I believe that Steve McQueen was experimenting with Corvair engines mounted in dune buggies. He tested the buggy for the first time during the filming of The Thomas Crown Affair and was barely able to keep it under control as it had far more power than the typical VW engine buggy.
shareToday he would be fined a day's pay for the ecological damage he did to the dunes.
1.) The Lord loves a working man.
2.) Don't trust whitey.
hmm.... I may be mistaken but it looked like the dunes were going to pull through just fine. I'll be sure to mention that to Steve when I cross over though.
shareIt's true. You can't even walk across a dune without damaging it for generations. Why are they so sensitive? Geez!
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Yeah, you actually have to pay to go onto Crane's Beach I believe, where they filmed the scene. Never mind driving on it haha
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I felt bad for the birds. Let's hope he didn't crush bird nests, sea shells, clams and sand crabs.
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
I just watched it and was having a hard time trying to determine what engine the buggy had using pause/zoom...as best as picture quality allowed. Doesn't look like a V-8 but definately sounds like one. At 1st I thought VW but the sound was too deep and throaty. Even a Corvair flat 6 doesn't sound like that ( from my memory ), but by appearance it seems the most likely power plant. I suspect the sound was "canned".
shareIt's a Meyers Manx with a very modified Corvair engine.
shareJust watched it again for the I dunno how many times and only now noticed that the buggy wasn't fitted with a roll bar. Pretty damn dangerous. That sideways slide coulda resulted in a roll over .... and that would have surely ended McQueens career a lot earlier.
I can't believe no one objected or that he was that cavalier. I rode a vw based buggy in the 70s and a few of my friends had them too. All had roll bars.
I'm shocked for 2 reasons - the 1st being that I never noticed until tonight and the 2nd being, well, see above.
Very good point! I expected a rollbar, too. Most pictures of the Meyers Manx include one.
I have a well-constructed roll bar in my '68 Vette - hand-made by my mechanic, it fits under both the removable hardtop and the softtop.
He had to put a reinforcing rod across the front, from side to side, right behind the radiator. Then the roll bar runs forward to the frame, on each side, very low so I can get in and out, and runs backward with cross-bracing to the frame in the rear. All of the roll bar is painted tan to match the interior, and has tan padding on the top bar, in case I hit it with my head, without my red-metalflake helmet.
He had to strengthen the frame, while building protection if I ever crash it, because the first time he test-drove it, the engine twisted the frame and cracked the windshield! The shop owner replaced the windshield at his cost, of course.
The engine is supercharged, making 625 HP, and that twisted the original frame. That was WITHOUT the 225-HP NOS. Runs great on the engine alone - adding the NOS, for 850 HP total, is even more fun!
Along with very good new suspension, the reinforced frame has the side-benefit of helping to make the handling very taught and flat. Great radials in front, rear Nitto drag radials for traction, and excellent new disc brakes complete the handling and stopping.
Gorgeous RED METALFLAKE (really SPARKLES in the right lighting, or especially in the SUN!) and new tan leather interior, also a hood scoop for the blower and a turbo-style rear wing, completes my best-in-class (in World of Wheels), trophy-winning show car, my dream car!
Sounds like fun
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