Available online or at the Meyers Manx Cafe in The Petersen Automotive Museum.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
A new coffee table book from Meyers Manx celebrates a true California story, six decades after the debut of the original dune buggy. Part biography of eponymous founder Bruce Meyers, part business history and part forward-facing expose as the company re-emerges today under the auspices of investor Phillip Sarofim and designer Freeman Thomas, throughout 220 pages, veteran automotive journalist and producer Basem Wasef weaves a compelling story complemented by historical photography, sketches and renderings, even plenty of golden age silver-screen connections.
The book is a riveting read for anyone like me who loves classic cars, hot-rod culture and Hollywood lore. The story follows Meyers from a young age, a multi-talented surfer and sailboat designer who found inspiration in the world of kit cars and off-roading, before achieving almost overnight success with the first Manx. From there, the fledgling company’s legend exploded, sparking rapid business expansion before an inevitable spree of ripoffs and imitations emerged to challenge the nascent venture. Wasef’s narrative reveals the stellar highs and inevitable lows of such a tale, and hopes the book can set the record straight in vivid color.
Bruce Meyers’ surfing and sailing inspiration shines through in the Manx’s iconic design.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Separating Fact from Fiction
“Bruce had written a couple of books about his experiences,” Wasef told me, “So it was critical for me to disambiguate what was sort of an elaboration on the truth and what really happened. There were a lot of liberties taken with some of his storytelling, in the interest of telling a good story sometimes… And luckily it still is a good story, even if you shave off 90% of the hyperbole.”
“I had a probably deeper than most understanding of the brand and its history, which really helped me get into the writing process. But I couldn’t have done it without the historical figures that thankfully are still alive to tell the story, people like Winnie Meyers and Nelson Sparks, Stewart Reed and current co-chairman Freeman Thomas.”
Perhaps the highlight for me was learning about the pivotal role Meyers and his Manx played in the racing history of Baja California. In fact, the Manx set a record for the peninsula run—beating big-bore motorcycles and inspiring headlines that helped to spark a new era of four-wheeling popularity. Then, a Manx even won the first Baja 1,000 race in 1967, which was known then simply as the “Mexican 1000.”
The “King of Cool” himself insisted that a Meyers Manx appear in the 1968 film.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Such exploits quickly ballooned beyond the hardcore automotive crowd and became a true cultural phenomenon. Lightweight and affordable thanks to monocoque fiberglass construction (at first) plus easily accessible Volkswagen parts, the Manx epitomized a carefree lifestyle perfectly wrought in three dimensions.
Hollywood took notice, and in 1968, Elvis Presley drove a Manx in the opening scene of Live a Little, Love a Little—though the Manx’s personality shone through best when Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway enjoyed an iconic scene blasting a Corvair-powered Manx along the beach in The Thomas Crown Affair (and I don’t say so only because my grandmother designed their costumes in the film).
“There are very few things that are as intricately or intimately entwined with California culture as a Meyers Manx dune buggy,” Wasef mused, “It just says California so succinctly. It’s such a pure design, and I think that’s what’s led to its endurance. It’s just so reduced but so evocative at the same time.”
Famous for his Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen designs, Freeman Thomas now co-chairs Meyers Manx with a … More vision for both past and future.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Meyers Manx in the Modern Era
Unfortunately, style points only go so far, and Meyers’ business acumen—or lack thereof—led to his company eventually floundering and dissolving. Meyers later brought the Manx back to life for the 21st century, before selling the company to Sarofim shortly before his death in 2021, aged 94. The revitalized Meyers Manx company now aims to honor the original’s spirit with a series of buggies, including an almost inevitable electric variant that may prove somewhat divisive.
“Bruce actually had an electric concept of a buggy in the past,” Wasef reminded me, as he wrote in the tome, “So it’s not outside of the playbook necessarily. And in fact, anybody who off-roads will tell you that doing so without the noise of an engine opens it up to a completely different experience.
“It’s also really intriguing to see how the design elements are still carried over. Freeman has done an amazing job of evoking, but not copying necessarily, the original design—and modernizing it.”
From cover to cover, the new coffee table book screams design with engaging graphics, sun-soaked desert imagery, modern rendering of the forthcoming Manxes and even a familiar gel-textured cover. It’s a perfect page-turner and artistic volume, spelling out a deeper story than perhaps even the most diehard Meyers Manx fans might know, equally enjoyable while revisiting bygone years or sparking imagination about the fun factor of future electric vehicles.
