cellphone, and known as Trevor down firstly line, urging him to race the road automotive—only for kicks. Trevor jumped into the heavier, less-powerful avenue Manx and received the category by a 22-second margin. Shaken, USAC abol­ished the sports-car class for 1967.

Bruce F. Meyers, 40, sole propri­etor of Bruce F. Meyers and Com­pany, is the originator, designer, and builder of the Meyers Manx. Meyers is probably essentially the most gifted fiberglass artist ever to work in that troublesome medium. He had constructed a 42-foot fiberglass catamaran, the “Hinano,” together with his naked fingers, and was on the lookout for new designs to overcome. He had offered his previous, beat-up Volkswagen to purchase an previous, beat-up Porsche from a man in Texas, who had uncared for to inform him that the automotive had been rolled and its chassis was considerably out of alignment. Okay, mentioned Bruce F. Meyers, I will construct my very own rattling automotive.

Thus, the Meyers Manx was born, and suitably adorned with a wonderful es­cutcheon: a rampant Manx cat hoisting aloft a boring, chipped sword. The primary Manx was a full fiberglass bathtub carrying Volkswagen run­ning gear, and it was as sturdy as a redwood stump. Up to date dune buggies, principally constructed from sheet metal and having no compound curves, had been ugly as sin. Bruce F. Meyers, being an artist with fiber­glass, designed the best-looking dune buggy ever. He and his fairly, zany spouse Shirley (who was on the time an promoting assistant at R— & T—-, which is why we’ve not advised this story sooner), drove proudly round Newport Seashore, exhibiting off the Manx to all their associates. All their associates wished a replica, and talked him into constructing extra. So Bruce F. Meyers arrange store in an previous storage, and commenced promoting Manx kits at $985 every.

Bruce F. Meyers could also be an excellent artist, however he’s no nice enterprise­man, so it was a while earlier than he found that he was dropping cash on every automotive he offered. At this level, he obtained some very massive presents from professional­spective producers, principally com­petitors who had been promoting infe­rior buggies till the Manx stole their gross sales. Bruce F. Meyers could also be no nice businessman, however he’s a perfectionist. He wished to construct Manxes himself in order that he may make certain that they had been being constructed proper. It was a while earlier than he discov­ered simply the suitable resolution. The Mark II Manx will not be a full fiberglass bathtub, though it nonetheless seems to be like one; it is a fiberglass physique that bolts onto a Volkswagen bellypan. This resulted in a shorter, stiffer, higher driving, higher dealing with, lighter, stronger, cheaper Manx, and Meyers the perfectionist was happy.

Virtually. He want to market the Manx as a accomplished automotive (in addition to a equipment), constructed to the shopper’s actual specs, however he cannot be­trigger Volkswagen will not promote him Beetles with out our bodies. Assembling all of the items from the VW components bin would run the labor prices up too excessive, and Bruce F. Meyers is not the form of man who would promote you a automotive constructed from components scrounged from wrecks (not except he checked ev­erything, proper right down to the final nut and bolt). Perhaps an excellent enterprise­man would promote you a automotive like that, however not Bruce F. Meyers.

So the Meyers Manx is barely avail­in a position as a equipment automotive, and destined to re­principal so till Volkswagen relents­—if it ever does. (Volkswagen does not promote sub-assemblies to anyone ex­cept a small firm making VW-­primarily based mail vans for the German authorities.) In the meantime, it is prob­ably simply as effectively; the individuals who have put Manx kits collectively have cherished each minute of it. It is a form of occupational remedy; there’s nothing just like the satisfaction you possibly can absorb one thing you constructed your self.

The $498 Manx equipment consists of a fantastically completed, laminated fiber­glass physique shell and entrance deck lid, and a vacuum-formed Cycolac sprint­board. The $635 equipment consists of the above, plus windshield and body, headlight housings, cowl body, rear deck cowl, aluminum trim, rubber weatherstripping, fender welts, and all the required {hardware}. The one work on the physique consists of sanding the fender edges and drilling just a few holes. The colour is impregnated into the fiberglass; you possibly can choose from Tangerine Pink, Royal Blue, Yuma Yellow, Marine Inexperienced, or Off White as normal colours.

Getting ready the VW chassis to re­ceive the Manx physique is a bit more concerned, as a result of it have to be brief­ened 14¼ inches. This may be carried out with a torch, chisel or perhaps a hack­noticed, however likelihood is you will need to have it carried out by the identical folks that must weld it again collectively for you, after all of the cables and such contained in the spine tunnel are brief­ened the corresponding quantity.

From there on in, it is a snap, be­trigger all of the VW stuff bolts proper in, both to its unique mounts or to mounts supplied within the Manx. Even the inventory VW wiring harness is used. Up to now, Meyers has offered 245 of those kits, plus 12 of the previous vehicles, making B. F. Meyers and Firm Amer­ica’s seventh-largest auto maker (after Common Motors, Ford, Chrys­ler, American, Shelby, and Checker), and Manxes are being cranked out on the charge of three a day to fulfill closely backlogged orders.

