In the late '50s, an L.A.-based VW dealership and speed shop called EMPI offered the first dune-buggy kit, the Sportster. On weekends, the dunes were teeming with home-built contraptions. To make the Beetle even better, beach riders fitted wide tires and cut away the body to make it lighter. It was quickly discovered that heavy four-wheel-drive vehicles like Jeeps were not as effective running on sand as was the lightweight VW Beetle. It was a way to hang out, have bonfires, look around, be seen, and, of course, have fun. The goal had been simply to build something that didn't look like a used Jeep and could "take you wherever you wanted to go."ĭriving over the sand in remote areas like Pismo Beach and the Baja was another activity of the SoCal lifestyle. The first Meyers Manx emerged from a cramped shed in Newport Beach in 1964. Although fiberglass was not new at the time, its use in boat construction was, and Meyers worked for a time at Jensen Marine, pioneering the techniques of fiberglass construction that would later serve him well.īy the early '60s, though, his experiences and talents were about to result in something bigger than Meyers ever dreamed of. He later went to art schools in San Francisco and Los Angeles, developing a talent for drawing that would eventually land him a short teaching stint.īy the late '50s, Meyers was living in the Newport Beach area, shaping surfboards, working on boats, trekking across the border into Baja, Mexico, and running a '32 Ford at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He crewed on merchant ships and spent what must have been two fantastic years in Tahiti, running a trading post and chasing island girls. While stationed on the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill, he survived a kamikaze attack in May 1945 off the coast of Okinawa that killed 389 men and almost sunk the ship.Īfter the war, Meyers drifted about for a few years. Meyers was drafted into the Navy in 1944. In his teens, he led the dreamy beach life that would eventually draw the masses to Southern California. During Meyers's boyhood, the family lived in idyllic Newport Beach, long before it was super-expensive and overcrowded. His father helped Henry Ford set up automobile dealerships in California. Meyers was born in Los Angeles on March 12, 1926, the youngest of five children. Those are talented mitts, capable of drawing picture-quality head shots with a pencil and sculpting fiberglass into art. His hands and forearms look strong enough to fold a brake rotor. His large head is topped with thinning white hair, and his long, barrel-chested torso is framed by a pair of thick arms. Although he's 80 now, you can still see a good deal of the enormous energy and enthusiasm that led him to create a vehicle that embodied the carefree beach culture of the 1960s. Meyers lives today in Valley Center, California, about 30 miles outside San Diego. But like the swells of the Pacific Ocean that were such a pivotal part of Meyers's life, riches and success retreated like a wave receding from the shore. The Meyers Manx dune buggy should have made Bruce Meyers a very wealthy man. It’s a pop culture icon.” The long list of those Meyers inspired includes our own Rich Ceppos. “It transcends being this four-wheeled thing. "I have a lot of reverence for what Bruce created,” Thomas told Autoweek at the time. Freeman Thomas, the former VW, Audi, and Porsche designer, took over as CEO and chief creative officer. Meyers founded his company in 1964, inspiring the Dune Buggy craze. UPDATE, : Bruce Meyers, creator of the Meyers Manx dune buggy, died on Friday at his home in California.
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