Grassroots Motorsports

The Beginning Manx Jan 23, 2003

When we got our 1967 Meyers Manx completed, we realized two things.....

First we were in love, and second, we needed more power. When we originally built the Manx, we used a 1200cc, 40 horsepower VW Beetle engine that we found in a salvage yard. While torque was good, top speed was only 68 mph and it took a long time to get there. We found a competent local VW shop to build us a 1600 single port long block. To that we are going to attach Pierce Manifold's Weber downdraft kit. This should give us the power we are looking for.

The Manx is now nearly finished. We've found that the stock 40 hp engine is good for a whopping 68 MPH. 

Work Progresses Jun 20, 2003

The Manx is pretty much done and being enjoyed. As it flat tows beautifully behind the motor home, it is the vehicle of choice for towing to races as a pit vehicle.

At VIR we had a blast with it and yes, those twin tracks going straight up that enormous hill with the chest high tall grass behind the rally school are ours! 

A scary moment in the Manx Sep 15, 2003

On some project cars everything is harder than it looks, and on some (or at least one) everything is always easier. After totally thrashing our Manx on the sand dunes around Cape Cod Massachusetts we noticed a horrible clunking noise. Further inspection revealed that the whole engine was easily rocking back and forth. Oh no! Had we broken our poor Manx in half? No, the two little bolts that hold the front transaxle mount in place had gotten loose.

With our new Rotary lift we quickly analyzed the problem and had the Manx back on the road. A full write up on the history of the Meyers Manx and some more information about our Project Manx is in the November 2003 issue of Classic Motorsports