While the dune buggy was not originally Bruce Meyers’ idea, it was him who decided that it would be wise to use (cheap and plentiful) VW Beetle parts and a fiberglass shell. Amusingly, it was specifically designed to look like a caricature, a spoof…

Jay Leno calls Meyers “the Caroll Shelby of dune buggies,” and that’s an accurate description as any to mark out his contribution. Now 89, he was invited to Jay’s garage fifty years after he created the original Meyers Manx, the one with oxygen tanks bolted to the sides and front.

While the dune buggy is not an official model from a big manufacturer, it still made its mark back in the day, and proof of its resilience is that you can get a totally modern one today, yet the design (and fiberglass construction) has remained unchanged.

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