All language subtitles for Jeff.Dunhams.The.Cars.That.Drove.Us.S01E07.Dune.Buggy.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Hi, everybody.

It's Jeff Dunham and Peanut
at Dunham Family Motors.

Where you don't just get great
prices on great used cars.

- Oh, you mean there's more?
- You get family.

- Uh, the-- yeah, no thanks.
- Peanut--

Most cars were born
in a top-secret,

state-of-the-art R&D facility

surrounded by engineers
and executives.

This one?

It came into the world
in a garage full of surfboards.

No roof, no doors, no reason
not to laugh the whole time.

Just you, a throttle,
and God's air conditioning.

It arrived as parts in a box,

and you built it yourself
for fun.

This is the story
of a man with a vision

and the original dune buggy.

This one, you can get wet.

Our Meyers Manx Dune Buggy.
Look at that.

Throughout time,
humanity has been obsessed

with getting places using
anything but their own two feet.

We've tried all kinds of things.

- Hmm.
- Until finally,

the greatest invention
of all time--

the automobile.
- Hey!

Moron!

These are
"The Cars That Drove Us."

Somewhere across the dunes.

A beast with a roar.

A death-defying dream.

This wasn't just a dune buggy.

The Manx wasn't
the first dune buggy,

but rarely was the first
successful dune buggy.

While Detroit was turning
out cars for the masses

to benefit the corporate suits.

This wasn't a car that came
off of a factory assembly line.

It was designed by Bruce Meyers.

That's right.
Just a flip-flop-wearing,

radical dude in his garage,
building a revolution.

But we're getting
ahead of ourselves.

Born in 1926,
Bruce Meyers grew up

in sun-kissed
Newport Beach, California.

- He was a surfer.
- Whoo-hoo!

He was a lifeguard.

He was a sailor.
He wanted to go sailing.

He was a musician
playing guitar at campsites.

- ♪ Your eyes are-- ♪
- That's right.

Pretty much a classic
beach bum living--

the quintessential
California lifestyle.

And when he wasn't
bronzing on the beach...

...racing hot rods is where
Bruce learned the mechanics

of custom-built cars.
But on his 18th birthday...

A letter came,
said, "Greetings."

...a not-so-happy
birthday from Uncle Sam.

He went into the Navy
during the World War II.

Assigned to
the USS Bunker Hill,

patrolling the Pacific.

The ship was kamikazing.

A few get through.

He heads for
the Bunker Hill stern.

373 of our crew were killed.

He was very sad
about all of that.

It was very difficult.

So I think when he got home,
he just wanted to create

something that made
people happy.

After the war,
he went to art school

at Chouinard, in Los Angeles.

He did create a lot
of sketches of women.

He was basically in love
with the woman's shape.

One day, Bruce decided to go
sand-sailing at Pismo Beach,

and he saw water pumpers
in the sand,

and he decided that
that was pretty cool.

- They were stripped down.
- Stripped way down.

And called water pumpers,
because they were built

with water-cooled motors
instead of air-cooled motors

from, say a Volkswagen.

The chassis with the seats,
engine, and transmission.

He just thought they were ugly.

That's when Bruce
had his revelation.

So he began to use
his art skills

to draft and design this body.

It was really the perfect blend
of utilitarian and fun.

But when it came to Bruce
actually building this car.

He didn't have a big
investment of money.

He had himself
and a guy that he hired

who could make fiberglass.

But this wasn't just any guy.

This was his buddy--
Ted Mangels,

who knew a thing
or two about building fun cars.

Ted Mangels, he got a contract
from Disney,

to create the original
Autopia cars.

Ted could see the attraction
in Bruce's design,

lightweight

and curvaceous.

He was thinking about
hips and the flow of a body.

Probably most of his thinking
had to do about women.

And as for the buggy's
round, full-bodied headlights,

well, Bruce took cues from--

Mickey Mouse.

He designed
the headlights on top

to look like
the Mickey Mouse ears,

See?
For the kids.

And then, of course,
the fenders are flat,

so you can put a beer on it.

Mm.
Not for the kids.

Beers, ears, and rears inspired
the first fiberglass body

for Bruce's buggy.

For the chassis, he took
a more singular approach.

The chassis was integrated

into the fiberglass like a boat.

It was essentially
one solid unit.

The whole thing
was like a bathtub.

And in 1964, Bruce came
clean with a prototype.

He named it Old Red.

