Meyers Manx Models – The Dune Buggy That Started a Craze

TL;DR: Meyers Manx scale models here come from Solido, in 1:18 diecast, covering Special & Unique Models from the 1960s. Built on a shortened Volkswagen Beetle platform, the Manx sparked the dune buggy craze, giving this small, focused collection genuine cultural significance.

Bruce Meyers built the original Manx on a shortened Volkswagen Beetle floorpan with a lightweight fibreglass body, and the resulting dune buggy sparked a genuine cultural craze across 1960s beach and off-road culture.

Meyers Manx Diecast Models From Solido

Solido, a long-established French diecast manufacturer, builds this range at 1:18, capturing the Manx's stripped-down, open-bodied simplicity rather than the closed panel work most diecast subjects present. With so little bodywork to work with, wheel and tyre proportion accuracy carries more weight here than on almost any enclosed car subject, since the exposed chassis and suspension are half the visual appeal.

• Open-bodied construction: exposed chassis and suspension detail matter more than usual.
• Wheel and tyre proportion: central to a convincing dune buggy silhouette.

These details separate a genuinely faithful Manx model from a generic buggy shape.

A Cultural Phenomenon, Not Just a Car

The Manx's 1960s success went beyond sales figures; it became genuinely embedded in beach and surf culture imagery of the decade, inspiring countless imitators built on the same basic Beetle-derived formula. Special & Unique Models is exactly the right vehicle class for a subject this far outside mainstream saloon and sports car collecting.

A Distinctive Shelf Addition

A Meyers Manx model adds genuine visual contrast to a shelf otherwise built around conventional saloons or sports cars, and its compact, open form takes up relatively little space at 1:18. It suits a collector drawn to automotive culture's more offbeat, characterful corners rather than mainstream marque history.