Celebrating 60 years of the Meyers Manx beach buggy

Conceived by Bruce Meyers, the beach buggy – or dune buggy as it was more commonly referred to at the time – proved an instant hit. Success in the Baja 1000 proved its performance mettle, and an article in Car and Driver magazine got the phone ringing off the hook. People liked what they saw... and they wanted one. A large part of the appeal of the Manx is its simplicity. The one-piece main body tub sits on a shortened Volkswagen Beetle chassis creating a capable, lightweight machine. The name, incidentally, is derived from the tail-less cat breed, reflecting the car’s truncated appearance.

The pioneering machine inspired an entire genre of pretenders and, six decades on, the popularity of the beach buggy is as strong as ever. There has been a reassurance of interest this century, thanks in no small part to Bruce himself returning to the market with Meyers Manx Inc in 2000. 

The Meyers Manx is undoubtedly the most imitated kit car of all time, with scores of manufacturers around the world taking a slice of the action. It’s for that reason that many of the cars in the parade were from other manufacturers. Meyers Manxes appeared in the greatest numbers, but you’ll also witness Moonface, Sidewinder, Predator and JAS models in the line-up.

Coinciding with the moving display of air-cooled fun cars is the European debut of the new Meyers Manx 2.0 EV taking place this weekend at Revival. We wonder whether the electric buggy will have such a following in another sixty years’ time...

The 2024 Goodwood Revival takes place on 6^th-8^th September. You can watch every moment of the historic motorsport action right here on our live stream!

Photography by Joe Harding.