Los Angeles, Calif. – A recent donation to the Petersen Automotive Museum will ensure that generations to come can enjoy one of the quintessential American hot rods.

Renowned car collector Bruce Meyer recently handed over the keys to his 1932 Ford “McGee Roadster” to Terry L. Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Constructed by noted hot-rod builder Bob McGee, the McGee Roadster introduced an aesthetic that quickly became nearly ubiquitous in the roadster community. The popular hot rod will become part of the Petersen’s permanent collection.

The Petersen Automotive Museum and the McGee Roadster share an origin story that stems from Hot Rod Magazine, founded by Robert E. Petersen in 1948. The McGee Roadster’s popularity skyrocketed after appearing on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, the first street car to do so. Petersen’s subsequent success in publishing allowed him to launch one of the world’s finest automotive museums in 1994.

“Hot rods are vital to the entire automotive industry, and Robert Petersen is the man who really brought hot rodding to the people. This car is an important piece of automotive history, and there is no more worthy destination than the Petersen Automotive Museum,” said Meyer, who is also founding chairman of the Petersen.

The iconic roadster has raced on the Bonneville salt flats, served as a daily driver and originated many of the design cues synonymous with hot rodding. McGee, who started working on the roadster in 1947, created the signature look with plenty of customization, including lowered suspension, larger Lincoln Zephyr rear wheels, a three-piece louvered hood, peaked and filled grille shell, hidden door hinges and shaved door handles, all painted bright red with a custom interior.

“The McGee Roadster is so much more than just a car. It is the symbol of an entire era and generation of innovative hot rodders,” said Karges. “We are honored by Bruce’s donation and proud to preserve this piece of history.”

In 1956, McGee sold the roadster to Dick Scritchfield, an avid hot rodder and automotive career man. Scritchfield, who had contacts in the film industry, started leasing the car to movie producers and television shows for use in their productions. Repainted by a friend of Scritchfield’s using Candy Apple Red paint and silver metal flake, the roadster also became the first non-experimental metal-flake paint job in the automotive industry. Over the following years, the car underwent many additional modifications before Meyer restored it to its original 1948 configuration in the late 1990s.

The McGee Roadster paved the way for hot rodding’s entrance into mainstream culture. Its appearances in many films and classic television shows, such as “Happy Days,” “Dragnet” and “Fantasy Island,” helped it become an icon for a generation.

It was featured on the U.S. Postal Service’s “Hot Rods Forever” commemorative stamp in 2014; the stamps were designed by Derry Noyes and digitally rendered by graphic artist John Mattos. The car has also been shown and won in its current configuration at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Grand National Roadster Show. On April 12, 2017, the McGee Roadster became the only hot rod added to the National Historic Vehicle Register.

The McGee Roaster is currently on display in the Ross & Beth Myers Gallery at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

About Petersen Automotive Museum – The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Blvd. (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles, 90036. Admission prices are $19.95 for general admission adults, $17.95 for seniors, $12.95 for children ages 12 to 17 and $10.95 for children ages 4 to 11. Active military with ID, personal care attendants and children under age four are admitted free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For general information, call 323-930-CARS or visit www.petersen.org.

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Fame is a funny thing. When Bruce Meyers says that he spent many years at art schools learning how to draw, he notes that figure drawings and portraits were his favorite art form. However, it wasn’t a charcoal sketch or a drawing that made him famous — it was the Meyers Manx dune buggy, an open fiberglass body tub designed to fit a Volkswagen Beetle platform.

Meyers — now in his mid 90s — grew up in Southern California during the early days of surfing, drag racing and hanging out at the beach. It was at Pismo Beach that he first became acquainted with “dune buggies.” The “water pumpers” were crude and heavy, so Meyers took it upon himself to design a lightweight version that would be fun on the beach or in the wilderness of Baja.

After modifying a VW Kombi bus that he called “Little Red Riding Bus” with wide wheel rims, Meyers used his expertise in boat building to design and build the first fiberglass-bodied dune buggy. He called it the “Meyers Manx” after a cat. Like the tailless Manx cat, Meyer’s dune buggy was shorter than others when it hit the scene in 1964.

Meyers had his moment of fame when the dune buggy craze began and he thought he had patent protection on that type of car. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Imitators came on the scene and stole a big part of the market. Bruce’s patent didn’t hold up in court and he became a bitter fellow for a while.

That was the case until he attended a show honoring the dune buggy at the Le Mans race course in France. Hundreds of dune buggies showed up for that event, and so did the editor of a Volkswagen magazine. The Frenchman told Meyers that he had to develop a more positive outlook. The editor told him, “Look at all those smiling faces enjoying a vehicle you created; they love the car, they love you and that should be your measure of success.”

