It was 1964….
A gallon of gas cost $ .30, a gallon of milk cost $ .95, college tuition was $ 225.00, a US Postage stamp cost $ .05, the Beatles came to America, “Fiddler on the Roof“ came to Broadway, Louis Armstrong sang “Hello Dolly“,
Barbara Streisand sang “People“.
….and Bruce Meyers, a California artist/surfer/engineer created the first dune buggy.
Meyers Manx
Do yourself a favor, build a Meyers and put a little Manx in your life. Meyers Manx is arguably one of the most significant vehicles of the last century.
The Manx is far more than just a VW-based sandrail, it’s iconic, a cultural way point of the ’60 that captures the feel and look of a generation. A vehicle version of Beatles music and Peter Max art. The Meyers Manx is the car for the those who are fed up with dealers, factory-installed options and trade-ins, the whole bag. The Meyers Manx is a real car, you can license it, insure it and drive it anywhere, anytime. Just blow your mind off on some winding country road.
Buggies became such a hot seller in Southern California that they talked about “the buggy Boom” of 1969. Meyers , over the years, put out 7000 buggies, perhaps as many of 250.000 look-alikes may have been created by others. The Manx is probably the most copied car in history. Meyers Manx is soul-freeing, leaping, bounding and uninhibited fun than anything else on or off road. Every Meyers Manx vehicle, built, embodies fun, freedom and dirt.
We know daily adventures are different for everyone. Whatever your lifestyle, whatever your mood and whatever the weather, your buggy is capable of handling it all. Are you?
“If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough”
Parnelli Jones
This first Meyers Manx was build in his own garage in 1964, Bruce created the original.
The ‘Manx” name for the shortened chassis refers to the stubby Manx cat. The tailless cat in the logo is stylized after a heraldic lion, its right forepaw brandishing a sword. In 1968, Steve McQueen instruct a custom Meyers Manx, modified to his own design, and features in The Thomas Crown Affair movie. Bruce’s buggy hype goes global… and beyond. Bruce’s Manx sparked a cultural movement, with the shockwaves still being felt today.
Ruska Buggy
Many people think that there only was one car factory in the Netherlands: DAF. Those people are wrong, Because we had another car factory within our borders. That company is called Ruska. It was located in a row of ancient buildings on the quintessential Amsterdam Lauriergracht, in the middle of the Jordaan. And buggies are being made: over seven hundred in the last six or seven years.
RUSKA BUGGY
Behind the rudimentary engine hatch, the power source is easily accessible to the two of us: Pa Ruska worked all day long (and gradually developed a strong preference for the Volkswagen brand), Ma Ruska took care of customer service,
It all started after the war. Father and mother Ruska were walking around with the idea of starting a hotel, but that didn’t work out very well. And that’s why they just got into the cars.” Living on the canal in front of the door
That’s how it went. Three sons were also born between the companies. The youngest, Arie, became known for his years of skilled work with always one or another Porsche product at Zandvoort.
Paul Huf wanted a buggy
In the family, continued. Until one day, top photographer Paul Huf returned from America with an arm full of car magazines and was excited to hear first about what he recently saw in the United States: Dune Buggies. If only the Ruska family wanted to make such a thing for him. You could see how it was done in the photos in the magazines. Please be ready soon
You say something like that twice to a family like the Ruska’s. A somewhat distant Volkwagen was stripped of its bodywork, the platform chassis was skillfully shortened (because that’s what those times said) and the machinery was returned in mid-afternoon, all in new steel and with a lot of diligence. , enthusiasm and dedication, they worked on the testimonials of the vehicle, were inspected and rejected, until finally both the family and photographer Paud Huf were the cens, so the puppy had to be, And so it came about that Paul Huf came up with the very first in the Netherlands.
Woestijnrat “Henk Schollens”
The Dutchies would call it “de Woestijnrat”, in 1969 Henk Schollen from Tilburg introduced the first buggy in the Netherlands, his presentation of the desert rat in the Drunense dunes got national success. He became the biggest buggy manufacturer of the Netherlands. With his connections at the national road traffic department, he made it happen that the Desert Rat was allowed to drive on public roads.
“the desert is so huge and the horizon so distant, but once you are in a desert rat everything is surmountable”
Autofibra - Meyers Manx official partner
Founded in 1979 by Mr. Abilio Fernandes, AUTOFIBRA soon established itself in the Portuguese market as a brand of excellence in Fiberglass molding. The recognition of AUTOFIBRA’s excellence allowed, from 2008 onwards, the establishment of an exclusive manufacturing license for Meyers Manx Company,
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