Manx Club

I recently purchased a Manx-Vair CC (All Corvair chassis) I was wondering if anyone has any type of production numbers for the Manx-Vair. If it is possible to know what numbers were produced for the CV chassis as well as the CC chassis, that would be wonderful. Thanks for any help or assistance. Jay

Hi Jay! The Manx Registry has quite a few years of accumulated production data in it. I can?t seem to find my old copy right now though. Does your car have the Manx data plate on it? If so what is the serial number? Would you post some pictures? We like pictures!

Hi Jay, all I have is a Jan 2000 registry and at that time the No found was 5 and No produced was ?. Not a lot of help really I guess, plus at that time the CV & CC must have both been listed in the same category and all known as ManxVair's as I can only see one type. I think the only difference between the two, was the CC used a Corvair front & rear end and the CV used the Corvair rear with the VW front end. I'm sure Hadley had something to do with the ManxVair, cant think what it was, but I know Nelson on here will know much more about it. Jay, any chance of posting up a few pics please?? only we don't get to see ManxVairs in England.

Jay, if you have the tag fitted this serial number explanation may help, which i took from the registry >> Example M1768D912E >>> M=Manx. 1768 =number in production. D= Month of production (D=April). 9= Year of production (9=69.) 12E= Color code (12E=Fushia) So an Example of a ManxVair could be >> CV145FO20E = with the VW front end produced june 1970 and in Emerald. Which sounds very much like my ol Baja buddy Richard Browns buggy!!!!!.

I have personally seen &/or know of 8 different ManxVairs. There was one on Craigslist last year that I think was the number 1 tagged ManxVair.

The latest registry I have shows 11 ManxVairs registered. A while back I compared the total of Manxes and Tow'ds registered to the total which the serial numbers indicate would have been produced if the serial numbers were issued sequentially. I figured that between 10% and 20% of the Manxes have been registered. I believe that is also probably fairly accurate for the ManxVair, so somewhere around 50 to 100. The ManxVair chassis were made by Pete Condos of Con-Ferr, not Hadley. Hadley made an adapter subframe called the Transvair to put the Corvair engine/trans in the VW but wasn't directly involved with the ManxVair. Pete Condos also sold the ManxVair chassis himself, and called it the ConVair. He said that after the buggy fad died in the early 70s he scrapped stacks of unsold ConVair chassis.

CairoManx, I have seen a lot of posts from you and I think you are the Manx expert. Maybe an idea to write a book with all this information you have, completed with old pictures? That would be a true collectors item for many Manx owners. Gert the Netherlands

[QUOTE="Bosduuvel;14902"]CairoManx, I have seen a lot of posts from you and I think you are the Manx expert. Maybe an idea to write a book with all this information you have, completed with old pictures? That would be a true collectors item for many Manx owners. Gert the Netherlands[/QUOTE] Hey Gert, I agree with what you say!!. But don't think for one minute that this guys knowledge stops at Manx buggies,,, Nelsons (AKA CairoManx) wealth of knowledge just blows me away at times!!. BTW, I think he's far too busy with the Vincent & developing his three wheeler to start writing a book, but put me down for a signed copy if ever it happens.

[QUOTE="mel hubbard;14903"]Hey Gert, I agree with what you say!!. But don't think for one minute that this guys knowledge stops at Manx buggies,,, Nelsons (AKA CairoManx) wealth of knowledge just blows me away at times!!. BTW, I think he's far too busy with the Vincent & developing his three wheeler to start writing a book, but put me down for a signed copy if ever it happens. [/QUOTE] Wasn't there a British visit planned in relation to the Vincent engine Nelson or did we miss you?

[quote="Bosduuvel;14902"]CairoManx, I have seen a lot of posts from you and I think you are the Manx expert. Maybe an idea to write a book with all this information you have, completed with old pictures? That would be a true collectors item for many Manx owners. Gert the Netherlands[/quote] The one and only Manx expert lives in Valley Center, CA. There's also a gentleman who lives in Slidell, LA who has a Ph.D. I'm still trying to get a Masters. There's a lot to learn(like the reinforcing tube thing). If I ever was going to do any kind of book I'd get Bruce's permission first. I'm still hoping to see a book from him. I'm pretty busy rebuilding my blue Siggy Manx right now. A bloke from Windsor, (not that bloke) bought it but he wants it on a Barrett chassis. I got the chassis back from the powder coaters a couple weeks ago and am moving all the bits on to it now.

[quote="CairoManx;14918"] If I ever was going to do any kind of book I'd get Bruce's permission first. I'm still hoping to see a book from him. [/quote] I know a book is a big investment of time and energy, not to mention very desirable to people like me, but something I think would be equally desirable would be a CD of all the vintage pictures that you and Bruce probably have. The effort to scan pictures and then burn a CD is pretty doable. Not to mention that Meyers Manx Inc. could add the CD to their store. I know I save a lot of the pictures that are posted for my own enjoyment. The only issue I can think of would be the reproduction of copywrite material (scans of magazine covers, etc) but I'm sure there are a lot of old photographs sitting in someone's scrap book that are just as good. Thoughts? Bud

