Classics, Motoring Memories

Motoring Memories: Fibreglass cars

December 11, 2009

Glasspar G2. Click image to enlarge

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Article and photo by Bill Vance

Glass reinforced plastic, known as fibreglass, was developed by the Owens-Corning Company of Corning New York just before the Second World War and marketed as Fiberglas (one ‘s’). Fibreglass (two s’s) eventually became a generic term for all glass reinforced plastic. It was improved during the war for such applications as radar domes and other protective structures. It was impact resistant, withstood wide temperature variations and held a high paint lustre.

Lightweight and strong, fibreglass was an excellent boat construction material. In 1946 California boat builder Bill Tritt was commissioned to build a 20-foot, high performance fiberglass sailboat. It was so successful that four were made.

In 1949 hot rod enthusiast Ken Brooks asked his friend Tritt to build a fibreglass body for a modified car he had constructed using a Jeep chassis. The 1951 Brooks Boxer was shown at the Los Angeles Motorama show and favourably featured in several magazines. This motivated Tritt to add car bodies to his boat business.

Tritt and partners formed the Glasspar Company in 1950 in larger quarters in Santa Ana. Using the Boxer pattern he produced the first Glasspar G2 sports roadster. Tritt was commissioned to build a G2-based roadster for the Naugatuck Chemical Company, to publicize their new “Naugahyde” upholstery for car seats. It was called the Alembic I.

The Alembic was inspected by General Motors, and almost certainly influenced them to use a fibreglass body in the Chevrolet Corvette that was introduced as a show car in January, 1953, and placed in production with the fibreglass body in June of that year. Fibreglass has been a Corvette hallmark ever since.

In 1952 Glasspar began production of its G2, a trim and handsome roadster very much in the genre of English sports cars like the Jaguar XK120 that were becoming popular, especially in California. Its wheelbase was 2,565 mm (101 in.) compared with the Jaguar’s 2,591 (102). The 862-kg (1,900 lb weight was considerably less than the Jag’s 1,247 (2,750), and its $2,950 price was about $1,000 cheaper.

The tubular steel frame was designed to take 1939-1948 Ford running gear. Although almost any engine such as Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, etc. could be installed, the majority of Glasspar’s came with Ford side valve V8s, usually modified for higher performance. The engine was set back in the chassis for 50-50 weight distribution, and this plus a 1,422 mm 56 (in.) track (the Jaguar’s averaged only 1,283 mm [50.5 in.]) and low centre of gravity gave the Glasspar good handling characteristics.

Tritt built 10 G2 roadsters and they were bought by such celebrities as actors Rosemary Clooney and Clark Gable. Glasspar also offered them as owner-assembled kits. From 1951 to ’55 when production stopped, Tritt had produced more than 200 Glasspar G2s.

Glasspar also built cars for others. It produced Woodill Wildfire bodies for Robert “Woody” Woodill, a Downey, California Willys dealer who mounted them on Willys chassis. They were usually powered by a 2.6-litre Willys F-head (inlet valves in the head and exhausts in the block) 90-horsepower inline six. Some Woodills were sold complete, but most came as kits. Total production was estimated at 200 cars in two series.

Another Glasspar project was the fibreglass bodied Kaiser Darrin. After he left K-F, stylist Howard “Dutch” Darrin built a sporty two-seater car on a compact K-F Henry J chassis. It was styled and built in Darrin’s California shop, and its distinguishing feature was Darren’s patented doors that slid forward into the fenders. Kaiser-Frazer was impressed enough to build it. Prototype bodies were constructed by Glasspar, and when K-F production began, Glasspar built the bodies in a K-F plant in Jackson, Michigan. Production is estimated at 435.

In the 1950s Glasspar also built bodies for the sporty Volvo P1900, forerunner of the popular P1800. Only 67 were produced before Volvo pulled the plug.

Another manufacturer who used fibreglass was Britain’s Colin Chapman for his first production car, the Lotus Elite launched in 1957. Chapman made virtually the whole car out of three large fibreglass mouldings glued together like a sandwich. It was a sturdy, light and good performing car.

When Studebaker launched its stylish Avanti in 1962 it used a fibreglass body. Although Studebaker was on the financial ropes, the Avanti was lauded as a very daring design.

Intermeccanica of Vancouver, B.C. uses fibreglass for its replica Porsche 356 roadsters and Volkswagen based Jeep-type Kubelwagens.

Although always a niche product, fibreglass continues in a variety of applications. The Chevrolet Corvette is the patriarch of fibreglass cars, but Bill Tritt of California, “The father of the fibreglass car,” really started it all with the Glasspar G2.