He was driving
around Newport Beach with it.

This beautiful flow of a body.

People turned
their heads.

They really thought, "Wow,
this is something different."

Inevitably,
people wanted one.

However--

he wasn't interested
in building a corporate empire.

I could never see Bruce going
with the traditional

big automaker route.
He's too much of a free spirit.

But he decided,
"You know what I'm gonna do?

"I'm gonna just create something
that was way more affordable,

way more accessible
to the common man."

And so, instead
of the corporations,

he would put the power
into the people's hands.

So it was decided that he would
just make it into a kit.

And the business
model was simple.

People would order
the kit from Bruce.

How to build
your own dune buggy.

It would come with a body,
hood, dash, and a windshield.

And as for everything else,

you know, like the--

Engine and transmission
and all the other parts

that a car needs.

The buyer was
on the hook for that stuff.

Take a close look at the engine.

It used parts
from a Volkswagen,

which was designed,
specifically to be a car

that anybody could wrench on.

Make sure you get a receipt.

Literally ready for the junkyard
or ready to be thrown away.

There were tons
of parts available.

And the idea was you could do
it in a weekend in your garage.

Mother [bleep].

You could say I did it.

But did anybody do it?

Because Bruce managed
to sell only 12 kits.

- Yeah.
- At $995 a piece.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Which is almost
10 grand each,

in today's money.

The kits cost
too much to produce,

specifically
the fiberglass monocoque.

The whole thing was
like a bathtub.

And Bruce was certainly
taking a bath.

Bruce Meyer's dune buggy
was pricey to manufacture.

The kit needed an overhaul.

There are many steps that must
be done quite carefully.

But building a new
prototype would cost money.

Surely someone would
help Bruce stay afloat.

And as it turns out,
that person was--

- Shirley.
- That's right.

- Shirley.
- That's right.

Uh...

Bruce's wife number four.

That's Shirley, but surely.

There were other wives before.

And there was
a couple after, too.

I was wife number six.

So.

Shirley worked for Road & Track
in the advertising department.

Two owners of Road & Track
magazine were so smitten

by these first 12 cars.

They decided to invest.

With time
and financial backing,

Bruce went back
to the drawing board

and had a breakthrough.

Bruce realized that it was
more practical

and help with cost savings
to incorporate the VW chassis.

The one piece
monocoque was out,

but you still, of course,
had to find your own chassis.

And lo and behold, there,

shivering in its
awkward nakedness,

lies the heart
of your new dune buggy.

The kit could now be sold

for a more affordable
and profitable $495.

Bruce was in business.

Well, almost.

Bruce didn't know
what to call his creation,

and the folks
at Road & Track were like,

"Oh, don't even worry about it.

We're gonna come up
with a name for you."

After a lively
boardroom brainstorm--

they come back to Bruce,
and they're like, "We got it.

We're gonna call it the Manx."

And he's like, "What's a Manx?"

There's a Manx cat
from the Isle of Man.

Kind of got a little bobtail,

like a jaguar.

But smaller and cuter.

Well, at least
his engine's purring.

But also, if you look,
you can kind of see it, right?

No tail?
No problem.

And as for the logo--

this cat is holding a sword.

And excuse my language,

but the cat's balls
are hanging out

just like the engine
would be hanging out

of the rear of the car.

Wow!
Yeah, I've never--

I have never
heard that one.

But when an airborne
Bruce Meyers

leapt onto the cover of
"Hot Rod" magazine in 1966,

say, "Cheese!"

That's the picture
that changed his life.

From there, sales just
went through the roof.

And apparently, Bruce
almost went through the floor.

Son of a [bleep].

But a little back pain
was a small price to pay

for the big bump in sales.

They had some 300 orders.

Built for adventure,
Bruce set out in his buggy

to one of his favorite
playgrounds

the rugged, untamed
Baja Peninsula.

In the 1960s,
Baja was home to a small tribe

of off-road diehards.

They ran
what they called a Baja Run.

They were going down and seeing

how fast you can get
from one point to another.

People were doing it
and they were timing it.

Unorganized,
unsanctioned,

and tried whenever someone
got a wild hair,

it could be years
between Baja Run attempts.

But in 1962,
two guys on two wheels

rode roughly 1,000 miles

and set a record running
from Tijuana to La Paz.

39 hours, 42 minutes.

And one night,
the biker boys...

Hey, how's it going?