Hi Guys, really sorry I haven't been back to check the thread progress before now! What was I thinking? I'm usually on the DBA. I have plenty of PICTURES for those who have asked: http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u285 ... ?start=all ALSO of Special note to Nelson, I have it from the P.O.s mouth that when he and his wife went to CA to look at the bodies, this was THE LAST (CC) METALFLAKE body they made or would make. At that time, the Meyers held the body for the P.O. to buy through the local distributor. There were two CC bodies left, one in lime green and one in white. Apparently the Meyers said they would no longer produce the bodies for the Con-Ferr chassis, but told the P.O. that they were in negotiations with Con-Ferr to produce the bodies under license. Apparently Con-Ferr wasn't interested in that deal or we would have had many more. The body was purchased on 8/28/1970 The body vin breaks down to: "CC" production number 148 produced in the month of June (F) of 1970 (0) in color (10E) red metalflake. I have written up the story here: http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2151 Here is a small writeup about the differences I noticed between the CV and CC chassis. It's crude... don't laugh. I'm not even close to someone with 1/2 of Nelson's knowledge. http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2155 I guess the 50-100 guess is as close as I can hope then for the actual number. No one here has an "in" with the record vault person? LOL Thanks, Jay

Hi Guys, really sorry I haven't been back to check the thread progress before now! What was I thinking? I'm usually on the DBA. I have plenty of PICTURES for those who have asked: http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u285 ... ?start=all ALSO of Special note to Nelson, I have it from the P.O.s mouth that when he and his wife went to CA to look at the bodies, this was THE LAST (CC) METALFLAKE body they made or would make. At that time, the Meyers held the body for the P.O. to buy through the local distributor. There were two CC bodies left, one in lime green and one in white. Apparently the Meyers said they would no longer produce the bodies for the Con-Ferr chassis, but told the P.O. that they were in negotiations with Con-Ferr to produce the bodies under license. Apparently Con-Ferr wasn't interested in that deal or we would have had many more. The body was purchased on 8/28/1970 The body vin breaks down to: "CC" production number 148 produced in the month of June (F) of 1970 (0) in color (10E) red metalflake. I have written up the story here: http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2151 Here is a small writeup about the differences I noticed between the CV and CC chassis. It's crude... don't laugh. I'm not even close to someone with 1/2 of Nelson's knowledge. http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2155 I guess the 50-100 guess is as close as I can hope then for the actual number. No one here has an "in" with the record vault person? LOL Thanks, Jay

Jay asked me to post this for him. He's a member and started this thread but can't get his password to work. Hi Guys, really sorry I haven't been back to check the thread progress before now! What was I thinking? I'm usually on the DBA. I have plenty of PICTURES for those who have asked: http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u285 ... ?start=all ALSO of Special note to Nelson, I have it from the P.O.s mouth that when he and his wife went to CA to look at the bodies, this was THE LAST (CC) METALFLAKE body they made or would make. At that time, the Meyers held the body for the P.O. to buy through the local distributor. There were two CC bodies left, one in lime green and one in white. Apparently the Meyers said they would no longer produce the bodies for the Con-Ferr chassis, but told the P.O. that they were in negotiations with Con-Ferr to produce the bodies under license. Apparently Con-Ferr wasn't interested in that deal or we would have had many more. The body was purchased on 8/28/1970 The body vin breaks down to: "CC" production number 148 produced in the month of June (F) of 1970 (0) in color (10E) red metalflake. I have written up the story here: http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2151 Here is a small writeup about the differences I noticed between the CV and CC chassis. It's crude... don't laugh. I'm not even close to someone with 1/2 of Nelson's knowledge. http://www.dunebuggyarchives.com/forum/ ... l?tid=2155 I guess the 50-100 guess is as close as I can hope then for the actual number. No one here has an "in" with the record vault person? LOL Thanks, Jay

Jay, Your post is a treasure trove of info. The thread you posted on DBA about CC and CV ManxVairs is superb. I hope you continue it and show the details of the Con-Ferr chassis. I do have some more info for you. Last year I got the chance to interview Pete Condos for an article. First, I'm very sorry to say that Pete passed away in July of this year. I interviewed Pete primarily about the Thomas Crown Affair Meyers Manx that he built for Steve McQueen but I also asked about his ConVair chassis. Pete said that at the time, there was a shortage of donor VW chassis and engines, but Corvair wrecks were plentiful and could be bought for as little as $10. Con-Ferr's primary business was installing V8s in Toyota Land Cruisers. Pete also had a line of 4WD body, suspension and drive train components and had a very capable fabrication shop. He said he kept one guy working day and night building ConVair(and Manxvair) chassis and produced between 600 and 700. Your information from the prior owner about your body being the last one made is great. I think you may have partially answered your own question though about how many ManxVairs were made. June 1970 was the last month that serial number tags had dates and color codes. The Manx 2 serial numbers issued in Jun 70 were in the 3420-342? range. However, your serial number is 148 so I believe its a ManxVair production number. I believe the first Manxvair which was produced in Dec 68 was serial# 101. I'm not sure there were a full 148 ManxVairs made (sometimes the factory skipped numbers), however I do totally believe what your P.O. told you about it being the last and so I believe there were no more than 148 made. June 70 was a watershed date for Meyers Manx. All Bodies produced after that date had undated 4 digit serial numbers. Its also believed to be the last month Bruce was with the company before the receiver took over. It makes sense that the receiver might have been looking at simplifying production and cutting options about then. Con-Ferr was planning to produce fiberglass Queen Manx bodies but only made one or two before a fire in their shop ended that. Just to clarify, no one including Bruce has the B.F. Meyers & Co. production records. What we do have are Bruce's and other individual's(employees, dealers and customers) recollections, plus factory literature, some factory correspondence and numerous contemporary magazine articles. We also have the Meyers Manx registry which has been carefully compiled over the last fifteen years and holds and a wealth of production information if you peel it back and analyze it. I'm guessing that the P.O. may have visited Roger Smith on their 1970 California vacation. Roger Smith was a close friend of Bruce and one of the first and most well known Meyers Manx dealers. His homemade buggy "Rivets" was a direct inspiration for Tiny Thompson's Burro and also for Bruce and the Meyers Manx. There was an article about him in the first DB&HVWs and he wrote a column for them the first couple years. Very, very, very cool.