This is the VariViggen. It was designed by Burt Rutan of Mojave CA and made its first flight in 1972. The last flight was in 1988 when he donated it to the EAA museum in Oshkosh WI. This made a lot of appearances at airshows during those years and may very well been the one touched by you. Only about 20 others were built from plans, so it a a relatively rare bird.
The VariEze [pronounced Very Easy] was developed as simple construction "kit" for home builders. Also a Burt Rutan design.
The innovation obvious in both planes is the short span canard in font of the plane. The design was to make the plane stall-proof. Both wings are lifting surfaces and the canard is used for pitch changes. If the the pilot pulls too far back on the stick the canard will stall and automatically pitch the VariEze nose down which unstalls it.
You asked "So what became of the Varieze?"
If you meant the
design in general, it became [along w/ the slightly larger LongEze] the most popular homebuilt aircraft design ever. Over 2000 kits were sold.
If you meant
my Eze in particular it was like this.
I bought my kit, which included gallons of epoxy, 3 different types of foam, hardware, glass cloth, and some tools, and metal pieces. The kit was somewhere around $2000. Engine not included.
For an engine I found a used Continental O-200 for $1000.
I started building it in my basement of my home in Jackson TN. Then I transferred to Memphis and had no place in my apartment to build. My optometrist friend let me use his garage for building and storage, much to his wife's chagrin.
I decided to stop the project. I found that I wanted to fly more than build, and I had a side business selling aircraft and teaching.
So I put the VariEze up for sale.
I sold the kit for just what I paid for it. By that time the new kits had risen in price.
I sold the engine to a different guy for $2000. So I made some money on that. [BTW, O-200 engines go for over $20,000 today.]
About 10 years later I got a letter in the mail from some oil company based in CA that said they would buy my unused registration number, N4TJ, for $200. I told them "yes" and sent them the paper work.
You asked, "What end is the heavy end on those things?"
This is how a VariEze is parked.
The nose gear is retracted and the CG of the empty plane moves just forward of main gear. If the pilot gets out of the plane w/o retracting the nose gear, the plane will tip nose-up and damage the wing tips. With the crew in the plane the CG about center of the rear [co-pilot's] seat.