When we met Bruce Meyers at the Air-Cooled Volkswagen Funfest in Effingham, Ill., he said that piece of advice had changed his life. He started to get involved with dune buggy clubs and attend their events throughout the world. Today, he looks and acts younger than his age and is having the time of his life.

Meyers Manx (meyersmanx.com) is also alive and well in Valley Center, Calif., selling current buggy kits under the names New Classic Manx, Kick-Out Traditional, Kick-Out SS, Manxster 2+2 and DualSport.

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The mainly red-and-white cover of The Brickline, Vol. 44, No. 1, bristles with dynamism as an exploded view of the concept car is depicted with body panels floating around the chassis. The creative cover is not unusual for the publication of the Bricklin International Owners Club, Inc., (editor Randy Wyrick).

The highlight of this issue came in the two-article section covering five pages. Steve Owen’s treatise on Bruce Meyers opens with a focus on his “earliest days of the safety vehicle.” Meyers, who was an anti-aircraft gunner shooting at Kamikazes in World War II was well aware of safety measures. Survival may have seemed miraculous to him. When peace returned, his thinking was conveyed to the dune buggy craze, which he helped to spark in postwar years. The inventor of Armor All (Alan Rypinski) urged Meyers to connect with Malcolm Bricklin and set a special course. The idea was to use the Subaru 360 as a platform for racing. Roll cages and exoskeletons were in the mix, circa 1970.

A sleek design and Polyethylene skin soon followed for what was labeled the FasTrack program. That concept was noticed by John DeLorean. All the while, Meyers pushed for a first-class initiative. Early concepts seemed to smack of Datsun or Toyota, and Meyers doesn’t apologize for that.

As the writer stated, “If there is a revelation in this story, it’s the breadth of Bruce’s talent. How many people can create a working chassis from scratch and produce world class industrial designs, or innovative body skins that bounce back after sharp blows?”

Survivors of the FasTrack idea still are maintained. Good ideas often timeless.

Meyers literally was credited with teaching Malcom Bricklin “about the car business from clay models on up.”Also, Rypinski interfaced seriously with Bricklin, eventually phasing out of a joint venture, only to rebound with the magic of Armor All.

Tossed into the stretch of pages is the magic of Howard Hesketh, located smack-dab in the center of the U.S.A. When Bricklin owners have operational problems, he puts matters into perspective with the wave of a wrench. “If your brakes don’t work well, why are you trying to build a 600-horsepower motor?”

Practical, he is. Good advice!

Bricklin International Owners Club, Inc.
P.O. Box 1021
Vail, CO 81658
thebricklin@gmail.com

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Lately we’ve have heard several car show promoters mentioning that they thought a 1970s theme would be good for their upcoming 2016 events. That made us think about one of the iconic symbols of the ‘70s—the dune buggy.

The classic dune buggy is a “frog-like” fiberglass body on a hopped-up Volkswagen Beetle platform. Earlier this year, we attended Mid America Motorwork’s Volkswagen Funfest where the celebrity guest was Bruce Meyers.

Bruce designed what became the first mass-produced dune buggy—the Meyers Manx. He explained that he thought he had patented the concept, but other companies took the same idea and made similar vehicles. This cost Meyers a lot of money and he was bitter about it for years.

Then, when people started collecting dune buggies, Meyers was invited to a show at LeMans that featured hundreds of them. While he was there, a French magazine editor told him to look around at all the smiles on the faces of the dune buggy fans. He told Meyers to lighten up and enjoy all the fun he had created.

According to Bruce, that advice changed his attitude about life. He got involved with the Meyer’s Manx Club and started meeting dune buggy collectors and making appearances at their shows. He said that he is now in his 80s, but feels like a kid again.

After returning from the Volkswagen Funfest, we started noticing all of the dune buggies that were coming out of the woodwork. In the small town of Manawa, where our shop is located, there are at least three dune buggies and one young gal was buzzing around in a hot-sounding buggy all summer. Another one belongs to the owner of a local driving school and there was one being worked on in the back room of the Bumper-to-Bumper store. Apparently, no one threw these things away when the fad went out.

Last weekend we attended the fall motorcycle rally in Tomahawk, Wis. It’s the “Sturgis” of the Badger State. While cruising to Main Street we passed a house with a dune buggy body for sale on the front lawn. How tempting. If we had brought the truck along, instead of the bike, we might be starting another project. Our guess is that building a dune buggy would be a lot easier—and cheaper—than restoring another car.

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