...and the dune
buggy dudes

got together
and talked some shift.

And they said,
"Well, what do you want to do?"

And I said, "Let's do it."

Bruce decided
to race Old Red

down Baja with Ted Mangels.

A stock Volkswagen tank
is only 10 gallons.

So getting between gas station
and gas station was a problem.

We managed to get
65 gallons of gas on the car,

around our legs,
between our knees,

behind the seats, were jugs.

Driving 1,000 miles,
packed with 65 gallons

of combustible gasoline
in the dry desert heat

with cliffs and rocks on all
sides in the middle of nowhere.

What could possibly go wrong?

In 1967, Bruce Meyers
and Ted Mangels attempted

to beat the record
for the fastest Baja Run.

So much that can go wrong.

We broke lots of things.

All the bouncing broke
the transmission mount.

Little rocks
jammed the suspension.

They broke a brake line.

So they had
three-wheel brakes.

Somehow, Bruce, Ted,
and Big Red

made it to La Paz--

in 34 hours
and 45 minutes.

We beat the bikes
by over five hours.

And then
the press kit went out--

around the world.

Buggies beats bikes in Baja.

But

nobody knew
what any of that was.

It means nothing.

What they needed
was something the public

and the press could get
their heads around.

That's right.

Turn the ragtag Baja Run

into a bona fide off-road race.

Ed Pearlman,
along with Bruce and others,

decide, "Hey, we can start

this National Off-Road
Racing Association."

NORRA.

And actually organize

the very first real
official Mexican 1,000.

Suddenly...

Meyers Manx won that first race,
so I'm a little proud of that.

And in 1968,
the Manx was king.

Or at least it
transported the king.

You saw Elvis Presley drive it
in a movie.

Watch your back.

Then it leapt
onto the screen

in "The Thomas Crown Affair."

This time, not
by a king, but a McQueen.

People are ordering

these things so fast,

they can barely keep up.

They didn't have enough molds
to fill those orders quickly.

Although the Manx does
have feline origins.

Now Bruce was trying to
outrun different kinds of cats.

Copycats--

were mass-producing
dime-store knockoffs.

Over 300 companies.

It was time to summon
another creature

to combat the copycats.

The Tow'd.

And hook it onto your
Tow'd package and off you go.

So it's not a toad.

It was being Tow'd.

T-O-W-'-D.

Rather than haul it
to the desert on a trailer,

the Tow'd had an integrated
tow bar that could be hitched

to the back of a vehicle.

But when Bruce
entered the Tow'd

in the 1968 Mexican 1000,

tragedy struck in the desert.

He crashed.

About 100 yards later,
I'm laying there

in the dirt with broken legs.

Could have easily killed him.

The injury ended
Bruce's racing career.

Came together at once.
Bruce was hurt.

Copiers had copied the car.
Business was starting to tank.

Finally,
Bruce had had enough,

and he knew what he had to do.

Sue one of the biggest
of the copiers,

which was Lincoln Industries.

But things didn't start
out so well.

The judge,
he actually fell asleep.

And when
he finally woke up,

the judge ruled against Bruce.

The judge declared
there was previous art

and threw it all out.
And Bruce lost his patent.

The Meyers Manx
was a free-for-all.

After the copiers just
came out in droves.

Bruce is struggling.

He had a lot of other ideas
he thought

maybe would save the company.

So...

It created a vehicle
called the Manx SR.

Some people say that
the SR stands for Stewart Reed.

My name is Stewart Reed.

Or others say
it's Street Roadster.

We work side-by-side
in the shop,

creating products
intentionally more complex,

not easily plagiarized.

A Bruce saying was,
"Let's think diabolic."

Everybody was saying,
"Well, Bruce,

what does that mean?"

Bruce had a deliciously
diabolical plan.

The parts themselves would
tend to shrink

and-- and close up a little,
so it would be almost impossible

to make a mold off those parts.

Make it really hard for anybody

to follow in those footsteps.

Stewart is one of the fathers
of that scissor-door system.

Uh, the first scissor doors.

So Lamborghini didn't
invent those.

Those were a Bruce Meyers
and Stewart Reed invention.

But Bruce's sports car
in a box was a lot to unpack.

Very complicated,
fairly expensive.

And only 200 SRs
were ever made.

It just took the wind out
of Bruce's sails.

A little bit of him died.

Bruce said,

"That's it.
I'm done."

Bruce Meyers
and the Meyers Manx

were on the skids.

