By Dean Larson

Photos: Seller, RCN Classifieds

The Meyers Manx beach buggy stripped the Beetle down to bare essentials for fun on the road and off. But Bruce Meyers knew there was still room to develop the concept even further. While the original Manx buggy relied on a shortened VW pan, the platform could be stripped down even further by replacing the VW pan with a tube-frame section, which the VW front axle, transaxle and rear suspension systems would attach to.

The concept actually came to Meyers when some of his female family members wanted to join him for dirt bike riding. Meyers recalled that he wanted his friends to join in the fun, but they didn’t have experience on a bike, and he didn’t want them falling and getting hurt. Thus, Meyers designed “the simplest statement of attaching a VW front end to a VW rear end,” as he described it.

Meyers Manx marketed an initial off-road-only version, designed to be hauled in with a tow bar and appropriately named the Tow’d. Many customers begged Meyers to make a street legal version also.

“Begrudgingly, I added a hood, windshield and fenders, and then sold nearly a 1,000 of them,” he recalls (including a customized one to Ford president Bunkie Knudsen).

The 1969 Manx Tow’d shown here was recently posted on the RCN Classifieds and has been overhauled and restored throughout. The transaxle and 1,776 cc engine have both been rebuilt, with plenty of trick parts added to the latter, including a Tri-Mil ceramic-coated exhaust. The seller reports that the chassis has been reinforced with 1-1/2-inch, .120 wall DOM tubing and full skid plates are fitted.

The seller is asking $13,499 for the Manx Tow’d. Check it out here on the RCN Classifieds.