Dune Buggy Dreams, Remastered! Meyers Manx Introduces A Renewed Manx Buggy Kit

If there is one car that could define the 1960s, it was the original Volkswagen Beetle. The simple, air-cooled engine puttered these little cars around the world, bringing with them easy and affordable car ownership. Odd-looking and slow, the Bug took on an unexpected side hustle—a cheap basis for off-road builds, from baja runners to the original beach buggies, namely the original Meyers Manx. Some 60 years later, the Manx is still around, and the company that made these custom machines famous (and is currently working on new-age electric models) is bringing the original Beetle-based kit back and better than ever before.

Old Red, The Original

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That kit’s name, Old Red, comes from the namesake of the company, Bruce Meyers, who named his own buggy pulled from among the first 12 that were produced. These original Manxes were rather expensive at $985 ($10,109.74 when adjusted to 2024 dollars) and—according to other sources outside Manx Club—were money-losers for Meyers. Remember, these were kits, and required donor Beetle guts to complete. Next came the Manx II, a cheaper kit offered just as a body shell, hood shell, and vacuum formed dashboard for just $499 ($5,121.58 in 2024 dollars) or as a full kit that also included the windshield, its frame, headlight housings, cowl frame, red deck cover, trim and weather stripping for $635 ($6,517.44).

New Old Red, Same Old Feels

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We bring up the pricing and inflation adjustment because it’s important context. For those old enough to remember, the new kit’s $14,500 will most likely have them scream about remembering the original kit being cheap and something about politics. Now that we mentioned the price adjusted for 2024, the kits weren’t really that cheap then, either. What’s great about the new Old Red kit is that it matches the original's style while taking advantage of modern manufacturing techniques. One great new feature on the new Manx Old Red Kit is the addition tilting seats made to match the original Volkswagen Type 1 design but allow for more people to sit in comfortably.

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You Still Need A Donor

Like the original, the new kit requires a Type 1 Beetle as a donor. That wasn’t such a hard-pressed issue in the 1960s as they were plentiful. When adjusting for inflation, a 1963 Beetle went for $1,710 ($17,550.91 in 2024 bucks) to $4,070 ($41,773.23). Still kind of expensive, but the prices of a Beetle and the original Manx II kit were approachable for someone back then. There was also the chance to get one used for far less than that or even buy a Manx II kit later in your Beetle ownership.

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Today, if you look for an old Beetle, you’ll be lucky to find one in parts today for less than those 1960s prices. Beetles from 1973 and up and especially Super Beetles don’t count, as they are (strangely) less desired. A clunker Type 1 that barely runs will be even more expensive—starting to approach $5,000 for a cheap one—and you probably don’t want to see what a drivable early Beetle goes for today (count on it being around $9,000 or higher). Forget about asking about the price of any that have been restored (start at the price of this new Manx kit and go up from there).

That’s a long way of saying that a new Meyers Manx will be legitimately more expensive to build today, even accounting for inflation. What would have been just under $23,000 when adjusted and, again, if you used a brand-new Type 1 Beetle Standard. Today, a new Manx Old Red kit plus a decent Type 1 Beetle will be close to the price of a cheap midsize pickup truck like our 2023 Truck of the Year winner, the 2024 Chevrolet Colorado.

There’s also one more catch: the 2024 Meyers Manx Old Red Kit is limited to just 24 examples. That means, even if you could afford it, you might miss out. There is good news, though. You can still get a remastered version of the classic Manx II from Meyers for less than $7,000, you’d just still need that 1963-and-up donor.