New Meyers Manx Dune Buggy With A Radial Aircraft Engine Is The Best Kind Of Absurd

The revitalization of the Meyers Manx brand over the past few years has been thrilling to watch, as the dune buggy company gears up to launch its wholly new Manx 2.0 EV alongside the classic kits and other fresh variants. The latest, wildest version of the Manx to launch is the Tarmac Touring Edition, which debuted during Monterey Car Week with a radial aircraft engine. Yeah, you read that right.

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I got to see the Tarmac Touring Manx up close in person at Hagerty’s Motorlux event that’s put on every year at the Monterey Jet Center, a fitting venue for this monster buggy (then I saw it again at Laguna Seca and got even better photos.) Its 2.0-liter three-cylinder Radial Motion engine was developed with Australian company Bespoke Engineering, and Meyers Manx says it makes more than double the power of the original Volkswagen Beetle powertrain. The motor shares internals with General Motors’ LS1 V8, which makes it more durable and easier to build and maintain.

Photo: Daniel Golson/Jalopnik

Says Meyers Manx, the engine and four-speed transmission “…provides linear acceleration and delivers power smoothly across its entire speed range, making straight-line driving and overtaking easy.” It also uses four-wheel disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering, upgrades over a normal Manx, and the front suspension has been lowered by 2.5 inches. Michael Potiker, chairman of Bespoke Engineering, added:

The collaboration between Meyers Manx and Bespoke Engineering represents a significant advancement in leveraging defense and aerospace technologies for commercial applications. The 2.0-liter Radial Motion engine, with its COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) supply chain, ensures reliability and ease of maintenance, making it an ideal powerplant for the Radial Motion-powered Meyers Manx. This project exemplifies how military-grade engineering can enhance consumer products, delivering unparalleled performance and durability.

Aside from the fascinating engine hanging out of its ass, the Tarmac Touring looks mostly like any other Manx at first. In place of the rear seats are huge cooling intakes nicely integrated in the rear shelf, but that’s about the only real styling difference. It can be had with a new Gunmetal flake paint and aluminum wheels, and the interior has more luxurious finishings like woven leather and an aviation-inspired gauge cluster and start/stop lever.

Meyers Manx will actually be building and selling six of the Manx Tarmac Touring Edition, as part of the brand’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Each one will be built to order, and the company is taking deposits of $23,900, which is 20 percent of its $119,500 total price.

Front 3/4 view of a Meyers Manx Tarmac Touring Edition