1968 Meyers Manx Dune Buggy - Assembly Required

"The Hillbillies", as my parents referred to the family that lived in the duplex across the street from us on Long Island, not only changed automobiles with fascinating regularity but they also built some of their own cars as well. Well, not exactly built, more like assembled - they built "Dune Buggy's", just like our 1969 Meyers Manx, from kits. 

The elder "Hillbilly", a mechanic by trade, bought fiberglass bodies from a Meyers Manx distributor and would bolt them to the running gear of junked Volkswagen Beetles. He and his sons, the youngest a good five years older than me, would dismantle the junked VW, cut out a section of the chassis to shorten the wheelbase and would bolt the whole thing together. All in their backyard over the course of several weeks. Amazing. He'd sell the finished Buggys soon after but not before us neighborhood kids would get rides in them. My first ride in one with the windshield laid down flat as thrilling as the first time I rode a motorcycle. While my myriad traipses to watch and sometimes even help with a project mortified my mother, the wonderland of car parts, tools, sweat, grease, blow torches and the sound of an exhaust free air cooled VW engine was far more interesting than anything I could ever find in a book.

I don't know if it was my mother's inexplicable disdain for those people or contempt for people who made a living working with their hands in general that irked her as much as it did. Any interest that I had in anything that wasn't of some sort of intellectual pursuit irritated her to no end and my time spent "across the street" would be the first of many points of consternation between the two of us. My brothers never stepped out of line and they've done quite well for themselves; my older brother a real estate tax attorney, my younger a CPA. Me? Well...My mother either did me the greatest service or disservice by ultimately dissuading me away from a life she sarcastically referred to as a life in "the pits". Jury's out on that one. She may have dissuaded me but she couldn't douse what has become my life long interest. I sure would like to try and assemble one of these myself. That would be fun.

While VW Beetle chassis are as hard to find in junkyards today as would be finding a Model T in one, a modern subsidiary of Meyers Manx sells almost complete. air cooled, rear engine Dune Buggy kits starting at $13,995. Almost complete meaning you still have to find your own engine and trans axle. A fully loaded Manx can be had for $18,995 plus shipping. Remember, assembly required. I'll take a "Kick Out" in sparkly blue, please.