While the Goodwood Revival 2024 celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Meyers Manx with parade laps by an astonishing 80 dune buggies, a small but perfectly formed selection of the finest and most famous machines starred at a relaxed Sunday-morning classic car meet in London. When Duke of London hosted its September monthly Classics & Cake meeting at its new rooftop venue in Brentford on September 15, it was billed as a Meyers Manx Take-over, and owners came from all over to put their brightly coloured cars on show among the usual attendees, ranging from Fiat Balilla to Lotus Exige via all manner of other classics.
The top tier of the roof, however, was reserved for the highlights of the Meyers Manx models that had been on track at Goodwood, principally from Phillip Sarofim’s sensational collection.
The eight buggies on show were:
OLD RED
The first-ever Meyers Manx, Old Red was hand-built by Bruce Meyers in 1964 using a glassfibre monocoque. Complete with extra fuel tanks, it set the 1967 Baja speed record, sowing the seeds for the Baja 1000. This was the creator of an entire genre of cars.
THE MCQUEEN BUGGY
Custom-built for the King of Cool, this is the very buggy that featured in The Thomas Crown Affair, complete with Chevrolet Corvair engine. See also issue 243 of Octane, when Mark Dixon drove this very buggy on the sand dunes of California.
THE RADIAL BUGGY
Who doesn’t love a radial engine? This prototype melds aviation and motoring.
THE FUSCIA BUGGY
An original Meyers Manx built by Bruce Meyers’ friend George Haddock, one of Southern California’s premier buggy builders, and later to move to the sun-drenched Mediterranean isle of Sardinia.
RESORTER
The Meyers Manx Remastered Resorter is a ‘reimagining’ of a classic buggy, blending a bit of European sophistication with Baja grit.
STUDENT
Built by students and hobbyists, more than any other modern variant, this keeps alive the vision of Bruce Meyers for a simple, self-built fun car.
ST MORITZ GOLD
Designed for road use, the St Moritz Gold was built by DIY European enthusiasts at the turn of the millennium in the early 2000s.
THE CARRERA GT
Last but not least, the most bonkers dune buggy ever. Created after Phillip Sarofim and Freeman Thomas approached the Road Scholars Team about building a period-correct 1960s-style Meyers Manx with a four-cam engine. The inspiration was imagining what Vasek Polak would have built in period from his bin of rare Porsche 356 GT and Spyder competition parts – and the result is fearsomely powerful, thanks to its Porsche Carrera 2 (2.0-litre) Type 587/2 engine. It boasts traces of Porsche 550 Spyder all over, from the pedals to the gearshifter.