He decided to leave the company.

And without him,
the company didn't last long.

Went into bankruptcy.

But the dune buggy business
continues on without him.

Yet for Bruce,
there was nowhere to hide.

He couldn't even watch TV
in peace.

♪ Wonderbug ♪

It's in television.
It's in the cartoons.

That's me.

Everybody loves them.

It really hurt Bruce Meyers.

I mean, he was really crushed
by what had happened.

- But then--
- then I came along.

It was a whirlwind romance.

That first night
sealed the deal.

That's my story.

I'm sticking to it.

And even though
Bruce was clearly

an old romantic at heart.

Bruce was married six times.

But surely--

- Shirley?
- No, Winnie.

I was wife number six.

But Winnie was the one,

because Bruce had saved
the best for last.

Thank you.

Yet, with this new
chapter in his life,

Bruce was still struggling
to turn the page on his past.

But it was from the pages
of this magazine,

"Super VW,"

publisher Jacky Morel
had an idea to write Bruce

a new story.

Jacky had talked him
into the Super VW Nationals,

so he invited us to come
to France.

And his task was simple.

"Hey, I want you to lead
this parade of dune buggies

around the track."

And Bruce looks
at the dune buggies--

knockoff, fake ones, copycats.

And he says,
"I am not leading those.

They ruined my life.
They stole from me."

But then,
Bruce saw a sign.

Everywhere he went,
people would say...

Aloha.

Aloha in any language
is a symbol of friendship,

respect, and gratitude.

"Everybody loves a buggy,
and you're the reason

everybody loves a buggy."

His dream had lived on

in the hearts
and minds of others.

All of these clever, pretty,

creative buggies were
connected to this man.

It was amazing to him,
because he thought the world

had forgotten all
about him and the car.

And it gave him purpose.

People would say thank you

And he'd say, "For what?"

And they'd say,
"For the concept."

They all looked at Bruce as,

"You made this for us."

He was in tears almost
the whole time we were there.

And suddenly he began
to enjoy the legacy

that he had left behind,

as opposed to getting angry

about what had been
taken away from him.

And he would always say,
"I may not be rich in money,

but I'm rich in love."

And he always felt the love
from across the community.

Bruce forgiving,

really helped him realize
that it was all for a reason.

And maybe
that was enough reason

for Bruce to get back to work.

The first easiest thing to do
was after we started the club.

And the Manx Club
opened its doors in 1994.

To today, there's 6,000
plus members.

We decided to start
Meyers Manx up again.

Bruce went on
to design dune buggies

of all shapes and sizes.

In fact, there were so many,

you couldn't possibly list
them all.

There was never too much
Manx for Winnie,

or it seems, enough Meyers,

because she was
by Bruce's side until the end.

Bruce was
19 years older than me.

When he turned 90,
he maybe started to slow down.

But this time,
Bruce would do it

with his head held high.

In 2020, he sold Meyers Manx

to Trousdale Ventures.

In 2021, Meyers Manx
was developing

the Manx 2.0.

Its first fully electric
dune buggy.

His involvement gave
our direction meaning

and brought the spirit
into the modern era.

But Bruce would
never see it completed.

Bruce Meyers passed away
on February 19, 2021.

Thinking of Bruce,

he was at my house for dinner
the week before he died.

And he stood up and said,
"All you guys sitting here

"at the table, friends,

"buggy people,

"ones I love, and it's the love,

"that kept this going,

and it's the love
that brought it back."

All of our lives have changed,

because of this man.

The club to us is like a family.

So yeah, even though
we knew it was inevitable,

um,

it hurt.

Sorry.

There is so much love
with these people.

It has to be that little car.

When you hit
the dirt or the sand,

you know Bruce
made something special.

You cannot drive this thing
and not laugh.

I mean, it-- it--
it does not get much--

much more fun than this.

I want people
to have an adventure in life.

My life has been full
of adventures.

It's a way of dreaming
into the reality.

Dreaming is
where something starts,

your hands make it become real,
and then you go do it.

And if you fail, so what?

Don't go to your grave without
an adventure of some kind.

He hopefully went to his grave

realizing that people really
did appreciate what he did.

Car enthusiasts
and off-roaders alike

owe Bruce Meyers
a huge debt of gratitude,

because man, oh man,

is this car iconic?

And just plain fun.

Everything else is a copy.

Thank him for that.

Thanks, Bruce.