1968 Volkswagen Sand Flea Beach Buggy

History

As one of the most-produced automobiles ever designed and sold, the Ferdinand Porsche-designed Volkswagen Beetle is the cornerstone of the giant Volkswagen AG we know today. The Beetle’s simplicity, durability, and affordability found it used in many ways never imagined by its designer or maker, with the Beetle able to almost magically adapt itself to virtually any purpose. Its simple platform chassis, rear transaxle, and air-cooled engines made it a natural for people looking for something fun and affordable to drive on sand dunes and beaches. By separating the Beetle’s body from its floor pan to make it lighter, a little extra performance was gained, but the resulting “dune buggy” looked horrendous. Enter Californian Bruce Meyers, who modified a VW Kombi bus, added wide wheels and tires, and topped it off with a light and sporty body to create the first fiberglass-bodied dune buggy, with the resulting vehicle eventually dubbed the Meyers Manx. The idea caught on like wildfire and soon, a myriad of other manufacturers designed and sold competing bodies, including National Glas-Car of Oldsmar, Florida, which produced a variety of bodies for the Beetle chassis in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Sand Flea body of this fun and festive 1968 Volkswagen-based beach buggy.