Manx Club

I am a bit stymied at the moment on the monocoque due to the weather (too humid and hot) to work with the vinyl ester.

So, I did some glass work on the manx...redoing the license plate area and filling my old tail light holes. 


Chris

Chris



The yellow body above was rough but I think repairable and only a few miles away. Was really tempted but passed as my non-reliable out of warranty 73K VW Touareg has been in the shop 3 times in the last few weeks.  So no extra budget for buggy projects for a while.

I think your doing great on the glasswork on your new old manx.  I am surprised that the rear opening on the Mono is so much smaller than the square back.


Since the square back did not have any badging on the back I placed my taillights closer together.  Gave a little more room from the edges of the body and eliminated some open space when viewed from the back.  There is a picture earlier in this thread.  

Mike, I thought it was a first generation floorpan when I saw the one pic in the Craigs ad that showed the narrow top sill of the back seat. I posted a reply on the Samba to I think your post, but I guess Everett deleted it because he doesn't allow discussion of Craigslist ads.



Do you know if the yellow body has been sold yet?



Did you ask about the original owner and whether there's any chance the original windshield frame still exists?

Cairomanx

I think the yellow Manx must have sold.  It has been taken off Craigslist since my post.   I presume someone saw the post and snatched it up.  The seller did not mention the windshield but he did send me the additional pictures posted.  If you would like his email send me a private post.  I'm not sure you can do it on the Manx forum but you can on The Samba.  I use Mike1991 on both.  As long as you don't mention Craigslist you should be safe.  

sent

Bruce whimsically told me I had one of the 1st hundred or so, but it would be nice to nail it down a bit further...I am going to measure the box on the back and see if it matches this picture (with the tape measure).



Does anyone have a close up of the flat aluminum windshield frame? I am recalling some excitment from Bruce, when I sent in my pictures (15 years ago).



Also, I have the hand brakes, skidplate, and roll bar in the catalog picture above...



Lastly, I dont think I have any bumps in my tire sump...are the bumps older or newer?





thanks!

Jason,

That is great news that you have an old manx as well. The early cars with the flat strap frames were built in 65 and early 66....look early on in this thread.The flat strap frames were hand built prior to an extrusion die being made for what is current production. I think that the general consensus is that the first 40-50 cars had the strap windshield frame. The first 100 or so cars did not have badges or ID tags.
Additionally, the rear license area was squared off similar to the original monocoque manxes. Can you post some pics of your car and get with Nelson Sparks. He is working on a list of the early cars.


Re the bumpouts in the sumps, they were added later. I am not sure if the bump was added prior to the big opening in the back or is that came with the big opening change.


Chris

thanks Chris. I'll get some pictures up, hopefully this weekend. Taking the manx camping til sunday.



Mine did not have the badge or a serial number ID.



Great thread!

Old Manx...I was under the wrong impression then...That is great news...We are nearing a number of strap frames early manxes close to Bruces recollection of production. 

Chris

I posted a picture of the rear square. Also some shots of the windshield. If any one has insight, I am all ears!

Thanks!



Pics are on my profile, until I figure out how to inbed in the post.

Old Manx...looking at your pics, my windshield is definitely not like that.  Mine has the channel molded in that I assume is for a soft top.  Hard to know if this is the original windshield frame or not, I will have to ask my Dad. 

When I asked about it a few years ago Bruce told me he thought he made about fifty of the pre-extrusion type windshield frames. I sent him a copy of the article I wrote for the newsletter a while back and asked him to look it over. I haven't heard anything back but hopefully he'll be able to add to or clarify things. From what I've seen of survival rates, 20% is a pretty consistent average, but the problem with the first-generation floorpan Manxes is that they aren't labeled as such in the Registry so there may be even more already registered that we don't know of, so its very difficult to estimate how many are out there.  Both Jason and Mike's first-gen floorpan Manxes have been in the Registry for a while but I only heard about them when they posted in this thread.

Also, I believe there were approximately 1400 Manxes made before they started putting number tags on them. The very first tag which was put on a Manx at the Newport Beach factory in Feb 68 was number 1401. I believe the reason they started with that number is because it was the actual correct number. I wrote about it in the Number Tag article

I have heard as well that there were a lot of "black market manxes" laid up on weekends and evenings. How many of those were built.

Chris

really, it does not ultimately matter but it is pretty interesting. I liken it to digging up ancient ruins or trying to determine what caused a B-17 to go down in a swamp. History is cool.

Bruce has the article I wrote and has asked Anita to hold off printing
it in the newsletter until he's had a chance to look it over and make
any necessary changes, corrections and or additions. So when its printed
we'll have as solid information as we're probably ever going to have on
this small but very important chapter of Meyers Manx history.

When
it comes to researching history, every piece of relevant information is
important. I'd like to know how many of the first-gen floorpan Manxes
were made. Based on the number of months it was made and that there was
only one mold, I think its somewhere between 50 and 100. I know of 9 now
and the average Manx survival rate is right around 20%, that seems to
support that around 50 were made, but that's just an estimate. Hopefully
Bruce will be able to settle it.