1967 Con-Ferr Dune Buggy

The Manx Dune Buggy Kits and the dune buggy craze of the early 1960s began with Bruce Meyer and the Meyers Manx produced by his company, the B.F. Meyers & Co. Beginning with a Volkswagen Beetle, the body was removed, exposing the floor pan, which was shortened and a one-piece fiberglass 2-seat body was installed. It had a low frontal stance with a stubby tail, resembling a breed of cat called the Manx, thus the creation of the Meyers Manx.

The Meyers Manx and various Dune Buggy's were featured in several movies, including Elvis Presley films, and the 1968 The Thomas Crown Affair. The example in the Crown movie was an original Meyers Manx body built by Pete Condos and his east coast company, Con-Ferr. The script initially called for a Jeep, but the Manx was ultimately chosen through persuasion by McQueen who believed it was more in the style of Thomas Crown.

The Meyers Manx received numerous modifications by Con-Ferr that included the wraparound windscreen, sunken headlights beneath plastic covers, and a luggage rack on the back. It utilized a Volkswagen floorpan, a four-speed VW transaxle, and a swing arm rear suspension. There are wide-cast American Racing wheels wrapped with Firestone racing tires. The custom seats and interior trim was created by Tony Nancy, and the seat frames were sourced from a Datsun Fair Lady sports car. Pete Condos added a pair of hand-brake levers allowing McQueen to alternatively lock either rear wheel.

While most buggies were powered by an air-cooled Volkswagen flat-four tuned to produce anywhere from 40 to 125 horsepower, the Crown car received a Chevrolet Corvair horizontally opposed, air-cooled six-cylinder engine that McQueen believed developed 230 horsepower, however, a four-carb Corvair engine's stock output was 140 bhp.

The unique buggy appeared in The Thomas Crown Affair several times, plus in promotional materials, movie posters, and in the theatrical trailer. McQueen drove it with Faye Dunaway in the passenger seat, driving on the sandy beach and splashing through water, chasing birds, and jumping sand dunes. Some of the scenes were ab-libbed while others were more carefully choreographed.

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2020