Got to spend some time with the inventor of the dune buggy, Bruce Meyers and his wife Winnie last week at their home near Temecula, California.
Bruce is one of the original members of the first wave (no pun intended) of the California surf culture. Growing up in Manhattan Beach in the '30s he spent his formative years fooling around on the beach and tinkering with cars.
This cross pollination of two sub cultures culminated in the invention of the classic Meyers Manx dune buggy and his many adventures in off road racing in Baja.
Late, as usual, I missed the sing along as Bruce and his buddies strummed guitars, ukeleles and singing just like they have been doing since they were boys hanging out on the beach. There's even a section of the State beach at San Onofre named after these veteran beach rats, "old mans." It's their section of the beach and you'll find them every Wednesday during the summer -- playing music, grilling some burgers, having some beers (not supposed to do that now that it's a State park), and paddling out to catch some waves.
Their sense of adventure and desire to live life to its fullest is infectious. Another slice of the many California sub cultures -- surfing, hot rodders who set records at the dry lakes, the fly boys who soared over head with the right stuff, the rocket men at JPL who shot for the stars, the aviators like Douglas who invented an industry, hippies and poets that Howled, cooks who created Asian fusion or changed the culinary world with Chez Panisse, guys who cobbled together computers in their garages and gave us the PC, geeky engineering professors who linked computers together and gave us the internet, toy makers who begat Barbie and movie makers who've captured the imagination of the world -- Bruce is one in a long line of innovators that flourished in a State that's more than a physical place but a true state of mind that nurtures creativity and innovation.
It's a privilege to know Bruce and to have taken a ride in his dream -- the Meyers Manx.
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