Manx Club

This article is from a 1963 copy of mechanics illustrated. The buggy was built in 1961 by Vic Hickey, the guy who built the Baja Boot that was bought and raced by Steve McQueen in the early Baja races. It has a fiberglass body, front mounted corvair engine, disc brakes, torsion bar suspension, 4WD with hi and lo range. GM bought rights to the Trail Blazer vehicle and it eventually became their K5 Blazer. Later Hickey went on to design the Lunar Rover and the Hummer. http://www.ormhof.com/inductees.fx?id=9

The "Blazer" above reminds me of the M422 Mitey Mite. The USMC had them in the early 60s. It was 4wd and had an air cooled V4 engine. It was a small and aluminum bodied so it could be carried by the helicopters they had at the time. When I was a kid I lived on Camp Pendleton. The LtCol that lived in the quarters next door had one. One day he took us kids on a ride all over the hills beside the ocean and I-5 near San Onofre. If you take the jungle cruise in Disneyland and the Africa Safari ride in Animal Kingdom, the flipped over wrecked jeeps are both Mitey Mites.

[QUOTE="CairoManx"]The "Blazer" above reminds me of the M422 Mitey Mite. The USMC had them in the early 60s. It was 4wd and had an air cooled V4 engine. It was a small and aluminum bodied so it could be carried by the helicopters they had at the time. When I was a kid I lived on Camp Pendleton. The LtCol that lived in the quarters next door had one. One day he took us kids on a ride all over the hills beside the ocean and I-5 near San Onofre. If you take the jungle cruise in Disneyland and the Africa Safari ride in Animal Kingdom, the flipped over wrecked jeeps are both Mitey Mites. [/QUOTE] Very interesting vehicle. Must say I have a soft spot for WW2 Jeeps,, had a 1942 GPW years back,, wish I never sold it now

George Barris, whose company built the TV show batmobile and Monkee mobile, also helped design the Trail Blazer buggy. Having seen Barris' other dune buggy, the Barris T, I'm thinking Barris must have been entirely responsible (guilty) for the Trail Blazer's glass body.

Just found this 1953 article on ebay about the prototype M422 Mighty Mite. The production M422 had an aircooled V-4 engine by Continental I think. It looks like the prototype had either an Okrasa high peformance VW engine or maybe a Porsche, hard to tell by the picture. The picture that shows the underside of the Trail-Blazer sure looks similar to the M422 frame.

Mighty Mite on Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland

Im loving this thread Are there many M422's still in use/ on USA roads today? looks a very tough little machine. Yup, the two frames do look very similar,, good choice of chassis for a Baja beater, very SWB too :rock:

They were rare to begin with, only 4000 made. You see about everything here in California, but I haven't seen one driving down the road since I was a kid and lived on the Marine base in the early 60s. There's a few still around, probably more than Kubelwagens, but most are in the hands of military collectors. The ones that sell are a lot cheaper than kubels though. Even with the aluminum body, the Mighty Mite weighed 1700 lbs, which is 100 lbs more than a kubel. Here's a current Craigslist ad for a beautifully restored M422 for $15K. Try finding a Kubel for that: http://capecod.craigslist.org/car/302156081.html

Its funny, but I've been thinking about getting another Military Jeep for a while now,, either a Willys, ford, WW2 model, but they are selling for BIG ?? in UK now,,, about 4 times the price I sold my old one for back in the late 80s,,, Are these also BIG $$ in USA now? Even the less desirable French M201's & M38's seem to be thin on the ground here now days. My earlist memory was as a 3-4 year old kid (back in the 50's) in my WW2 Willys Jeep pedal car that my dad got for me,, the admoration for these vehicles just keeps coming back, seeing the M422 has started this whole, ''must have another Jeep thing'' off in my head. There was a company,, 4WD Hardware,Inc,44488 State Route 14, Columbiana, OH 44408 that used to make GRP bodies for Jeeps, but not sure how good they are,, maybe someone on here could tell me. Another question ,, did the M38's use the same 2.2 Go Devil motor as the early WW2 models?.

Ken Trongo's son Kenny (Ognort) over on the RBC site has an early jeep that he had to replace the engine in last year. He'd probably know. http://p066.ezboard.com/brbcdunebuggy

Thanks CairoManx!. Just replied to a post on a UK VW forum for a Veepster for sale,, no pics were posted but the guy said it looks like a flat fendered WW2 Jeep,, built using a VW chassis & motor,,, sounds wrong to me ,, but,, you never know. Anyone on here had one??

They sell brand new aluminum jeep bodies for about $2600. Why not build your own Mighty Mite with a bug engine in the back. [url=javascript: void;][/url] http://www.quadratec.com/products/32500_300_T.htm

[QUOTE="mel hubbard"]Thanks CairoManx!. Just replied to a post on a UK VW forum for a Veepster for sale,, no pics were posted but the guy said it looks like a flat fendered WW2 Jeep,, built using a VW chassis & motor,,, sounds wrong to me ,, but,, you never know. Anyone on here had one??[/QUOTE] I know of a glass bodied VW based Jeep type kit going for grabs near me if that's your thing Mel... Won't cost much as it's been lying there for years. I'll try to get photos if you like.

I like the sound of an alumlnum body that would be my ultimate choice if I could find an early model to restore. Just got pics of the Veepster (for sale) mailed to me,, shame about the windshied,, it looks wrong to me,,, nothing that cant be put right though. Mailed you some pics Dave, to see if its the same style as the one you know of,, the guy reckons its the only one in UK,,,,,,, maybe.