A €500,000 dune buggy? It is possible if Steve McQueen is involved in its story, one of the few Hollywood icons able to combine cars' passion with a movie career.
King Midas: after the Mustang it's time for Dune Buggy
A few months have passed since the Bullit's Ford Mustang auction, a car coveted by McQueen himself who tried everything to get it back from its owner, and we are facing a new McQueen car.
This is the Dune Buggy used by McQueen in the film “the thomas crown affair” which will be auctioned on March 5, 2020 in Amelia Island for Bonhams.
Not an average buggy
Involving McQueen obviously it is not a normal “Buggy”.
It is a 1967 Meyers Manx, a classic fiberglass buggy built on the VW Beetle mechanics. McQueen himself explained the peculiarity of the car and its genesis, interviewed following the release of the film:
“Crown lives at the beach, and he has a sand dune buggy. I helped 'em design it, so I'm kinda proud of that. It's set on a Volkswagen chassis, with big ol' wide weenies, big wide tires on mag wheels, Corvair engine stuffed in the back…It's very light, you know. It's pulling about 230 horses, and the vehicle weighs about 1,000 pounds.”
Steve McQueen
The secret of this Meyers Manx therefore lies precisely in the engine. It was equipped with the 2.7-liter 6-cylinder engine mounted on the Chevrolet Corvair instead of the classic Volkswagen engine.
Even if McQueen speaks of 230 HP, realistically the engine will hardly have reached that power. 175 HP are probably a more realistic value, considering the open exhausts and some tuning interventions, knwing that the naturally aspirated Chevrolet engine reaches 140 HP.
The structure of the Manx was modified with the inclusion of the panoramic windshield and various modifications were applied to the structure, to support the performance of the model. It should be noted that all the sequences (even those of the video taken from the film) are always shot by McQueen driving, without any stuntman, a standard behaviour of the American actor.
The troubled story till the restoration
Once filming is over, the story of the Buggy of “The Thomas Crown Affair” becomes complicated.
The car lived on the beaches of Hawaii for several years, also acting as a “tractor” for the boats on the beach. The Chervolet engine was replaced with a 2.2 liter Volkswagen unit. Given the continuous use on the beach, the Buggy suffered the inevitable erosion of the chrome, while the fiberglass body was repainted in several places.
Object of meticulous restoration, it is presented for sale with an estimate of between 360 and 540 thousand euros. A “normal” Meyers Manx hardly exceeds 40,000. Will the Celebrity car effect succeed?
Update: it was not 500k euros but the car was assigned for 406,000 euros (including commissions). Extraordinary result!