Here on facebook Marketplace is a rare Meyers Manx – the SR – with just 200 copies made. The asking price is $25,000 and the car is located in Peru, Indiana. The Meyers Manx was created by Bruce Meyers when he returned to Southern California in the 1950s after adventures worthy of Indiana Jones. Meyers built a 42′ catamaran, intending to return to the South Pacific, but life intervened and he took a job making fiberglass boats for Jensen Marine. Meanwhile, beach racing had become popular, with many racers converting VW bugs into crude “buggies”. Meyers had a better idea: using fiberglass panels to surround a shortened VW chassis, he created a stubby little vehicle that he named after a tailless breed of cat, the Manx. The hood emblem features a passant Manx cat, holding a sword. The lightweight Manx beat the pants off the competition and literally created the dune buggy industry. The first kit was sold in 1964; the SR was introduced in 1970. An estimated 7000 kits of various models were sold through 1971 when Meyers quit the company. (Though that was the end of vintage Manxes, Meyers resurrected his brand in 2000, and today you can buy a brand new Manx.) Our tip today comes from Grant – thanks!
The Manx was a kit, and most builders chose the ubiquitous VW engine to power their Manxes. This one is equipped with a 1915 cc SCAT engine and dual Weber carburetors for plenty of get-up-and-go. The motor has only 2000 miles on it. The differential has been welded for better traction in the sand, and it sports four-wheel disc brakes. An IRS Pro Street transmission completes the package. On the performance spectrum from “sloth” to “scalded cat”, this one is going to lean toward the latter, though only a test drive will tell you how snappy it really is.
After Bruce Meyer cobbled together the first Manx, orders inundated the small company. Inevitably, copycats produced thousands of similar dune buggies, causing some distress among owners of real Manx vehicles. This Manx comes with an authentication certificate, testifying that it’s the real deal. The SR has a targa top, and the factory would have supplied side curtains as well. There’s room for an iota of luggage in the front trunk and like all Manxes, the color is infused into the ‘glass. To buddy up with other SR fans, you can join the SR Registry group here.
The interior is meant for wash ‘n wear, to cope with the beach environment. This one is particularly spiffy with virtually no deterioration visible. The dash is a simple metal panel inset with VDO gauges. Vintage Manxes command high prices these days. While the SR isn’t the most desirable body style, the asking price is at about the bottom end for any Manx in this condition. Buggies can see considerably higher prices. I know I wouldn’t kick this one out of the garage; what about you?
The price on these have gone up, but this price is too high, proof might be it was posted 2 weeks ago.
I had one of these, an early model. The hood on this one is a later SR2 hood from the second manufacturer, but otherwise it appears to be all original. Great little cars if they’re put together right. Lots of body panels that need to fit just so for the doors to actually work; these are not one-piece bodies by any stretch. Wish I had kept mine, but my knees just couldn’t handle the shortened chassis length anymore. Price on this is a little optimistic, but for someone that just has to have one ready to roll, it’s not too bad. The SCAT engine alone was probably close to 7 grand.
Very cool, I like the body style….Javelin meets bugeye sprite. Peru is about an hour from me…might be fine to look…alas I’m a tire kicker.
I have always liked the Meyers SR. I was stationed at Edwards AFB CA in 1975 and some dude had one, a red one, that he drove all the time. I have a picture of it somewhere. I owned a MANX in the 70s that got passed around from me to my brothers usually for around $1,000. That buggy was so much fun, wish I still had it.
SR stands for Sports Roadster.. This from a guy who worked alongside Bruce Meyers for several years…
There’s a FB group also. https://www.facebook.com/groups/942732042777544
Fun Fact SR stands for Stewart Reed all around nice guy and Chair of Transportation Design at Art Center College of Design. His first job after graduating from Art Center was with Bruce Meyers.
I picked up an SR2 at the end of last summer.. It’s going good, Frame is almost done.. FB has an SR/SR2 Group also..
This is one of the best kit car designs ever produced by anybody. The fact that VW or Porsche did not license this for mass production is a tragedy. I have not owned one but one of my friends did and what a total blast to both drive and ride around in. The side curtains were not that impressive and his could have used and update but this is the car the 914 Porsche should have been. Inexpensive to purchase and maintain. Ear to ear grins from those sitting inside and to anybody seeing it go down the road. I think that this is one design that if updated could sell in great numbers today as either a gas powered example or as an electric full or hybrid.
The body is far more complex as a copy thief could not just make a mold I do not remember but I think that there were almost 30 molds required to make the body work and that prevented copies just being pulled off of a single purchased body like the original kits were.
I had no idea that the price for these had gone up so much but then when something is that good, useful, fun and rare that is all the trigger points for a price rise once people see one in real life.
This is even better than a regular Manx style buggy because of the covered engine and actual doors that would allow low effort ingress and egress, even with the hardtop. I’d add bumpers, wipers, mirrors, blinkers, a roll bar, figure out a way to heat the interior, and then enjoy the heck out of this fun little car.
It does and can have Heat.. The Targa Top is a little flimsy and needs better mounting points but it works.. the window frames are also flimsy and need better support so it’s more like a fair weather vehicle… I’ll be adding a custom rollbar to mine for sure.. That $100 diesel heater on Amazon would be a great addition to go under the hood..
I had the opportinity to photograph and write up a story for AutoWeek and will be republishing it sometime in the future on RememberRoad.com (I can’t do it all at once!). I interviewed Bruce Meyers for the article and he told me that one of the reasons for the part fit being so precise was that he was frustrated by all the copycat/counterfeit Manxes that were created by cheapo copiers splashing molds off a real Manx.
The Manx copies were never perfectly right, so the original Manx SR parts were ,ade sp that they had to be made perfectly to fit together. Copiers couldn’t do that.
I think I had a model car kit of this buggy. Never saw one in the flesh.
Great buggy! The welded differential pretty limits this to sand driving as street driving will not be fun. There are limited slip units available for the transaxle, maybe even from the transmission builders of this one.