$456,000 Makes this the world’s most expensive beach buggy

“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. I helped 'em design it, so I'm kinda proud of that.”

That’s Steve McQueen talking and the car he’s “kinda proud of” is Thomas Crown’s one-off Meyers Manx dune buggy from the 1968 classic movie, The Thomas Crown Affair.

The script had originally called for a Jeep but legend has it that McQueen insisted on a Meyers Manx after seeing one flying through the air on the cover of a 1966 issue of Hot Rod magazine. Millionaire businessman-turned-criminal mastermind Thomas Crown lives on a beach in the movie and McQueen considered that, as well as the Rolls-Royce that Crown drives, a dune buggy would be very much his style.

And it is this very buggy, built up to McQueen’s spec by off-road racing company Con-Ferr and based on an original Meyers Manx body, that features in the film and its most famous scene: McQueen and co-star Faye Dunaway in the buggy roaring, spinning and splashing their way across the dunes, along a beach and through the surf.

McQueen, of course, did all the driving himself. With the movie coming out several months ahead of Bullitt, it was The Thomas Crown Affair that first demonstrated to movie audiences McQueen's affinity for cars and his talent at the wheel.

McQueen was very particular in customising his ideal beach buggy. He insisted on the speedboat-style wraparound windscreen, sunken headlights beneath plastic covers, luggage rack on the back, American Racing wheels, orange and red body and luxury custom interior. Like most Manxes it was based on a Volkswagen floorpan but it had to be modified to get in the Chevrolet Corvair's 2.7-litre air-cooled flat-six engine.

Despite what the famous actor claimed, power was about 140bhp, still enough with the buggy’s light weight for storming performance, as amply demonstrated by McQueen in his antics on the beach. In order to achieve the power-sliding pirouettes on the sand, he had the car fitted with two handbrakes: one for each rear wheel.

McQueen never owned the car. After the film came out the buggy had several keepers one of whom used it for sand racing and towing water skiers across the shallow, wide beaches of Honolulu. With its engine seized (no surprise!), it was stored in a warehouse for years before emerging for what Bonhams describes as a “platinum level, concours quality restoration”. So authentic to the movie spec has this been that original nuts and bolts were reused and details like the 1967 rego sticker retained along with installation of an original spec Corvair engine and a fresh VW transaxle.

At Bonhams Amelia Island auction in Fernandina Beach the 1967/8 Con-Ferr Meyers Manx dune buggy sold for US$456,000 (£350,628) including the premium. Bonhams had billed the car as the last “big game” McQueen movie vehicle to break long term cover and be offered for sale into the market, as well as an amazing bit of movie history.

World’s most expensive beach buggy? Has to be…

Images courtesy of Bonhams.