dune buggies and hotVWs May 2021

On February 19, 2021, the wonderful VW community lost one of its greatest heroes, Bruce Meyers. The 94-year-old Southern California native was an artist, inventor, surfer, lifeguard, WWII Kamikaze attack survivor, and original creator of the iconic Meyers Manx. He was a true pioneer of the VW and hot rod industry – a legend of the Volkswagen scene. Meyers founded his buggy kit manufacturing operation, B.F. Meyers & Co. in 1964. The first 12 buggies produced were all-fiberglass Monocoque bodies with a steel structural frame within the fiberglass, attached to VW suspension and running gear. Later, Bruce redesigned the body to fit on a Type 1 Volkswagen chassis shortened 14-1/4 inches, which ultimately reduced the price. Nearly 7,000 Manx units were produced. However, countless copycat versions also flooded the market, eventually…

Last month’s issue of the magazine was a truly special one for me and for the VW scene as a whole. The timing of the Manx Special with the passing of the global patriarch of the buggy world, Bruce Meyers, still gives me goosebumps. While the words and features within were all written and flying off the printing press far before Bruce’s exit, when we all got a chance to get our hands on an issue to see it all together, it really is the most amazing tribute to the man and his creations. Best of all I think, it is a celebration of him and his life…not a mourning of his death. For a man with such a vibrant and amazing life as Bruce, it all just makes the poetry…

What gauges are we talking about? I’m going to discuss what I think works and what I have been doing for the last 40 years. Do I really need them? Not technically, but if you’d like to stop a catastrophe before it happens, I highly suggest some basic aftermarket gauges. For example, the stock oil pressure idiot light comes on at 3 to 5 pounds or less. So, if you’re driving down the road and the light comes on, you’re already toast. The light should say call a tow truck. I have spent a lot of money on my motors and I want to know what’s going on. The biggest reason is because I want to know if I’m getting into trouble before I am actually in trouble. With that said,…

Radio and Voltage Hi Jon, I’m trying to install a 12-volt radio in my ’66 Beetle. It’s still equipped with a 6-volt system. I purchased a 6- to 12-volt converter, but need help with how/ where to hook up the wiring. Do these converters really work? Any help and advice would be great! John Anderson Vancouver BC, Canada John, sure you can hook up that device to your Bug! Six volt radios are cool! You don’t want the device hooked up to power all the time though, as it will probably drain your battery in a short time. Get out your handy 12-volt test light and study the fuse block. With the test light grounded to the chassis, start testing the fused circuits of the panel. You want to find a connection that…

There are multiple and sometimes overlapping classes and styles of Type 2s. Restored Buses that have been completely redone, Patina Buses that have the fade, Resurrected Buses that have been brought back from years of neglect, custom Buses with wild style, etc. Every few years, we get a new descriptor of a class of cars. From “Black Plate California car” to “Jersey Looker” to “Rat Look”. A new one that showed up in the last decade or so is “Survivor”. Unfortunately, there is not a clearly defined set of characteristics like we have for “Cal Look” Bugs. This month, I will try to put some definition to “Survivor Bus”. It seems like the definition of survivor depends on who is describing it and what they are trying to sell. Every Bus…

In last month’s column, I wrote about the beginnings of the German air-cooled VW scene, specifically about the time before these cars were considered classic cars, or vehicles used and modified by kids – what they already were in the USA at the end of the 1960s. In the fatherland, everything took a little longer due to the aftermath of the Second World War. As mentioned earlier, the Split Window association was founded in 1975, the first club dedicated to Wolfsburg’s bestseller. Four years later, in 1979, American GIs founded one of the first custom VW clubs in Germany, “The Wolfsburg Nightriders Volkswagenclub of Heidelberg”, now known as “VW-Club Rhein-Neckar eV”. The same year saw the first vintage VW meet, organized by Heinz-Willi and Michael Lottermann, on the premises of their VW…