You won’t know the Meyers Manx identify, however you positively know its form.
This is the unique seaside buggy: designed within the Nineteen Sixties as a no-frills, Beetle-based interest automobile that could possibly be assembled cheaply at house. It is, in case you like, America’s tackle the Caterham.
It’s the brainchild of the legendary Bruce Meyers, who accomplished his first automobile in 1964 and was 94 when he and spouse Winnie lastly retired in 2020, and continued to contribute to its story till he died a yr later.
“We got some time with him before he passed, which was great,” says Michael Potiker, a accomplice at Trousdale Ventures – the enterprise capital agency “that’s basically incubating Meyers Manx”, having acquired it from Bruce in 2020.
“He wasn’t ill when we did the deal. It wasn’t something we needed to get done because he was going to pass away. It seemed like he was going to live forever. He had that vibe to him,” says Potiker.
Meyers’ authentic firm, BF Meyers & Co, was really a comparatively short-lived enterprise, folding in 1971 after simply seven years because of monetary points.
He resurrected the identify in 2000 when he based Meyers Manx Inc and restarted manufacturing of his Beetle-based creations, including the longer-wheelbase Manxter 2+2 and Dualsport, and the new-look (effectively, newer) Manx Kick-out, constructing the corporate’s profile over the subsequent twenty years and establishing a group of loyal clients and followers.
Potiker says Trousdale founder – and now Meyers chairman – Phillip Sarofim “grew up driving Manx buggies and always had an affinity for them”.
When Potiker had his first go, he was rapidly offered on the Manx’s broad attraction, which transcends social class and has turn out to be virtually as recognisable and beloved because the Beetle on which it’s based mostly.
He says: “When I drove the car around downtown San Diego, I was getting thumbs up from everybody on the street, and then I took it to an upscale area and it was the same thumbs up. It’s a classless car.”