Today, we take a look back at the story of the founder of the most famous dune car, Meyers Manx: Despite tax issues, pirate car infringement and poor business operations, Bruce Meyers still just wanted to have fun in his life.
Bruce Meyers
In February 2021, Bruce Meyers, creator of the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy, died at his home in California at the age of 94. Meyers was born in Los Angeles on March 12, 1926, the youngest of five children. His father had helped Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motor Co.) establish an auto dealership in California, and during Meyers' teenage years, the family lived in idyllic Newport Beach.
The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 American crime film, The Sky Trap, starring Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russell. The film is a remake of the 1968 classic Dragon And Phoenix, with the older film starring Steve McQueen and Faye Donneville. The stories are all about a game of wits and courage between a rich man and a female agent of an insurance company.
In the 1968 film, Steve McQueen and the heroine drive the MEYERS MANX (Meyers Manx brand) dune car in the history of the classic picture. It has also made this dune car brand popular ever since, becoming a symbol of trend culture, just like rock and roll, the Beatles.
That year, the dune car driven by Steve McQueen was sold at auction for £327,000 in 2020.
The Meyers Manx Dune Buggy is a small recreational vehicle originally designed by Bruce F. Meyers, a Californian engineer, artist, shipbuilder and surfer enthusiast, for desert racing.
Meyers also helped Volkswagen launch the electric dune buggy concept car
The car was adapted from a shortened chassis of the Volkswagen Beetle, which dominated dune racing at the time, breaking countless records and being released as a model of an ordinary street car.
In 1964, Bruce Meyers handcrafted the first Manx, Old Red, at his Newport Beach store
Meyers Manx initially produced about 6,000 dune cars, but at the time, piracy was rampant, with an estimated 250,000 pirated models worldwide. Bruce Meyers sued the pirate maker in court, but did not win until later, after Meyers left, when the company went out of business over taxes.
In 2000, Bruce Meyers re-founded Meyers Manx, in the heart of California's Valley, and produced a 100-unit limited edition classic Manx series that rekindled fan interest.
In 2001, the new Manx appeared, no different from the original birthplace, except that its price had risen to $5395.
"We have a lot to do," Meyers said, and when asked if he thought it would spark a new dune car craze, Meyers replied: "I don't know, but I had a great time." That's always the point.