OT: Thinking about a Meyers Manx buggy, any experience? Options

[AZ914]

Hola 914 Familia!

Background: My family and I (wife and 3 teenaged daughters) like to drive down from Tucson to Rocky Point Mexico (aka Puerto Penasco) about 5-6 times a year for long weeends or vacation. For those of you that don't live in Arizona (or perhaps New Mexico), Puerto Penasco is small drinking town with a fishing problem (or vice versa) located at the top of the Sea of Cortez (aka Gulf of California). It is know as Arizona's beach, since peeps from Phoenix and Tucson can drive there in about 4 hours.

Anyhoo.. the place has some beach/sand offroading, and many of the roads are hard-packed sand, so the vehicles of choice down there are Jeeps, Rhinos, Rangers, RZRs, ATVs and the like.

...

For some unknown (stupid) reason, I'm obsessing about getting a Meyers Manx VW Buggy (or replica) to take down there to cruise around. I've actually gotten the green yellow light from my wife on this.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Any perferred setups, motors, etc? I'm not very knowlegable about VW motors etc so any advice is welcome. It seems that most are built off of shortened 60's pans, with either swing-axel or IRS (reccommended) and usually 1600 motors, some are bigger. Much like 914's, there are some really good examples out there, and also some real junk. If anyone has any experience with these and can clue me in as to what to look for, I would appreciate it!

Thx!

[DBCooper]

They're a blast. The body weighs almost nothing, so all weight above the pan is the driver and passengers, low center of gravity. I put big round utility tires on the back and could go almost anywhere, dunes, crawl rocks, and do donuts on the side of a 30 degree slope. What's cool is that later I lowered it, put Goodyear Bluestreaks on it and autocrossed pretty successfully, once third fastest time of the day behind only a SuperVee and Lotus Seven. That was back in the Sixties when they were a new thing. They aren't the nicest thing on a freeway, though. Possible, but not fun for very long.

Genuine Manx bodies are rare and expensive. They're really thick fiberglass, the replicas are all lots thinner. You can tell quality, just look. Nothing should be floppy, flexible or cracked, and I'd prefer the original gelcoat over paint. Except for metalflake. Personal taste, but my personal opinion is that was a Sixties thing that should have stayed in the Sixties. And you can tell how the rest of the car's been done too, just look for the same things you'd see on any car. Look especially at where the pan was shortened, the equality of the weld, inside and outside the car, reinforcement, if there's any rust there, which is common from being around beaches and seawater. If you're going into Mexico I'd stay away from hot-rodded engines, which in VW's can be problematic. Keep it near stock and there are plenty of mechanics and parts down there so you can get it fixed. Gearboxes and the front suspension are other problem areas because they get pounded with heavy use, but fortunately nothing on a VW is that hard or expensive to fix. IRS will give you better ride, swing axles more suspension travel and ground clearance.

Bruce Meyers was a genius and they're great cars. You'll have lots of fun and your kids even more.