The Meyers Manx was the original dune buggy. A kit car built off a shortened VW Beetle chassis and using all the Beetle’s running gear. It was relatively cheap and easy to build, and once completed, it was the ultimate in cool for the 1960s beach crowd.
Because they were so simple, people modified them even further. Taking them racing in the Baja 100, putting bigger tires on them and hitting the Rubicon, strapping flotation devices on them and big paddle tires and turning them into boats. Whenever I think of the Manx, I immediately think of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway cruising on the beach in The Thomas Crown Affair in McQueen’s own Corvair flat-6 powered “Queen Manx.”
There have been updates to the Manx over the years with various attempts to bring the simple concept of an open-top dune buggy into the modern era, but none have succeeded in the same way that the original did. It was lightning in a bottle.
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Enter the Meyers Manx 2.0 Electric. A brand new EV attempting to capture that lightning again. And from the looks of it, it’s got a fighting chance. While details are scant at the moment, what we know is that it will not be a kit car. With its own aluminum monocoque, fully independent suspension, and powered by either a 20-kWh or 40-kWh battery pack with an electric motor at each rear wheel. The 40-kWh battery setup is good for 202 hp and 240 foot-pounds of torque and a 300-mile range. In a vehicle weighing in at under 1,700 pounds., that sure sounds like a lot of fun.
It looks the part as well. With an open top, single hoop roll bar, huge rear haunches, and wide stance.
Prices have not been revealed yet, but chances are good that the Manx 2.0 Electric will not be the cheap “More Smiles Per Mile” toy that the original was. Being unveiled at the ultra-exclusive The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering on August 19th during the Monterey Car Week, you can bet that this EV will fetch a premium. That won’t keep me from dreaming of cruising down the beach in one with Faye by my side while listening to Windmills of Your Mind.