The Manx we examined had been put collectively by Meyers himself and is one thing of a rolling showcase. There are fancier Manxes round, and loads of quicker ones. A well-­recognized “millionaire-sportsman” is having one constructed with a 210-horse­energy Porsche Carrera 6 engine and a five-speed gearbox. The gymnasium­khana championship automotive is pow­ered by a hopped-up, turbocharged Corvair engine and may flip over 100 mph within the quarter-mile. Bruce’s private Manx is somewhat chubby, being one of many early prototypes, and it is powered by a drained previous push­rod Porsche engine Bruce picked up someplace for $650. Its operating gear and transmission are inventory VW, excluding the wheels and tires (a Porsche gearbox may very well be used, however is not on this automotive).

Because of the Manx’s distinctive styling, nearly any mixture of wheel and tire could also be used. Bruce’s Manx has outlandishly giant Goodyear Components One tires snitched from the Honda crew, and the wide-rim wheels offered as an choice for the automotive. The paint job, a blinding steel­flake gold, can also be an choice, as are the fiberglass hardtop, the facet cur­tains, and the roll bar. Usually, VW seats and devices are re­tained, however Bruce’s automotive has Triumph Spitfire seats and Porsche instru­ments. There are additionally a number of off­-the-road choices, like twin rear handbrakes for steering the ability to the wheel that has traction within the sand, air-lift shocks on the again for fast modifications in camber and floor clearance, and a tool for fast adjustment of the entrance torsion bar angle. Bruce’s Manx additionally sports activities a wooden shift knob and a wood-rim steering wheel.

This Manx, particularly, was dif­ficult to get into or out of as a result of the windshield has been reduce down three inches for a extra rakish ap­pearance, and the steering column lowered an inch on the cowl for a sportier driving place. The Tri­umph seats are tilted barely aft, making them one hundred pc extra consolation­in a position than as positioned within the Spit­hearth, however their angle additionally difficult entry and exit. It is nonetheless simpler than, say, clambering into an Excalibur SS or a Lotus Seven. Anyway, not having any doorways makes for an ex­tremely rattle-free construction, which in any other case may not be the case.

The inside is surprisingly roomy, with greater than ample room for 2 individuals and, on the carpeted shelf behind them, their baggage. There’s a recess within the shelf for the spare tire, however not one of the skilled Manx house owners carries one. There’s so little weight on the entrance finish that the automotive will be pushed to a service station with out damaging a flat entrance tire. If a rear tire blows, it is merely swapped for one of many fronts. For the reason that VW floorpan is shortened behind the entrance seats, legroom is a minimum of equal to the VW’s. With the Spitfire seats, it’s measurably higher.

The Manx’s aerodynamics are poor, and high-gear acceleration above 70 mph is gradual with the 88-hp Porsche engine. Many Manx house owners use the 1500-cc engine from VW transporters and ’67 Beetles and may outdig the Porsche-engined automotive as much as 50 mph. One of the best compromise appears to be a VW engine with Corvair barrels and pistons, a 1700-cc setup that provides very excessive torque within the low velocity ranges, and sufficient on the high finish to cruise simply at 80 mph. Even a Manx with an previous 25-hp Beetle en­gine strikes out fairly neatly be­trigger the automotive weighs a 3rd lower than the Volkswagen sedan.

Bruce’s automotive had a surprisingly mushy and supple journey, contemplating the stiffness of the Goodyear racing tires. Virtually any mixture of journey and dealing with is feasible. Along with the just about infinite com­binations of wheels and tires, there may be a wide range of different-rate torsion bars from the VW components catalog, dif­ferent anti-sway bars (or the For­mula V trick of uncoupling the up­per torsion bar peg in order that it acts like an anti-sway bar), and a variety of shock absorbers and han­dling gear from outdoors sup­pliers, like Ted Trevor—he of the Pikes Peak assault—and his Crown Manufacturing Firm (651 W. 17 St., Costa Mesa, Calif.). Trevor, working in shut conjunction with Meyers, developed the twin rear handbrake and plenty of particular sus­pension items, in addition to the Cor­vair conversion kits.

One merchandise sorely missed on Bruce’s automotive was the rear bumper. It is a pretty sturdy one, obtainable as an choice and strongly beneficial, however was off the check automotive for chroming. The Manx’s solely sensible disadvantage is the truth that it is so open. The engine hanging underneath the tail may be a temptation in the event you left it parked in a foul neighborhood, however few vehicles have locking engine compartments any­approach. You would mount a lock on the entrance decklid to maintain your valuables protected, however in any other case you will need to take them with you.

In order that’s Bruce F. Meyers and his Manx. You would duplicate the one proven right here for lower than $2500. You would construct a significantly much less in­teresting one for as little as $800, or an all-out mannequin for as a lot as $4000. Irrespective of the way you slice the cheese, if ever there was a greater mousetrap, this has obtained to be it. A little bit scout automotive with the efficiency of a sports activities automotive. A dune duster that is as sensible as any avenue roadster ever constructed. An off-the-road automobile that handles on pavement like a racing automotive. A pushrod Porsche­-powered bug with the acceleration of a 911. A VW-based equipment with high quality and workmanship to match the Beetle itself. A do-it-yourself proj­ect that you could get serviced any­the place. Transportation that is each sensible and enjoyable. If Rommel had had this stuff within the North Afri­can marketing campaign, it might need been Monty who was pinned to the desert flooring at El Alamein.

Do your self a favor. This spring, construct a Meyers and put somewhat Manx in your life.

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