A California Buggy That Dreams of Being a Vintage Porsche
A dune buggy that entirely SoCal, and yet, so Porsche. That’s the energy behind OTTO WERKS’ latest build, a beach-sized Meyers Manx retooled with Porsche-coded aesthetics, a California beach icon sharpened in Stuttgart’s mirror.
WERKS has a habit of treating cars like living canvases, dissecting, rebuilding, and stitching them back together until they’re both drivable art and road-legal performance.
Its latest subject is the Manx, the fiberglass buggy that’s been a beachgoing Californian’s favorite toy since the 1960s.
The Manx has always lived a double life.
On one hand, it’s beach freedom personified, surfboards jutting out the back like a Beach Boys hook on wheels.
On the other, it’s a race-bred renegade: in 1967, a Manx conquered the Mexican 1000 (now Baja 1000), beating not just cars but motorcycles too, cementing its legend.
WERKS’ “Edition” pulls that mythology into today’s Porsche fever. Under the skin is a 2.2L Willhoit racing-based engine good for 170 hp and 160 lb-ft of torque.
But it’s the Ivy Green paint that lands hardest, borrowed from Porsche’s Oak Green Metallic, alongside the two-tone Speedster seats, period-correct gauges, square-weave carpets, vintage Marchal fog lights, and even beehive tail lamps.
That Porsche flavor is no small thing when it comes to taste. The marque has moved beyond the garage into cultural shorthand, from Playboi Carti verses to Ken Carson videos to the vintage archive slides clogging your explore page. Right now, anything Stuttgart-coded reads instantly aspirational.
So yes, the Manx is still that romantic dune buggy, basically a California daydream on four wheels. But in WERKS’ hands, it’s learned some Porsche manners.
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